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Protesters gather outside of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Lorie Shaull/flickr/cc)
It's Day One and Trump Is Already in Violation of the Constitution: Watchdog
"He just swore on the Bible to 'preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States'...he has already failed"
Jan 20, 2017
President Donald Trump is already in violation of the Constitution over a lease on his Washington, D.C. hotel, a government ethics watchdog warned on Friday.
The president owns more than three-quarters of the lease on Trump International Hotel, located in the federal Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue--a lease which bars elected officials from receiving "any share or part of [the Lease], or to any benefit that may arise therefrom," according to the group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
CREW filed a complaint (pdf) Friday with the lease-holding Government Services Administration (GSA), urging the agency to terminate the contract if the Trump Old Post Office LLC does not resolve the violation.
"The lease bans elected officials from benefiting to avoid conflicts of interest with their duties. We know Trump likes to renegotiate contracts for better deals. If that happened here, it will be the president negotiating against the government he leads. His best interests are not the same as those of the American tax payer," said CREW executive director Noah Bookbinder.
Moreover, the hotel could put Trump in violation of another Constitutional clause which aims to prevent foreign influence on U.S. politics.
With foreign diplomats renting out space in the hotel, CREW says it's possible those transactions could be used to curry favor with the president.
"Now that he has taken the oath of office, President Trump stands in violation of the Constitution's emoluments clause," Bookbinder said. "He just swore on the Bible to 'preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States,' but by continuing to accept payments from foreign governments, he has already failed."
"We do not yet know just to what extent this violation goes--because he is the first person elected to the presidency in decades to fail to clear the ethical bar of Richard Nixon and release his tax returns, much of his foreign business has remained secret. But we do know that there must be accountability for anyone, including the president, for violating the Constitution," Bookbinder said.
Watchdog groups have long warned that Trump's historic conflicts of interest could put him in violation of the Constitution on day one of his presidency.
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Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
President Donald Trump is already in violation of the Constitution over a lease on his Washington, D.C. hotel, a government ethics watchdog warned on Friday.
The president owns more than three-quarters of the lease on Trump International Hotel, located in the federal Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue--a lease which bars elected officials from receiving "any share or part of [the Lease], or to any benefit that may arise therefrom," according to the group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
CREW filed a complaint (pdf) Friday with the lease-holding Government Services Administration (GSA), urging the agency to terminate the contract if the Trump Old Post Office LLC does not resolve the violation.
"The lease bans elected officials from benefiting to avoid conflicts of interest with their duties. We know Trump likes to renegotiate contracts for better deals. If that happened here, it will be the president negotiating against the government he leads. His best interests are not the same as those of the American tax payer," said CREW executive director Noah Bookbinder.
Moreover, the hotel could put Trump in violation of another Constitutional clause which aims to prevent foreign influence on U.S. politics.
With foreign diplomats renting out space in the hotel, CREW says it's possible those transactions could be used to curry favor with the president.
"Now that he has taken the oath of office, President Trump stands in violation of the Constitution's emoluments clause," Bookbinder said. "He just swore on the Bible to 'preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States,' but by continuing to accept payments from foreign governments, he has already failed."
"We do not yet know just to what extent this violation goes--because he is the first person elected to the presidency in decades to fail to clear the ethical bar of Richard Nixon and release his tax returns, much of his foreign business has remained secret. But we do know that there must be accountability for anyone, including the president, for violating the Constitution," Bookbinder said.
Watchdog groups have long warned that Trump's historic conflicts of interest could put him in violation of the Constitution on day one of his presidency.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
President Donald Trump is already in violation of the Constitution over a lease on his Washington, D.C. hotel, a government ethics watchdog warned on Friday.
The president owns more than three-quarters of the lease on Trump International Hotel, located in the federal Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue--a lease which bars elected officials from receiving "any share or part of [the Lease], or to any benefit that may arise therefrom," according to the group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
CREW filed a complaint (pdf) Friday with the lease-holding Government Services Administration (GSA), urging the agency to terminate the contract if the Trump Old Post Office LLC does not resolve the violation.
"The lease bans elected officials from benefiting to avoid conflicts of interest with their duties. We know Trump likes to renegotiate contracts for better deals. If that happened here, it will be the president negotiating against the government he leads. His best interests are not the same as those of the American tax payer," said CREW executive director Noah Bookbinder.
Moreover, the hotel could put Trump in violation of another Constitutional clause which aims to prevent foreign influence on U.S. politics.
With foreign diplomats renting out space in the hotel, CREW says it's possible those transactions could be used to curry favor with the president.
"Now that he has taken the oath of office, President Trump stands in violation of the Constitution's emoluments clause," Bookbinder said. "He just swore on the Bible to 'preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States,' but by continuing to accept payments from foreign governments, he has already failed."
"We do not yet know just to what extent this violation goes--because he is the first person elected to the presidency in decades to fail to clear the ethical bar of Richard Nixon and release his tax returns, much of his foreign business has remained secret. But we do know that there must be accountability for anyone, including the president, for violating the Constitution," Bookbinder said.
Watchdog groups have long warned that Trump's historic conflicts of interest could put him in violation of the Constitution on day one of his presidency.
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LATEST NEWS
IDF Brags of 'In-Depth Review' That Confirms Israel Is Starving Sick Children to Death
"Children dying first in a famine Israel caused by restricting food aid also had comorbidities and preexisting conditions," said one jourtnalist. "Of course they did. That is who dies first, as any child can tell you."
Aug 13, 2025
Using terminology that's all too familiar to the U.S. public—and treated by the for-profit health system as synonymous with those who are entitled to less care—the Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday released an "in-depth review" of widespread reports that Israel has killed hundreds of people in Gaza so far through its deliberate starvation policy.
The military claimed the analysis found that many Palestinians who have died of malnutrition so far had previous illnesses.
"Most 'malnutrition' deaths were due to severe preexisting conditions," said the IDF in a post on social media. "The expert review concluded that there are no signs of a widespread malnutrition phenomenon among the population in Gaza."
The fact that a number of people who have died had health conditions before Israel began bombarding Gaza in October 2023—decimating its healthcare system, among other civilian infrastructure—is hardly a surprise, said journalist Ryan Grim of Drop Site News.
"Children dying first in a famine Israel caused by restricting food aid also had comorbidities and preexisting conditions," said Grim. "Of course they did. That is who dies first, as any child can tell you."
The IDF and its top military funder, the U.S. government, have persistently denied that Israel is intentionally starving Palestinian civilians with its near-total blockade on humanitarian aid.
"It took an 'in-depth IDF review' abto determine that children with preexisting conditions will be the first victims of a man-made famine?"
As the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has warned that famine is now unfolding in Gaza, experts have called the starvation crisis that's killed at least 235 people "entirely man-made," and Amnesty International has gathered extensive testimony from healthcare workers and civilians describing how Israel is using starvation as a "weapon of war," the Trump administration has continued to claim that any malnutrition in Gaza is the result of Hamas "stealing aid."
Last month, even IDF officials were forced to admit previous claims that Hamas was stealing humanitarian aid deliveries could not be verified.
With that claim debunked, the "in-depth review" focused instead on dismissing the starvation victims themselves.
The IDF presented the case of 4-year-old Abdullah Hanu Muhammad Abu Zarqa, who had a genetic disease that caused "deficiencies, osteoporosis, and bone thinning."
It also posted on the social media platform X the medical records of a 2-year-old named Abed Allah Hany Muhamad Abu Zarka, which showed the toddler had hair loss and rickets—a bone disease caused by vitamin D deficiency. The document showed he had a "positive family history of similar cases" and was shared in the apparent hope that disclosing the information would tamp down outrage over Israel's blockade on humanitarian aid.
"I can't understand how anyone thinks 'We're only starving the SICK kids to death' is any kind of justification, even if it were true?!" said New York Times columnist Megan K. Stack.
The in-depth review, which Israel said verified "only a few cases" of starvation, came weeks after the Times appeared to bow to pressure from the Israeli government and media after it reported on Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, an 18-month-old who was born with cerebral palsy and had also been suffering from starvation. Israel claimed the use of photos of the toddler in media coverage was misleading because outlets like the Times didn't disclose al-Mutawaq's previous medical condition, and the Times issued an editorial note pointing out his diagnosis soon after.
The editors' move provoked outcry from progressive observers, who called the addendum "ghoulish" and "depraved."
One noted that an institution that took pains to "clarify" that "some portion of Nazi death camp victims had preexisting conditions" would rightly be accused of denying the impact of the Holocaust.
"It took an 'in-depth IDF review,'" one critic asked Wednesday, "to determine that children with preexisting conditions will be the first victims of a man-made famine?"
Israeli Officials Reportedly Held Talks About Displacing Palestinians to War-Torn South Sudan
"If implemented, the plans would amount to transferring people from one war-ravaged land at risk of famine to another," the Associated Press said.
Aug 13, 2025
Israel has reportedly discussed pushing the Palestinian population of Gaza to another war zone in South Sudan.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Israeli leaders had been engaged in talks with the African nation and that an Israeli delegation would soon visit the country to look into the possibility of setting up "makeshift camps" for Palestinians to be herded into.
"It's unclear how far the talks have advanced, but if implemented, the plans would amount to transferring people from one war-ravaged land at risk of famine to another," the AP said.
Like Gaza, South Sudan is in the midst of a massive humanitarian crisis caused by an ongoing violence and instability. In June, Human Rights Watch reported that more than half of South Sudan's population, 7.7 million people, faced acute food insecurity. The nation is also home to one of the world's largest refugee crises, with more than 2 million people internally displaced.
On Wednesday, the South Sudanese foreign ministry said it "firmly refutes" the reports that it discussed the transfer of Palestinians with Israel, adding that they are "baseless and do not reflect the official position or policy."
However, six sources that spoke to the AP—including the founder of a U.S.-based lobbying firm and the leader of a South Sudanese civil society group, as well as four who maintained anonymity—said the government briefed them on the talks.
Sharren Haskel, Israel's deputy foreign minister, also arrived in South Sudan on Tuesday to hold a series of talks with the president and other government officials.
While the content of these talks is unclear for the moment, the Israeli government is quite open about its goal of seeking the permanent transfer of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to other countries.
In addition to South Sudan, it has been reported that Israeli officials have also approached Sudan, Somalia, and the breakaway state of Somaliland, all of which have suffered from chronic war, poverty, and instability.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with the Israeli TV station i24 that "the right thing to do, even according to the laws of war as I know them, is to allow the population to leave, and then you go in with all your might against the enemy who remains there."
Though Netanyahu has described this as "voluntary migration," Israeli officials have in the past indicated that their goal is to make conditions in Gaza so intolerable that its people see no choice but to leave.
Finance minister and war cabinet member Bezalel Smotrich, who has openly discussed the objective of forcing 2 million Palestinians out to make way for Israeli settlers, said in May: "Within a few months, we will be able to declare that we have won. Gaza will be totally destroyed."
Speaking of its people, he said: "They will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places."
Contrary to Netanyahu's assertion, international bodies, governments, and human rights groups have denounced the so-called "voluntary migration" plan as a policy of forcible transfer that is illegal under international law.
"To impose inhumane conditions of life to push Palestinians out of Gaza would amount to the war crime of unlawful transfer or deportation," said Amnesty International in May.
Israeli human rights organizations, led by the group Gisha, explained in June in a letter to Israel's Defense Minister, Israel Katz, that there is no such thing as "voluntary migration" under the circumstances that the Israeli war campaign has imposed.
"Genuine 'consent' under these conditions simply does not exist," the groups said. "Therefore, the decision in question constitutes explicit planning for mass transfer of civilians and ethnic cleansing, while violating international law, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity."
The plan to permanently remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip has received the backing of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has said he wants to turn the strip into the "Riviera of the Middle East."
The U.S. State Department currently advises travelers not to visit Sudan or Somaliland due to the risk of armed conflict, civil unrest, crime, terrorism, and kidnapping. However, the United States has reportedly been involved in talks pushing these countries to take in the Palestinians forced out by Israel.
After Israel announced its plans to fully "conquer" Gaza, U.N. official Miroslav Jenča said during an emergency Security Council session on Sunday that the occupation push is "yet another dangerous escalation of the conflict."
"If these plans are implemented," he said, "they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region and causing further forced displacement, killings, and destruction—compounding the unbearable suffering of the population."
'Distortions and Distractions': Grassroots Public Health Group Levels RFK Jr's Latest MAHA Venture
Under Kennedy's leadership, Defend Public Health charged, the federal government "is now leading the spread of misinformation."
Aug 13, 2025
A grassroots public health organization on Wednesday took a preemptive hatchet to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s upcoming "Make America Health Again" report, whose release was delayed this week.
Health advocacy organization Defend Public Health said that it felt comfortable trashing the yet-to-be-released Kennedy report given that his previous report released earlier this year "fundamentally mischaracterized or ignored key issues in U.S. public health."
Instead, the group decided to release its own plan called "Improving the Health of Americans Together," which includes measures to ensure food safety, to improve Americans' ability to find times to exercise, and to ensure access to vaccines. The report also promotes expanding access to healthcare while taking a shot at the massive budget package passed by Republicans last month that cut an estimated $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade.
"In 2023, 28% of Americans had to delay or forgo medical or dental care due to cost, a number that will increase thanks to the recent reconciliation bill," the organization said. "Health coverage should be expanded, not reduced, and the U.S. should move toward a system that covers all."
Defend Public Health's report also directly condemns Kennedy's leadership as head of the Health and Human Services Department (HHS), as it labels him "an entirely destructive force and a major source of misinformation" who "must be removed from office." Under Kennedy's leadership, Defend Public Health charged, the federal government "is now leading the spread of misinformation."
Elizabeth Jacobs, an epidemiologist at the University of Arizona and a founding member of Defend Public Health, explained her organization's rationale for getting out in front of Kennedy's report.
"Public health can't wait, so we felt it was important not to let RFK Jr. set an agenda based on distortions and distractions," she said. "Tens of thousands of scientists, healthcare providers, and public health practitioners would love to be part of a real agenda to improve the health of Americans, but RFK Jr. keeps showing he has no clue how to do it."
She then added that "you can't build a public health agenda on pseudoscience while ignoring fundamental problems like poverty and other social determinants of health" and said her organization has "put together strategies that could truly help children and adults stay healthier, and that's the conversation Americans need to be having, not Kennedy's fake 'MAHA.'"
Kennedy has been drawing the ire of public health experts since his confirmation as HHS secretary. The Washington Post reported this week that Kennedy angered employees of the Centers for Disease Control after he continued to criticize their response to the novel coronavirus pandemic even after a gunman opened fire on the agency's headquarters late last week.
Kennedy also got into a spat recently with international health experts. According to Reuters, Kennedy recently demanded the retraction of a Danish study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine journal that found no link between children's exposure to aluminum in vaccines and incidence of neurodevelopment disorders such as autism.
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