Qatar's government bought a $6.5M apartment in Trump World Tower. 1. This is an #Emolument. 2. Qatar is a possible conduit in the Steele Dossier's alleged Rosneft transaction from Russia to Trump. 1/ thedailybeast.com/report-qatar-j…
In March, I explained the Russia/Rosneft-to-Qatar-to-Trump-and-Kushner links, which also involved a dangerous Gulf state conflict that Kushner pushed, followed by a massive loan from a Qatar-linked firm to Kushner. 2/ slate.com/news-and-polit…
3/ Summary: Russia’s sale of Rosneft Gas is the key event in the Steele Dossier’s quid pro quo allegation. June 2016: Russians offer Trumpers a massive payout in return for lifting sanctions. Qatari firm acquires Rosneft from Russia Dec ‘16, as Flynn/Kushner set up backchannel.
4/Kushner meets with Putin's banker as the sale goes through to Qatar 12/2016. Kushner seeks money directly from Qatar. But Qatar doesn't deliver. Kushner creates a crisis vs. Qatar w/ risk of war. Then the Qatar-backed Apollo Group delivers $184 million to Kushner in Nov. 2017.
5/ And now we know Qatar bought a $6.5 apartment from Trump a month after SDNY judge ruled that Foreign #Emoluments Clause was a political question, not for judicial enforcement. @gauthamrao and I have explained why the trial court erred in this article: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
6/ The Guardian: "The Qatari monarchy has been scrambling to regain its footing with the US since Saudi Arabia and Gulf allies imposed an embargo." “They are certainly spending a lot of money trying to influence the shape of the debate in Washington,” said ex-ambassador to Saudi.
7/ Even if Qatar did not buy condo directly from Trump, its condo and management fees are foreign #Emoluments, violating Constitution.
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1/ I just thought I'd tweet about U.S. anti-nepotism law today:
After Bobby Kennedy had served as JFK's attorney general, Congress passed a federal anti-nepotism law in 1967: "A public official may not appoint, employ, promote, advance, or advocate for appointment...
2/ "...employment, promotion, or advancement, in or to a civilian position in the agency in which he is serving or over which he exercises jurisdiction or control any individual who is a relative of the public official." law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/…
3/ "For the purpose of this section— (1) “agency” means—
(A) an Executive agency"
So hypothetically, is Ambassador to the UN an "agency" under this law?
This article is wrong legally and politically.
Supreme Court Justices have life tenure, because "good behavior" tenure means life tenure. This "textualist" argument is silly, because constitutional textualism still relies on context and public meaning. 1/ newrepublic.com/article/151620…
2/ There are so many sources, but let's start with Hamilton, Federalist 78: These are his caps, not mine:"All judges who may be appointed by the United States are to hold their offices DURING GOOD BEHAVIOR; which is conformable to the most approved of the State constitutions..."
3/ I’m not going to tweet the text of Federalist 78. Just read it here. It is one of the best pieces of constitutional thought, and it is clear and concise. Must-read for anyone who wants to understand constitutional law. Goldstone does not get it. avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/f…
1. The Trump/Alfa Bank server connection during the campaign wasn't random. 2. Trump and the GOP just appointed Brian Benczkowski, a lawyer who worked for Alfa Bank, to lead the DOJ's criminal division, and he refuses to recuse himself.
What the hell is going on here?
3. Must-read Filkins's New Yorker piece linked above. The Trump/Russia link is striking, and DeVos and Erik Prince are also implicated.
“And we thought, Why the hell is a Russian bank communicating with a server that belongs to the Trump Organization, and at such a rate?”...
4. Also a damning indictment of the @nytimes for running the headline "Investigating Donald Trump, FBI Sees No Clear Link to Russia” on eve of election, downplaying Alfa Bank links.
Lichtblau: “We were saying that the investigation was basically over—and it was just beginning,”
Reminder #1: @nytimes cracked @realDonaldTrump's decades of criminal tax fraud.
Reminder #2: State Attorneys General have solid basis to use their #QuoWarranto powers to investigate and potentially dissolve the Trump Organization and LLCs. cc: @TishJames@NewYorkStateAG THREAD
2/ When it was unclear how to pursue #Emoluments suits against Trump because of standing problems in Feb. 2017, I wrote about the history of the powerful "quo warranto" writ and the statutory powers of state AGs to investigate corporate fraud. shugerblog.com/2017/02/09/sta…
3/ The old English writ of Quo Warranto has been enacted into state law as a state power to investigate corporate fraud through civil, not criminal process. @realDonaldTrump can try to fire Mueller and Rosenstein, but he cannot stop the state AGs.
Democrats winning back the Senate in 2018 is possible. But people are overlooking how each of these 2018 races for taking back the Senate in 2021.
The 2020 Senate map is OK, but not great.
Every seat now brings control in 2020 a little closer. We need to work harder now. 1/
2/ Senate is 51 R-49 D now. To win back the Senate, the Dems have to hold 5 red states (WV, ND, MT, MO, IN) + FL, and flip NV and AZ. If Dems lose in any of those states, they need to replace it with @BetoORourke in TX or @PhilBredesen in TN.
I'm hopeful, but not optimistic. 2/
3/ The good news in 2020 is that the Dems are defending only one red state (Doug Jones/Alabama, don’t get your hopes up).
But there are only 2 blue states with GOP Senators in trouble (Collins-Maine, Gardner-Colorado).
Let’s assume that’s net +1 for Democrats...
This person giving a long speech about how sure she is that Roe and precedent are safe is the same person who was sure she got an amazing ACA fix for a huge tax cut for the super-rich.
How’s that working out for you, @SenatorCollins!
3/ And Kavanaugh’s opinions signal a dismissiveness of precedent (Humphrey’s Executor 9-0, Morrison v Olson 7-1) in his support for dramatically expanding presidential power: slate.com/news-and-polit…