During last night’s Fox News town hall, scandal-ridden former President Donald Trump openly admitted that he broke one of the cardinal rules of the United States presidency by receiving and accepting money from foreign governments such as China — but apparently, he believes it’s totally acceptable and not at all a big deal because his business was “doing services” for them, making it all okay in his eyes.
The topic was in the air during last night’s town hall event after Democrats on the House Oversight Committee accused Donald Trump of accepting monetary payments from foreign governments from countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar while in the office of the US presidency — which I do not have to tell you is a pretty big and well-known no-no.
Newsweek reports on the allegations:
The report accused Trump of violating the U.S. Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause, which prohibits federal officials from accepting money or gifts from foreign governments without permission from Congress, after overseas officials stayed in his real estate company’s hotels and apartments during his time in the White House.
The January 4 report alleged that four businesses owned by Trump received around $7.8 million from 20 countries during his time in office, including at least $5.5 million from China, during his first two years as president. The report was released amid House Republicans’ attempts to impeach President Joe Biden over allegations he benefited from his son Hunter Biden’s foreign dealings while in office, despite no evidence to back up the claims.”
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Trump wasted no time in using the town hall event to not only defend himself against the accusations but basically tell the world that he’s definitely going to do it again.
The former president made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that he has every intention of retaining his stake in his real estate empire and family business, the Trump Organization, which is currently run and operated in large part by his sons Don Jr. and Eric Trump, should he return to the White House in 2024. He then went on to vehemently defend the money that he received through said real estate empire during his four-year presidential term between 2016 and 2020.
“If I have a hotel and somebody comes in from China, that’s a small amount of money,” Trump bellowed. “But I was doing services for them, people were staying in these massive hotels, these beautiful hotels—because I have the best hotels and the best clubs, I have great stuff—and they stay there and they pay.”
He pointedly added, “I don’t get $8 million for doing nothing.”
You can watch the town hall clip here:
Oops.
Republicans in Congress denied it but Donald Trump just admitted he did receive money from China while he was president. pic.twitter.com/gnwD0dhLqZ
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) January 11, 2024
Featured image via screen capture
