You’ve all heard about the “surprise” announcement that the 2020 G7 meeting will be held at Trump’s own Trump Doral golf resort. Well, here’s the law that he seems to be breaking (I will bold face the relevant phrases, to help get through the legal gobbledygook): 18 USC §208(a)
Title 18, U.S. Code § 208. Acts affecting a personal financial interest.
(a) Except as permitted by subsection (b) hereof, whoever, being an officer or employee of the executive branch of the United States Government, or of any independent agency of the United States, a Federal Reserve bank director, officer, or employee, or an officer or employee of the District of Columbia, including a special Government employee, participates personally and substantially as a Government officer or employee, through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation, the rendering of advice, investigation, or otherwise, in a judicial or other proceeding, application, request for a ruling or other determination, contract, claim, controversy, charge, accusation, arrest, or other particular matter in which, to his knowledge, he, his spouse, minor child, general partner, organization in which he is serving as officer, director, trustee, general partner or employee, or any person or organization with whom he is negotiating or has any arrangement concerning prospective employment, has a financial interest— Shall be subject to the penalties set forth in section 216 of this title.
It seems undeniable that Trump has a direct financial interest in ginning up business for a resort that he personally owns and profits from. And it seems undeniable that Trump will profit from the millions that will be spent at his resort by US taxpayers and by the taxpayers of 6 other G7 nations.
It is also undeniable that Trump is “an officer or employee of the executive branch,” because that phrase is specifically parsed by the United States Civil Code as including the President and Vice President.
I guess the only potential question is whether Trump “participate[d] personally and substantially” in steering the G7 contract to his own property — but he himself was the first to bring it up, and even though I’m no simple country lawyer, that sure sounds to me like he was making a “recommendation,” if nothing more. (And I suspect there was a good deal more: demanding, browbeating, ranting and raving until he got his way, and so on.)
And here are the penalties for the crime described above:
U.S. Code § 216. Penalties and injunctions. (a) The punishment for an offense under section 203, 204, 205, 207, 208, or 209 of this title is the following:
(1) Whoever engages in the conduct constituting the offense shall be imprisoned for not more than one year or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both.
(2) Whoever willfully engages in the conduct constituting the offense shall be imprisoned for not more than five years or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both.
(b) The Attorney General may bring a civil action in the appropriate United States district court against any person who engages in conduct constituting an offense under section 203, 204, 205, 207, 208, or 209 of this title and, upon proof of such conduct by a preponderance of the evidence, such person shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $50,000 for each violation or the amount of compensation which the person received or offered for the prohibited conduct, whichever amount is greater. The imposition of a civil penalty under this subsection does not preclude any other criminal or civil statutory, common law, or administrative remedy, which is available by law to the United States or any other person.
Anyway — I’m picked up on this from a random mention on the twitter, and am just putting this out there in case any smart lawyers might see it and poke a hole in my suppositions. Looks like an open and shut case to me, but what do I know?