Lawsuits over Trump business threaten to tie up presidency
WASHINGTON >> As a businessman, Donald Trump has kept the courts busy. That’s hardly likely to change when he enters the Oval Office, creating an unusual and potentially serious problem for a sitting president.
Only a handful of presidents have undergone legal depositions during their terms, and even fewer have become embroiled in private lawsuits. Trump is poised to join that small club.
Just last week, the president-elect sat for a deposition in a lawsuit involving his Washington hotel , and he is still tied up in legal disputes that are to proceed after Inauguration Day. Trump is also under investigation by the New York attorney general over whether he used his charity for personal benefit.
Those are only some of the pending matters.
While Trump has said he will turn over management of his company to his adult sons, he has left open the possibility he will keep not only an ownership interest but the legal liability that accompanies it. He is expected to give more details about stepping away at a news conference on Wednesday.
The details are important because the closer Trump remains to his business while in office, the more he makes himself and the company targets for litigation. Those attacks could include lawsuits brought by deep-pocketed political opponents who could use the courts as one more battleground to fight his administration.
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“He is going to be not just a litigation magnet, but a litigation vortex that sucks in every political and personal adversary he has,” said Norman Eisen, the Obama administration chief White House ethics counselor from 2009 through 2011. Eisen has encouraged Trump to sell his assets and put the cash in a blind trust to avoid conflicts of interest and legal pitfalls.
Given the heated political climate, Eisen said Trump could end up on the other end of a strategy that one of his advisers, billionaire PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, used in a civil privacy lawsuit against Gawker Media LLC : bankrolling someone else’s lawsuit to further a personal or political agenda.
Under constitutional immunity protections, Trump can’t be sued over official acts in the Oval Office. But he could be named in lawsuits for personal actions or those involving his businesses. And the presidency may offer no protection from lawsuits that started before he took office.
“Prior litigation related to his business will not be so easy to dismiss,” said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University. “Those types of cases are generally not covered by immunity rules.”
That raises the prospect of President Trump answering questions under oath in more depositions. Presidents and other high-ranking public officials aren’t exempt from them, Turley said, as Bill Clinton discovered in the Paula Jones case that led to his 1998 impeachment by the House of Representatives.
The danger for Trump is heightened given the sprawling nature of his business, the Trump Organization. The president-elect owns or controls some 500 companies involved in hotels, golf resorts, office buildings and condominium towers in several countries including Scotland, Ireland, Dubai and Indonesia.
“We’ve had presidents before who were rich, but we’re in some uncharted territory given Trump’s wealth and his myriad of business interests,” said Saikrishna Prakash, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law who specializes in constitutional separation of powers.
Prakash said Trump’s businesses could also be tempting legal targets because potential plaintiffs may think he would be more likely to settle cases — as he did with Trump University fraud lawsuits in the weeks after the election.
Trump paid $25 million to settle three lawsuits alleging the real estate school misled students into paying as much as $35,000 a year for instruction of little value. Trump said he did nothing wrong and was only settling so he could focus on the presidency.
The Trump Organization’s general counsel, Alan Garten, rejects the idea that the company is now more willing to pay judgments to plaintiffs, noting that Trump sat for a deposition last week instead of settling. Garten said the Trump Organization faces dozens of lawsuits, but most are small — personal injury lawsuits brought by visitors to Trump hotels and resorts, for example, or lawsuits brought by the company against guests who left without paying. He said no more than a dozen cases are significant.
Garten also said he wasn’t worried about future legal attacks funded by political opponents. “People will be wasting their time,” he said. He added he will “zealously defend” the company.
But that instinct to fight has sometimes led to Trump and his businesses dragging out cases.
Trump has decided to pursue two lawsuits against chefs— Jose Andres and Geoffrey Zakarian— who pulled out of restaurant deals in his new Washington hotel after the candidate made disparaging comments during his campaign about Mexican immigrants in the U.S. illegally.
The hotel may be facing additional legal entanglements. As The Washington Post recently reported , contractors have filed liens against the property in the past month, saying they are still owed money for their work.
Garten said that contractors filing liens aren’t unexpected given the hotel was such a big project, and that they aren’t a big deal.
Allegations of unpaid work are at the center of another pending dispute.
In 2014, a Florida paint store filed a lien against Trump’s Doral golf resort for $32,000 that it said it was owed for supplies during a renovation. Trump fought back and now, two years later, the store’s fees for its lawyers have mounted and added to the bill. In October, a circuit court awarded more than $310,000 to the store, but the case is still pending on an appeal filed by Trump and likely to continue months longer, said store lawyer Daniel Vega of Taylor Espino Vega & Touron.
Another tactic that may haunt Trump is his use of courts or private arbitration to attack the media, silence his critics and keep employees from talking.
Throughout his campaign, Trump routinely threatened legal action against news outlets, including The Associated Press, for coverage he claimed was unfair. He sought $10 million in damages against a former adviser he accused of violating a non-disclosure agreement. The matter was settled after the adviser, Sam Nunberg, contested the proceeding in New York state court.
Trump is also coming in with a state investigation into his charity hanging over his head.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman launched an investigation of The Donald J. Trump Foundation last year after news organizations revealed that Trump used the charity to settle lawsuits, make an illegal $25,000 political contribution to a group supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and purchase items such as a painting of himself that was displayed at one of his properties.
In December, Trump said he would dissolve the charity to avoid conflicts of interest, but Schneiderman has said the charity cannot close while the investigation is going on. In an email to the AP, spokeswoman Amy Spitalnick said she couldn’t say when the investigation will wrap up. Trump does not face the potential for criminal charges in that investigation, but he or the foundation could face fines and other civil penalties.
Prakash said the litigation problem is so big that Congress should pass a law freezing any legal action against sitting presidents until after they leave office. Such a law, Prakash argued in a Los Angeles Times op-ed article , should also bar presidents from bringing personal or business lawsuits while in office.
Obama ethics lawyer Eisen thinks the best solution is for Trump to divest his assets, as most recent presidents have done. The president-elect has given no indication he is considering such a move.
“This is going to be a monumental distraction,” Eisen said. Litigation facing the next president, he added, is likely to prove “embarrassing and damaging not just to Donald Trump but to the country.”
41 responses to “Lawsuits over Trump business threaten to tie up presidency”
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agree…Trump needs to be more fully investigated. He is by no means a clean candidate. Lots still to come out.
What political candidate is “clean”. Take obama for instance. One of the first things he did was seal all of his personal records. We still don’t know if he received financial aid as a foreign student.
Lol, Obama’s student loan? Oh yeah, that’s a big one.
OMG. Still hawking that line. Here, we understand where he is from.
The Kenyan will soon be history. Welcome President Trump. All will be well again.
Yes sarge, Obama will soon be gone to be replaced by a clown. Enjoy.
We are going to find out how clean Trump and his campaign advisers and aides are. Intelligence chiefs just gave a briefing in which the Russian (Putin) hackers had hacked into both the Republican and democratic campaigns. A credible British Intelligence agent had done research and found that Trump’s campaign advisers and surrogates were in communication with Russian agents throughout the Presidential campaign. The US Intelligence chiefs said the Russian hacks had very “compromising (damaging)personal and financial Information about Trump and the Republicans”. Trump claims he has no business connections in Russia. He built a Trump Hotel in Moscow; held a Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow. His son Eric, admitted a few months ago, Trump did a lot of business with the Russians. Trump has sold a lot of real estate in this country to Russian oil oligarchs, who see US real eastate as a safe haven for their money while the ruble as been devalued since oil trade sanctions were placed on Russia after the annexation of Crimea.
IRT Vector: I hope they make a movie about this WHOLE ELECTION, from start to finish…#MAGA
Carrot Top can play Trump!
First though, Carrot Top will have to get fat.
And Hillary too!
IRT beach bum: HAHAHAHA!!! Where you been at the beach??? You 2 months too late…#MAGA
More intelligence stuff about Trump and the Russian surveillance of him. Go to https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3259984-Trump-Intelligence-Allegations.html
Allie, Are you a Putin operative trying to usurp democracy?
This guy is vile. Sounds like pure greed. Own up trumpies. This country will be called Unitem States of Conflicts.
Relax. Trump is a business man with ties to a multitude of interests throughout the world. Litigation entanglements comes with the territory. You are over reacting.
Why don’t you guys care that he is so compromised? The DC hotel case was brought because he defaulted on his contracts for 5 million dollars to multiple companies. No, it’s not normal! No, it’s not what everyone does. He’s a danger because he is compromised, will say anything, and represents a major security risk. Defend him and the fallout is on you.
I didn’t like him or Clinton, however while Trump is a “potential” security risk, Clinton has already proven that she mishandles classified information.
With all of the checks and balances in place, I wouldn’t be too worried about Trump being the security risk you think he is.
Actually HRS, I kinda like the Donald. I viewed him as the best republican running. He is the only republican who was critical of GW, doesn’t look upon Russia as an evil empire, etc., however I could never vote for someone with zero experience and just lies. I think his conflicts of interest will probably be disastrous for this country and soon do him in. Time will tell.
NanakuliBoss, either United States of Conflicts, or United States of Amerussia.
“Obama ethics lawyer Eisen”
Some would view this as an oxymoron.
This will be interesting to see what becomes of this, when you are wealthy, you are the target of everyone who is trying to make some money through the litigation sweepstakes. Maybe this may be the impetus for rational tort reform from the President Elect, if that is the case, this will be well worth the trouble that is being raised.
Or, just maybe, some of them are contractors who fulfilled their obligation and are waiting to be paid. Waiting & waiting & waiting.
Mr. Trump chooses contractors who he believes are too small to fight him, and then he doesn’t pay them. He’s a loathsome POS who does not honor his own name on contracts.
Two small contractors just last week filed liens against his new hotel in Washington, DC for non-payment. He’s simply rotten to the core.
Something like you.
Trumpf word is worthless. He promised contractors,hard working blue collars, to pay his money owed. He lied. He views these blue collars as less then him and his $1000.suit.
Would be interesting if many of the contractors the Dump stiffed get together and file a class action suit. He might end up in the “Big” rather than White House.
Mic
I’m wealthy and no one has ever sued me. Of course, I honor my signature on contracts and pay my bills. Trump does none of that.
And if the bills amount to a 100 contractors and thousand workers, he will just bankrupt the whole project. Did this many times. Walked away from his word and obligations. Lies are his friends.
klastri, it’s time for you to face the truth. You are poor, homeless and on drugs and food stamps. The sooner you realize this the sooner you will be on the road to recovery.
Links???
Bruddah is making me tired, and he’s not even officially on the clock yet. yikes
The opposition, the democrats and globalists are doing everything in their power not to have president elect Trump take office.
There maybe incidents occurring on or before the 20th before the inauguration date of the president.
Once in office the ball starts rolling to go after all the politicians who did wrong illegal acts while in office. The current directors of both the FBI & DOJ are and will be looked into as well as all appointees made by those in charged.
He will be a hard working president compared to the outgoing one who was reported as a president who took 5 months of vacation a year.
All president compared to the outgoing one probably did more than Mr. Obama. They have him a park bench in his name here in Hawaii. Does that imply anything, maybe not.
IRT Bumby:
“All President compared to the outgoing one probably did more that Mr. Obama.”
That’s the PROBLEM, “…probably…”, you don’t know for sure but you’re willing to make that statement…#MAGA
Here’s something else that might “tie up Presidency”:
“Classified documents presented last week to President Obama and President-elect Trump included allegations that Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump, multiple US officials with direct knowledge of the briefings tell CNN.”
IRT bs: You LIE, Fake News, Whine Whine, Get over it HilLiary lost…Who cares about the Hacking…Obummer never do…You butt losers…10 days…January 20, 2017…#MAGA
Did I miss anything else???
More from CNN:
“the nation’s intelligence chiefs took the extraordinary step of including the synopsis in the briefing documents was to make the President-elect aware that such allegations involving him are circulating among intelligence agencies, senior members of Congress and other government officials in Washington, multiple sources tell CNN.
“These senior intelligence officials also included the synopsis to demonstrate that Russia had compiled information potentially harmful to both political parties, but only released information damaging to Hillary Clinton and Democrats. This synopsis was not an official part of the report from the intelligence community case about Russian hacks, but some officials said it augmented the evidence that Moscow intended to harm Clinton’s candidacy and help Trump’s, several officials with knowledge of the briefings tell CNN.
“The two-page synopsis also included allegations that there was a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between Trump surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government, according to two national security officials.”
I like the anonymous forum commenters…always making very vitriolic remarks, whether its about a murder trial, or a president-elect mired in lawsuits. Never heard anyone that lost a loved one in a violent crime trolling the papers…take a look at the Roof article and all of the “logical” comments about how we are no more violent and probably less so than in the past. I guess these people don’t cry at funerals, or mourn. Must be nice to be that way. OR been on the crap end of a lawsuit where someone did you wrong but has deep pockets and can literally make litigation go away by virtue of the amount of money they can throw away keeping a case alive through appeals. No business owner in your family was ever owed money huh? No sister in law tripped at a Las Vegas casino on their twice a year junket, and needs a walker now, but the hotel won’t pay up, electing to “fight” it out in court?
LOL! And just how much money does he owe to people – especially Russians?
AP has been reduced to a clown show.
One big tar baby