Have Trump Business Interests Guided U.S. Foreign Policy?

News  |  Jan 23, 2019

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-NY) has announced plans to investigate whether President Trump's business interests are steering his national foreign policy decisions. 

CNN

"I'm concerned about -- we want to make sure that policies are being made based on what's good for the United States and not what might be good for the president personally," Engel said. "I mean, there are a lot of people who look at the Constitution and say that it's being violated right now."

Asked whether he thought the Constitution was being violated, Engel said: "I think we'll find out soon. I think it's a possibility, yeah."

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Democratic lawmakers have brought a lawsuit against the President, which is still pending, over foreign payments to his businesses, accusing him of violating the emoluments clause by not seeking congressional approval to accept payments from foreign governments. The issue is something that several Democratic committee chairman have vowed to investigate.

In addition, Democrats have raised questions about the President's financial ties to Saudi Arabia following his response to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi ... 

Engel and House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff of California have also both expressed interest in seeking the testimony of the interpreters who were present for Trump's meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The staffs of the two committees met last week to discuss their next steps and whether issue subpoenas.

Engel said that his committee is organizing next week, which will allow it to begin holding hearings. Engel said that his first hearing will examine US policy and the civil war in Yemen.

House Foreign Affairs plans probe into whether Trump's businesses impact foreign policy decisions (CNN)