John, sad to see you falling for the hype. These millions of dollars that Biden got, you have any proof? But Trumps kids got plenty. And Trump himself made money from his businesses while President, against the Emoluments Act.
The DOJ argued in the past that President Trump is not violating the
emoluments clause. The DOJ interprets the clause to mean, “profit arising from an office or employ.”
This means receiving monetary compensation as a result of being in office.
According to the DOJ, the emoluments clause does not apply to private business transactions. This
means that the president has to act in his official capacity to violate the emoluments clause. For
example, if the president accepts a bribe in exchange for an official act, then that would violate the
emoluments clause.
The DOJ also cites examples of previous presidents who had private business interests while in office.
George Washington was one of the nation’s largest landowners while president and even owned a flour
mill. His nephew ran his businesses during his presidency. Thomas Jefferson himself owned a farm and nail factory, and he exported tobacco to Great Britain during his presidency. The DOJ argues that no one
at the time “raised concerns about whether foreign governments or government-owned corporations”
were “customers” of these businesses of the early presidents.
The DOJ also argues that President Trump is not violating the domestic emoluments clause. That clause
was explained by Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist Papers in 1788. Hamilton wrote that the clause
was meant to ensure that the president could not be persuaded by monetary payments to “renounce or
desert” the independence of his office. In other words, it has nothing to do with private business
transactions. It has only to do with the president receiving payments for doing something as president.
It was later determined, for example, that President Reagan could, after all, receive his California
pension payments because they had nothing to do with his being president.