Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said Donald Trump fulfilled “the worst fears and nightmares of the founders” following the release of House Democrats report showing he earned nearly $8 million from foreign governments while he was in the White House.
“The founders of our Constitution were terrified that presidents or other federal officials or members of Congress would sell out the American national interests simply by receiving money from foreign governments and doing their bidding,” Raskin said during an appearance on Morning Joe Friday morning, according to a clip shared by Mediaite.
“Donald Trump has fulfilled the worst fears and nightmares of the founders,” Raskin added.
House Oversight Committee Democrats released a report Thursday showing Trump businesses received at least $7.8 million from 20 foreign governments while he was president.
A majority of the payments, about $5.5 million, came from China. Some other countries that made payments to Trump were Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, India and Afghanistan.
The report only covered two of Trump’s four years in office and just four of his business, which means the sum is likely much higher.
“It was a moneymaking operation from the beginning,” Raskin said of the Trump administration, “and we’re just starting to find the millions and millions of dollars he collected from the government.”
Raskin, the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, suggested that the payments violate the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause.
“The framers set up a system, and it’s in the Constitution that the only thing that the president can take is his salary from Americans,” he said. “So you’re not being bankrolled by Saudi monarchs and by Chinese communist bureaucrats.”
