COURTS/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP BUSINESS: “The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court on Monday [12-17-18] to throw out or at least temporarily halt a lawsuit that accuses President Trump of illegally benefiting from his family’s business, seeking to block more than three dozen subpoenas for documents from the Trump Organization, the president’s trust and other entities. The department acted in response to recent rulings by a federal district judge in a lawsuit brought by the District of Columbia and the State of Maryland. The lawsuit alleges that Mr. Trump has violated the Constitution’s anticorruption clauses, in part by accepting payments from foreign officials who patronize the Trump International Hotel, only blocks from the White House…The federal judge overseeing the case, Peter J. Messitte of the United States District Court in Greenbelt, Md., has issued a series of rulings that have allowed the lawsuit to proceed to the evidence-gathering stage. This month, attorneys general for Maryland and the District of Columbia, who contend the Trump hotel unfairly competes with convention centers and hotels in their jurisdictions, issued 38 subpoenas for documents from the hotel and other entities.”
–Sharon LaFraniere, “Justice Department Asks Court to Halt Emoluments Case Against Trump,” The New York Times online, December 17, 2018