The attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia said they will sue President Donald J. Trump on Monday, arguing he has violated a constitutional prohibition on accepting gifts from foreign governments.
The lawsuit, which comes days after the Justice Department defended Trump's business empire from accepting foreign payments in a separate, similar case, alleges that the president has violated the Emoluments Clause by accepting millions of dollars in payments on properties his company owns.
Attorneys General Brian E. Frosh of Maryland and Karl A. Racine of Washington – both Democrats – will file the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Maryland on Monday, officials said. The litigation is similar to a case filed this year by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a Washington watchdog group.
The lawsuit, first reported by The Washington Post, comes months after state lawmakers in Annapolis gave Frosh broad authority to bypass the governor and sue the federal government on a range of issues.
The attorneys general allege that Trump has violated the Constitution through leases of Trump properties held by foreign governments as well as foreign governments buying condominiums and hotel rooms in properties owned by the Trump organization, including the Trump hotel in Downtown Washington.
Designed to limit the potential for corrupting influences from outside governments, the framers included language in the constitution that said "no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state."
Trump said in January he would turn over the day-to-day operation of his real estate empire to his family and place its assets in a trust, but the administration has not disclosed the details of that arrangement. In April, documents reviewed by ProPublica demonstrated that the president may continue to receive payments from the trust at his discretion.
A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.