Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said on Sunday that former President Trump received nearly $8 million from foreign governments during his presidency after House Democrats revealed that Trump received nearly $8 million from foreign governments during his presidency. He accused the House of trying to turn it into a “money-making enterprise.”
“So Donald Trump did something that no one had ever done before. He tried to turn the presidency into a money-making business,” he said on MSNBC's “The Weekend.”
Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, sent a letter to the former president on Friday demanding the return of about $7.8 million he received from foreign governments, but has yet to receive a response from Trump or his legal team. He said he had not received it. When he was president.
Raskin's letter comes as Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a report alleging that Trump's companies accepted funds from foreign companies in 20 countries and that the payments violated the Constitution's Emoluments Clause. It was served later.
The report said about $5.6 million of the total came from China and was sent to Trump's hotels in Washington and Las Vegas, as well as Trump Tower in New York.
Raskin stressed that the $7.8 million figure is only a fraction of the amount he claims the former president most likely received during his time in office. Mr. Raskin accused the committee's chairman, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), of suppressing the investigation when he took over.
“The Constitution states that the President and other federal officials may not accept gifts or compensation from a king, prince, or foreign government in any office or title of any kind provided for in the Constitution. It says they can't. It's agreed to by Congress,” Raskin said Sunday. “Donald Trump never came to Congress to ask him to keep this money.”
Mr. Raskin refuted President Trump's claim that he does not receive his $400,000 annual federal salary.
“You're not supposed to be on the payroll of a Saudi monarch or a Chinese Communist Party official. You're supposed to be getting paid by an American citizen,” he said.
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