President-elect Donald Trump could be impeached over his hotel soiree with foreign diplomats, legal experts say

DONALD Trump’s presidency could be cut extremely short. Legal experts say his latest gaffe could lead to his downfall sooner than anyone expected.

Foreign diplomats are lining up to stay at the Trump International Hotel. Picture: Supplied

IT HAS a day spa named after Ivanka and a Presidential Suite to die for.

But the Trump International Hotel could bring the real estate mogul’s time in the Oval Office to an abrupt end.

A Harvard Law professor says President-elect Donald Trump could be impeached the moment he takes office over comments made to foreign diplomats.

During a gathering at his new, spare-no-expense hotel in Washington DC, Mr Trump wined and dined visiting officials in the opulence of the hotel’s Lincoln Library, a junior ballroom with 16-foot ceilings and velvet drapes.

Ethical concerns were raised after a number of delegates admitted they would be tempted to stay at the hotel when visiting the US capital, in a bid to curry favour with the President.

“Believe me, all the delegations will go there,” one Middle Eastern diplomat told the Washington Post.

“Why wouldn’t I stay at his hotel blocks from the White House, so I can tell the new president, ‘I love your new hotel!’ Isn’t it rude to come to his city and say, ‘I am staying at your competitor?’” said another.

Mr Trump has been urged to divest ownership of his new hotel. Picture: Chip Somodevilla

Mr Trump built the hotel inside the former Post Office Pavilion, which his company leased from the US Federal Government in a 60-year deal worth $US180 million.

Commentators have flagged this as an “unprecedented and intolerable” conflict of interest that puts the integrity of federal procurement at risk, calling on Mr Trump to step down from running his company or for the government to terminate the lease.

But a more dramatic conclusion could be in order, with legal experts backing the possibility that the hotelier could face impeachment when he becomes President in January.

Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor who served as chief ethics counsel to President George W Bush, believes that Trump breached the US Constitution by schmoozing with diplomats at his swanky hotel.

The officials’ attempt to get on Trump’s good side by staying in his hotel “looks like a gift,” Prof Painter told ThinkProgress, which argued that the President-elect was “actively soliciting business from agents of foreign governments”.

“Why would you stay anywhere else?” Picture: Supplied

And toning down his approach one in office would not save Mr Trump, the analysis said, because “the message that diplomats can earn the favour of the new president by staying in his hotels has already been received, and it can’t exactly be unsaid”.

ThinkProgress argues that this would breach the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which states that federal officials may only do business with foreign government if they do not receive “special treatment”, Prof Painter said.

Harvard Professor of Constitutional Laurence Tribe weighted in on Twitter, backing the ThinkProgress analysis. If Mr Trump was impeached, Vice President-elect Mike Pence would take his place as President.

It is not the first time impeachment has been raised in regards to Mr Trump; A law professor at the University of Utah has argued that the Trump University debacle alone is enough to impeach him on.

Article II of the US Constitution provides that the President “shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanours”.

But, unless some kind of Republican conspiracy is afoot, it is unlikely to happen before 2018, since the GOP will control both the House of Representatives and the Senate when Mr Trump takes office.

The Trump clan could rake in extra cash because of their patriarch’s job. Pic: Getty

HOW IS A PRESIDENT IMPEACHED?

Here’s the full section from Article II of the US Constitution:

“The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanours.”

So the President is sackable. If Mr Trump did something outrageous enough to justify his removal from office, there is a constitutional mechanism that could make it happen.

We’re fairly sure Mr Trump hasn’t committed treason or bribery, so that leaves “other high crimes and misdemeanours” as the possible justification for his impeachment. The definition of that is pretty vague.

Say, hypothetically, Mr Trump has done something appropriately awful. The next step is for the House of Representatives to pass articles of impeachment with a simple majority. At that point, the President has officially been impeached.

Then he faces a trial in the Senate, presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. At the moment, that’s Justice John Roberts, who was appointed by George W. Bush. At the end of the trial the Senate votes, and a two-thirds majority is required for a conviction.

If he’s convicted, the President is removed from office. In this case, that would result in Mike Pence becoming the new President.

Mr Trump would put up a fight.

IT’S HAPPENED BEFORE

Two previous presidents have been impeached. The first, Andrew Johnson, was tried for violating the Tenure of Office Act, and acquitted in 1868. It was as boring as it sounds. The second, Bill Clinton, was impeached on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in the wake of the Lewinsky scandal, and was also acquitted.

Richard Nixon was almost impeached over Watergate, but resigned as president before the necessary resolutions could pass in the House of Representatives.

So, there is precedent here. But ultimately, the probability of a push for impeachment succeeding is dependent on public opinion.

“Ninety-nine per cent of the game is how popular is the president,” Bruce Fein, who was involved in the Clinton impeachment, told Politico in April. If President Trump’s approval rating is high, no one will dare to move against him.

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Originally published as President-elect Donald Trump could be impeached over his hotel soiree with foreign diplomats, legal experts say