Democrats on the House Oversight Committee want Speaker Paul Ryan to side with them and against President-elect Trump by demanding the incoming president release financial documents that show his global financial dealings.
In a letter to Ryan Thursday, Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the committee, asked Ryan to act as a check on Trump and the executive branch. He said there are real concerns about Trump’s “global financial entanglements.”
“It is now up to Congress to exercise our constitutional duty to act as an independent check on the executive branch, by demanding all documents necessary to evaluate all of President-elect Trump’s global financial entanglements for conflicts of interest and constitutional violations — including in particular those involving Russian investors, business interests and development partners,” he wrote.
Cummings said there has to be a reason why Trump is vigorously defending Russian Vladimir Putin, a position very few other American politicians have taken, and he believes the answer is in his financial documents.
He told Ryan that Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., once said Russia makes up a “disproportionate” amount of the Trump Organization’s business and that needs to come to light.
“The Founders charged Congress with conducting an independent review of the president’s foreign business dealings and prohibiting any financial interests that could provide ‘an inlet to foreign corruption,'” Cummings told Ryan.
The letter detailed various potential ways Russia is involved in Trump’s business dealings, including an investment in the Trump SoHo property in Manhattan.
Cummings and other Democrats who signed the letter asked Ryan to work with them to get Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns, domestic and foreign, for the last five years; all documents referenced by Trump and his attorneys during his Wednesday press conference; all current corporate charters, balance sheets and income statements for the past five years; and all other documents necessary to show Trump isn’t violating the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.
That clause makes it illegal for the president to receive gifts or money from foreign governments, which is an impeachable offense. Many Democrats believe Trump will violate that clause the moment he takes office because he hasn’t done enough to separate himself from his business.
On Wednesday, Trump announced he would resign from the Trump Organization and the company would be controlled by his two adult sons. Trump is not divesting from the business because it’s not practical, according to his attorney.
