Whatever the count of the number of trump-related investigations is, add one more.
Prosecutors for the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia have subpoenaed a company owned by Donald Trump, seeking information about the president’s possible violations of the emoluments clause of the Constitution. According to The Times of London, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh and D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine demanded the financial filings of DJT Holdings LLC—which owns the president’s Scotland resorts, as well as Trump International Hotel in Washington—as part of an investigation into whether profits from Trump’s D.C. hotel are “flowing to the president through his affiliated entities.”
Before taking office, Trump promised to distance himself from his web of business interests, putting sons Don Jr. and Eric in charge. But Trump Sr. has retained his financial ties to his company, and questions about how his presidency may have benefitted his pocketbook have cast a shadow over his administration, home to others —Scott Pruitt, Ryan Zinke— who’ve allegedly mined their public offices for personal gain. “We are confident that at the end of discovery we will be able to prove our case that President Trump is violating the Constitution’s emoluments clauses, America’s first anti-corruption laws,” Frosh told the Times.
Trump’s D.C. hotel has been the subject of particular scrutiny, as international officials and business leaders seemingly seek to curry favor with the president by frequenting it. But emoluments cases are rare, and challenging to prove. Nevertheless, the subpoena—which requests the company’s state and federal income tax returns, as well as documents regarding the Trump Hotel’s agreement with the United States to lease the Old Post Office building, which watchdogs have said is unconstitutional—could shed light on the inner workings of DJT Holdings.
Business Insider explores the Russian connection. The title says it all: “US prosecutors subpoena Trump golf courses in Scotland, which some Democrats worry might have been funded by Russian money”
It is not clear how DJT Holdings is funded.
People investigating Trump's ties to Russia, including Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Glenn Simpson, the cofounder of the opposition-research firm Fusion GPS, have questioned whether Moscow was financially involved in DJT Holdings.
[…] Simpson said the golf courses "don't, on their face, show Russian involvement, but what they do show is enormous amounts of capital flowing into these projects from unknown sources and — or at least on paper it says it's from the Trump Organization, but it's hundreds of millions of dollars."
One more investigation to keep an eye on.