01-18-2017, 03:34 PM
(01-18-2017, 03:01 PM)Mike M (the other one) Wrote: Why they are not considered Government Employees I am not sure, but I'm not a fan of him maintaining control of his company while in office, but the law is the law.
Let the bureaucrat step in to answer this.
The reason they are not beholden to the same ethics rules in the executive branch as the other employees is that their employment is not by contract. Every other executive branch employee, from federal down to municipal, must sign contracts regarding not having conflicts of interest. But, since the POTUS and VPOTUS are not employed via contract, this does not apply to them.
Now, there are some legal questions regarding emoluments. Essentially, the POTUS cannot accept money/gifts from the states or from foreign governments. This is in the Constitution. These clauses have never been tested in the courts. Since our judiciary system cannot rule on hypothetical situations (unlike in some other countries) this cannot hit the courts until Trump is sworn in. Honestly, win or lose, this is a case that will be important moving forward as globalization has made it much easier for someone to be receiving money in that way.
The last time this much stink was made about CoI with the POTUS was Jimmy Carter's peanut farm, and that was, well, peanuts compared to the Trump questions.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
