JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LAWSUIT/TRUMP BUSINESS: “A federal appeals court temporarily halted on Thursday [12-20-18] a lawsuit that accuses President Trump of illegally benefiting from his family’s business, an interim victory for the Justice Department in its effort to block more than three dozen subpoenas for documents from the Trump Organization, the president’s trust and other entities. A lower court judge had allowed the lawsuit, brought by the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland, to proceed to the evidence-gathering stage. Attorneys general for the two local jurisdictions have alleged that Mr. Trump has violated the Constitution’s anticorruption clauses by accepting payments, or emoluments, from foreign, federal and state officials who patronized the Trump International Hotel, located just blocks from the White House. They say the president’s hotel siphons off business from hotels and convention centers that generate revenue for their governments. In a series of rulings, the federal judge overseeing the case, Peter J. Messitte of the United States District Court in Greenbelt, Md., has ruled against the president.”
–Sharon LaFraniere, “Court Temporarily Halts Emoluments Suit Against Trump,” The New York Times online, December 20, 2018