Bought by China

Lawsuit against Trump now includes China trademarks
BY MARK HENSCH

A lawsuit alleging Trump violated the Constitution’s emoluments clause now lists “gratuitous Chinese trademarks” among its examples.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington expanded its complaint against Trump on Tuesday.
“Despite denying Defendant trademark protections for over ten years, including in a ruling from an appellate court, and despite China’s law barring the use of foreign leaders’ names as trademarks, China gave Defendant the trademark he had requested and valued,” the amended complaint reads.
“However, China only gave the trademark protection to Defendant after he had been elected President, questioned the One China policy, was sworn in, and re-affirmed the One China policy.”
The trademarks China has granted to Trump include branded spas, real estate companies, bars, restaurants and escort services.
The Washington-based nonprofit announced in January that it was bringing a suit to “stop Trump from violating the Constitution by illegally receiving payments from foreign governments.”
The lawsuit alleges Trump is violating the emoluments clause when his hotels — including the new Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C. — and restaurants do business with representatives of foreign governments.
The reach of the emoluments clause has been a subject of fierce public debate since Trump won the White House, given his vast business holdings.
The clause, aimed at curbing corruption, states that “no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, without the consent of the congress, accept of any present, emolument, office or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.”
The plaintiffs involved have asked Judge Ronnie Abrams in New York to order Trump to stop violating the clause and release financial records proving he has done so.
Reports emerged Tuesday that China approved three new trademarks for a brand owed by Trump’s daughter Ivanka after she met Xi Jinping earlier this month.
Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, sat next to Xi during his April 6 visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla.

Presidential Interests

Top Democrats demand answers on Trump’s China trademark
By AUSTIN WRIGHT
Sen. Dianne Feinstein has previously argued the trademark deal could violate the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause. 

Three senior Senate Democrats are seeking answers from the State Department on China’s decision to grant a trademark to the Trump Organization — a decision the senators say could violate the Constitution.
Sens. Ben Cardin of Maryland, Dianne Feinstein of California and Jack Reed of Rhode Island wrote to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday asking for more details on the trademark, which Donald Trump had been seeking for more than a decade but wasn’t granted until soon after being elected president.
Feinstein has previously argued the trademark deal could violate the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which bars government officials from accepting gifts and payments from foreign countries.
“The possibility that the government of China is seeking to win President Trump’s favor by granting him special treatment for his businesses is disturbing,” the three senators said in their letter. 

“As you may be aware, for more than a decade the Trump Organization sought to receive this trademark registration without success.”
A trademark for Trump’s brand in China, they write, “is a highly valuable commodity.” 

The senators add that Trump’s refusal to divest himself from his businesses means that he “continues to benefit directly from the financial success of the Trump Organization.”
They're asking Tillerson to provide answers to a number of questions, including information on discussions between Trump’s presidential transition team and China.
Cardin, Feinstein and Reed are the top Democrats on the Foreign Relations, Judiciary and Armed Services Committees, respectively.