According to a recent article in Slate, there is fresh hope for law suits against the Drumpf regime:
In order to try to nudge things along, I sent the following letter to my own state Attorney General (Maryland, just recently empowered to sue POTUS without needing permission from the Governor):
To the Office of the Maryland Attorney General:
As I have recently learned, the Attorney General of the State of New York is preparing a law suit against President Trump over his conflicts of interest and (possible/likely) foreign emoluments from the Government of Russia and/or President Putin. If so, I hope you will join it.
We already know (from Donald Trump Jr's comments in 2008) that a "disproportionate" share of investors into the various Trump enterprises came from Russia (pls see https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-trumps-financial-ties-to-russia-and-his-unusual-flattery-of-vladimir-putin/2016/06/17/dbdcaac8-31a6-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html?utm_term=.6e3ef250a709).
According to the CIA, FBI, NSA and DNI, they are very sure that Russia interfered in our most recent election (pls see
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/us/politics/russian-hack-report.html?_r=0). There is apparently at least some evidence (as reported in the New York
Times) of communications between Russian intelligence officials and the Trump campaign (pls see https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/us/politics/russia-intelligence-communications-trump.html). We've already seen conflicts of interest between Trump's businesses and the executive branch (e.g., the Trump hotel in Washington DC, pls see http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/trump-international-hotel-ethics/ ). We know that he has investments in countries where corruption and crony-ism are rife (e.g., Azerbaijan, as documented by CREW, pls see http://www.citizensforethics.org/5-graphics-help-understand-president-trumps-conflicts-interest/ ). Most recently, according to Rachel Maddow's reporting on MSNBC, there are documented links between Deutche Bank (which has already been convicted of facilitating money laundering from Russian sources), a Bank in Cyprus, Commerce Secretary Ross, a Russian billionaire/crony of Putin, and Trump himself (i.e., mansion in Florida bought by the Russian from Trump at a profit of $60 million for Trump, pls see http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/white-house-denials-raise-new-questions-886225987806).
There seems to be more than enough evidence to launch an investigation, but of course the GOP in the U.S. House of Representatives is clearly not interested in doing so, and even the Senate appears to be dragging its feet.
While I understand that it's possible, even after a thorough investigation (including verification of suspected links between Trump's "Russian investors" and the Government of Russia or President Putin), that no laws have been broken by Trump or his associates, I would dearly like to see Congress live up to its constitutional duty and, if that's their preferred position, give Trump official Congressional permission to receive "foreign emoluments" from the Government of Russia or elsewhere.
With regard to the interests of the state of Maryland, I would expect that at least some hotels in the state are in competition with the new Trump Hotel in Washington DC for visiting delegations from foreign governments, which would have an impact on state tax revenues. More importantly, a law suit would help all U.S. voters learn the truth about whether or not there are corrupt financial and political entanglements between Presidents Trump and Putin.
Sincerely, ...”
I was then pleasantly surprised to receive the following reply:
“Dear [my name]:
“Thank you for contacting the Maryland Office of the Attorney General regarding this important issue. We share your concern that President Trump has neither fully disclosed his financial ties nor divested his business interests that conflict with his duties. Please be assured that our office will continue to monitor this unusual situation and take action that may be appropriate.
“Thank you again for taking the time to provide the benefit of your views.
“Sincerely,
“Office of the Attorney General”
On the one hand, I’m not holding my breath. On the other hand, it did sound as though at least someone in that office would be happy to receive encouragement of this sort.