The Ledger

All Domains

Domain 04

Emoluments and Constitutional Financial Violations

Foreign and domestic emoluments, constitutional financial conflicts of interest.

19 entries

EMOL-014Tier 3Documented

The $TRUMP Meme Coin Dinner: Selling Presidential Access to Top Cryptocurrency Holders

2025 - 2025

In January 2025, days before his second inauguration, Donald Trump launched the $TRUMP meme coin, a cryptocurrency token from which Trump and his business partners stood to profit directly. In May 202...

EMOL-011Tier 3Ongoing

Cryptocurrency, Meme Coins, and the Presidency: Trump's World Liberty Financial Venture, the $TRUMP and $MELANIA Tokens, and Second-Term Emoluments Concerns

2024 - 2026

Beginning in September 2024, during his presidential campaign, Donald Trump launched a series of cryptocurrency ventures that continued to generate revenue for his family after he took office for a se...

EMOL-018Tier 3Ongoing

Rolling Back Crypto Regulation While Holding Crypto Assets: The Trump Family's World Liberty Financial and the SEC's Retreat from Enforcement

2024 - 2026

In September 2024, during his presidential campaign, Donald Trump and his family launched World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency venture in which the Trump family holds a 75 percent share of net pr...

EMOL-005Tier 4Documented

Ivanka Trump China Trademarks: Foreign Government Approvals Coinciding with Diplomatic Engagements

2017 - 2018

While serving as a senior adviser in the White House, Ivanka Trump maintained ownership of her eponymous fashion and lifestyle brand, which held and actively sought trademarks in foreign countries, in...

EMOL-010Tier 3Documented

Promoting Trump-Branded Products from the White House: Goya Beans, Ivanka's Fashion Line, and the Use of Official Office for Commercial Endorsement

2017 - 2020

During Trump's first term, the president, his family members serving as senior advisers, and senior White House officials used official positions and government platforms to promote commercial product...

EMOL-001Tier 2Dismissed as Moot

Emoluments Clause Lawsuits: Three Federal Cases Alleging Constitutional Violations Through Business Profits

2017 - 2021

Three federal lawsuits filed between 2017 and 2018 alleged that Donald Trump violated the Constitution's Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses by continuing to profit from his hotel and business emp...

EMOL-002Tier 3Hotel Sold

Trump International Hotel DC: $3.7 Million in Foreign Government Payments and GSA Lease Violations

2017 - 2022

Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C., located in the federally owned Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue, operated throughout Donald Trump's first presidential term as a high-profile...

EMOL-003Tier 4Documented

Mar-a-Lago: Pay-for-Access and Security Breaches at the 'Winter White House'

2017 - 2021

Throughout Donald Trump's first term, his private club Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, functioned as an informal seat of government where paying members gained proximity to the president, foreign d...

EMOL-004Tier 3Documented

Doral G7 and Government Spending at Trump Properties: Self-Dealing Through Federal Business

2017 - 2021

Throughout his first term, Trump directed or permitted federal government spending at properties he owned, a pattern that transferred taxpayer and government funds to his private business. The most dr...

EMOL-006Tier 3Documented

Taxpayer Costs of Presidential Golf Trips: Over $150 Million Spent at Trump-Owned Properties During First Term

2017 - 2021

During his first term in office, Donald Trump played golf approximately 293 days at his own properties, generating an estimated $151.5 million in taxpayer-funded costs for travel, security, and suppor...

EMOL-008Tier 4Ongoing

Trump Organization Foreign Licensing Deals During the Presidency: Ongoing Business Relationships in Countries Where U.S. Foreign Policy Was Active

2017 - 2026

Throughout both of Donald Trump's presidential terms, the Trump Organization has maintained active licensing and management agreements with foreign business partners in countries where U.S. foreign po...

EMOL-009Tier 4Documented

Jared Kushner's Business Conflicts While Serving as Senior White House Adviser: 666 Fifth Avenue Bailout, Foreign Entanglements, and Security Clearance Failures

2017 - 2021

Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, served as a senior adviser to the president throughout the entirety of Trump's first term while maintaining significant financial interests that intersected with his...

EMOL-013Tier 3Documented

3,400 Conflicts of Interest: Trump's Refusal to Divest From His Businesses During the Presidency

2017 - 2021

Donald Trump was the first president in modern American history to maintain ownership of a sprawling private business empire while serving in office. Every president since Jimmy Carter had either dive...

EMOL-015Tier 4Documented

Ghost Bookings at Trump Hotels: Foreign Governments Reserved Rooms They Never Used, Effectively Making Payments to the President's Business

2017 - 2021

During Donald Trump's presidency, House investigators and journalists documented a pattern in which foreign governments and politically connected organizations booked large blocks of rooms at Trump's ...

EMOL-012Tier 3Documented

Trump Tower Moscow: Pursuing a Russian Business Deal During the 2016 Campaign While Publicly Denying Russian Connections

2015 - 2019

While running for president in 2015 and 2016, Donald Trump and the Trump Organization actively pursued a licensing deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, a project that could have generated over $300 ...

EMOL-016Tier 4Resolved

The Trump International Hotel Lease Sale: $375 Million Exit After Years of Government Patronage Inflated the Property's Value

2012 - 2022

In May 2022, the Trump Organization completed the sale of its long-term lease on the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. to CGI Merchant Group, a Miami-based investment firm, for $375 millio...

EMOL-019Tier 4No Active Investigation

Trump Towers Istanbul: Licensing Fees from Erdogan-Connected Developer While Shaping U.S. Policy Toward Turkey

2012 - 2019

Trump Towers Istanbul consists of two conjoined skyscrapers in the Sisli district of Istanbul, Turkey, containing a residential tower, an office tower, a shopping mall with approximately 80 shops, and...

EMOL-017Tier 4Documented

Trump-Branded Real Estate That Defrauded International Buyers: Failed Licensing Projects in Baja Mexico, Fort Lauderdale, Toronto, Panama, and SoHo

2005 - 2016

Between 2005 and 2016, the Trump Organization licensed the Trump name to real estate developers across multiple countries in a business model that allowed the Trump family to collect licensing fees an...

EMOL-007Tier 4Documented

Foreign Government Spending at Trump Properties: Saudi, Kuwaiti, Qatari, and Other Foreign Government Payments Beyond the Washington Hotel

2001 - 2021

While the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. (documented in EMOL-001) became the most visible venue for foreign government spending at Trump properties, a broader pattern of foreign governm...