Is it OK for President Trump to accept a gift from the Qatari royal family in the form of a multimillion-dollar airplane? In a guest essay, ethics counsels from the Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama White Houses — Virginia Canter, Richard Painter and Norman Eisen — write that the answer is clearly no. What's more, they argue, Trump is "transgressing" the rules against foreign government gifts for presidents "in the most brazen of ways." They point not just to the airplane but also to his "crypto entanglements," which they argue are "just as bad — perhaps even worse." They explain, "The foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution forbids the president from accepting a present or emolument — a benefit, or anything of value — from a foreign government without permission from Congress." Modern presidents have had an ethics lawyer (or multiple ones) like these guest essay writers in the White House to wrestle with issues like the ones raised here. In some instances, special counsels were brought in for specific jobs, such as the Whitewater investigation in the Clinton White House or Russiagate in Trump's first term. President Barack Obama was unusual in proactively appointing a special counsel ethics "czar" to help prevent lapses. He picked Norman Eisen for that position. In his memoir, Obama recounts asking Eisen's counsel about an issue related to the propriety of certain out-of-town travel. The response: "If it sounds fun, you can't go." Every White House has its own view of boundaries. On the issues in the guest essay, the writers' conclusion is decisive: "There is no room for this kind of flagrant disregard of the Constitution in the skies above or in digital wallets down below." Here's what we're focusing on today:
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