US President Donald Trump has been issued a summons in a lawsuit, filed by the attorneys general both in Washington, D.C. and Maryland, alleging that the president had violated the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, WAMU reported.
The Emoluments Clause of the US Constitution forbids the country's public officials from receiving gifts or money from foreign governments.
Previously, the US Justice Department requested that the court throw the case out, but US District Judge Peter Messitte in Greenbelt, Maryland rejected it, narrowing the claims to those involving the Trump International Hotel in Washington and not Trump's businesses outside the country's capital.
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Last year, a similar lawsuit from a watchdog organization was dismissed by Federal Judge George Daniels of the District Court for the District of New York in respect of "lack of standing," stating that the claims should be resolved through the "political process".
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As the president himself reacted to the allegations, his business interests would be put in a trust managed by his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
However, numerous critics and watchdog organizations have expressed their concern that foreign states might favor Trump's business in return for some support from the president.
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