The legal problems continue to pile up for President Trump.
The Trump legal team has failed to derail a lawsuit claiming Trump is improperly profiting from his Washington DC hotel.
The lawsuit brought by the District of Columbia and Maryland accuses the President of accepting unconstitutional gifts from foreign interests for stays at the Trump International Hotel in Washington.
U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte ruled the case can proceed although it was narrowed to include only the Washington hotel and not other Trump hotel properties.
The US Constitution’s emoluments rules ban a sitting President from benefitting from gifts or payments from a foreign government.
Although this is just a first step, the ruling shows Trump is not above the law, the DC and Maryland AGs said.
"He has to abide by the nation’s original anti-corruption law. That’s the most significant thing one can glean from the decision," said Maryland attorney general Brian Frosh.
"We have standing to hold Pres. Trump accountable for violating the Constitution," DC attorney general Karl Racine tweeted.
In the ruling, Judge Messitte said: "Their allegation is bolstered by explicit statements from certain foreign government officials indicating that they are clearly choosing to stay at the president’s hotel because, as one representative of a foreign government has stated, they want him to know ‘I love your new hotel.’"
The White House didn’t immediately comment on plans for an appeal but it is thought highly likely.
If the ruling is upheld, Maryland and DC could push for documents through the discovery process to see how much money foreign governments have paid to stay in the hotel.
