Ranking Member Raskin Introduces Dual Resolutions Demanding Trump Comply with Constitution’s Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses Amid a “Rampage of Presidential Profiteering and Plunder”

Washington, D.C. (April 16, 2026)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, led Democrats in filing two Resolutions calling on President Donald Trump, who has made at least $1.5 billion since returning to the White House, to end his “rampage of presidential profiteering and plunder” by complying with the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

The Resolutions respond to the unprecedented success the President has had using the powers of his office to make money for himself and his family, in clear violation of specific Constitutional commands, and, in some instances, at the direct expense of the American people, who are being asked to pay the tab.

“The Framers wrote several provisions into the Constitution to limit the President to his handsome salary in office and to keep him from lining his pockets with the money of the taxpayers or free-flowing bribes and gifts from foreign monarchs and governments. These Emoluments Clauses are not an advisory recommendation for best practices. They are binding constitutional commands to prevent the corruption and prostitution of our government. Every other president got that basic point. Only Donald Trump has turned the presidency into a for-profit enterprise.

“Trump has bulldozed part of the White House and turned what’s left of it into a money-making operation for himself and his family. He has sold out U.S. foreign policy to Kings, Princes and foreign states, collecting millions and billions of dollars from these prohibited foreign sources, through clandestine crypto schemes, his hotels and golf courses and outrageous family business dealings and ventures with the Gulf oil monarchs, all in direct contravention of Article I, Section 9. This tidal wave of foreign payments to the president and his family, completely without Congressional consent or authorization, is precisely the kind of foreign corruption of domestic politics that the Foreign Emoluments Clause prohibits. 

“Meantime, on the Domestic Emoluments front, Trump keeps using the United States Treasury and taxpayer dollars as a personal piggy bank, not only having federal departments and agencies stay at Trump Hotels and showering taxpayer money on allies and convicted criminals like Michael Flynn, his disgraced former national security adviser who twice plead guilty to lying about his contacts with Russians, but personally suing the federal government for more than $10 billion in utterly frivolous and trumped-up lawsuits. Congress must act to stop all of these inside-job ripoffs right now,” said Ranking Member Raskin.

The first Resolution addresses business deals between Trump and foreign government-backed entities, notably the $500 million investment deal between a firm tied to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Trump’s family crypto venture, World Liberty Financial. This deal created a 49% UAE stake in Trump’s business, which smoothed the path for UAE to secure access to advanced U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) chips. This Resolution calls on President Trump, Special Envoy Steven Witkoff, and other federal officials to comply fully with the Foreign Emoluments Clause by divesting from such business interests and immediately turning over any related private payments from UAE or other foreign governments to the U.S. Treasury.

The second Resolution specifically addresses President Trump’s ongoing legal claims against the federal government, including a lawsuit filed in January seeking at least $10 billion in taxpayer funds from the Internal Revenue Service, for alleged injuries resulting from the disclosure of his income tax returns by an IRS contractor. The Resolution calls on the Department of Justice to refuse any administrative settlement of such claims, emphasizing that allowing a President to effectively approve payments to himself would violate the Domestic Emoluments Clause (Article II, Section I, Clause 7), which forbids the President from collecting any money from the United States outside of his official salary.

The Foreign Emoluments Clause prohibits federal officeholders from accepting payments or benefits from foreign states or monarchs without congressional consent, while the Domestic Emoluments Clause bars the President from receiving additional compensation from federal or state governments beyond his official salary.

Judiciary Democrats filed a previous resolution demanding that Trump comply with the Constitutional rules on foreign gifts by seeking Congressional consent before accepting a $400 million luxury jetliner from Qatar’s royal family.

28 House Democrats are original cosponsors of the resolutions.

The text of the Foreign Emoluments Clause Resolution can be read here and the text of the Domestic Emoluments Clause Resolution can be read here.