DOJ Seeks Dismissal Of Suit Claiming Trump Profits From Business Deals With Foreign Governments

Politico reports:

The Justice Department is urging a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit claiming that President Donald Trump is violating the Constitution by profiting from business deals with foreign governments.

The filing Friday evening in U.S. District Court in Manhattan is the first substantive legal response from the Trump administration to a series of suits challenging Trump’s effort to maintain ties to his real estate empire as he serves as president.

“Historical evidence confirms that the Emoluments Clauses were not designed to reach commercial transactions that a President (or other federal official) may engage in as an ordinary citizen through his business enterprises,” the federal government argued in a motion to dismiss a case brought by the liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in January, just three days after Trump was sworn in.