USA Today reports that since Donald Trump has assumed the presidency and pretended he cannot divorce himself from his many “businesses,” the majority of his real estate empire has become a maze of secretive shell companies.
Over the last 12 months, about 70% of buyers of Trump properties were limited liability companies – corporate entities that allow people to purchase property without revealing all of the owners’ names. That compares with about 4% of buyers in the two years before.
USA TODAY journalists have spent six months cataloging every condo, penthouse or other property that Trump and his companies own – and tracking the buyers behind every transaction. The investigation found Trump’s companies owned more than 430 individual properties worth well over $250 million.
Since November 8, 2016, USA Today was able to account for 28 new property sales, bringing in $33 million dollars. And let us remember, it was only a couple of days ago—probably around the same time Attorney General Jeff Sessions was pretending to read the “policy” that doesn’t allow him to remember anything in front of a Senate Intelligence Committee—that the DOJ began arguing and spending resources towards defending the legality of Trump’s businesses receiving foreign payments.
In a 70-page legal brief responding to a liberal watchdog group’s lawsuit, the administration said that market-rate payments for goods or services made to the president’s real estate, hotel and golf companies do not constitute emoluments as defined by the Constitution.
Otherwise, they argued, presidents going back to George Washington would have run afoul of the rules barring domestic and foreign emoluments.
Just like George Washington. The only thing about Trump that is like George Washington is that his whole operation is as fake as Washington’s teeth.
Note: Our ericlewis0 has a good diary on this very subject here. Go head over for discussion!