Eisen’s group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), argues that Trump is "submerged in conflicts of interest,” despite his own career getting a pretty serious boost after his old school chum became the President.
Earlier this month, Trump announced that he will retain ownership of his business empire, but hand the reigns to his eldest sons to handle day-to-day operations. An emoluments clause forbids politicians from accepting gifts from foreign governments without congressional approval.
“Since Trump refused to divest from his businesses, he is now getting cash and favors from foreign governments, through guests and events at his hotels, leases in his buildings, and valuable real estate deals abroad,” CREW’s press release states.
Sheri Dillon, a partner at Morgan Lewis, the law firm representing the Trump in ethics matters, has stated that any earnings from foreign governments by Trump Hotels would be transferred to the US Treasury.
Eisen’s group, however, asserts that Trump is “poised” to violate the US Constitution. The lawsuit claims that the new administration is "submerged in conflicts of interest.”
Obama and Eisen first met at Harvard as first-year law students. The duo apparently hit it off so well that Eisen spent two years playing an active role in Obama’s presidential campaign, and subsequently worked on his transition team.
Immediately upon taking office, Obama named Eisen the Special Counsel for Ethics and Government Reform in the White House. Eisen then founded CREW, based on his experience granted by Obama, which is now suing the current US president.
To justify suing the president, CREW claims that their lawyers have “been ‘significantly injured’ by having to divert resources to the lawsuit, and field hundreds of media questions about Trump’s businesses,” Reuters reports, somehow claiming that their filing of the lawsuit justifies filing the lawsuit.
Other lawyers working on the lawsuit include Laurence Tribe, Erwin Chemerinsky, and Richard Painter.
