Rick Schumann's Journal: The Crimes of Donald J. Trump: Second in a Series

JANUARY 2017

January 10, 2017 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Donald Trump approached him about leading an investigation into âoeVaccine Safety.â The prospect that vaccination can lead to autism has been repeatedly debunked by long-running, peer-reviewed studies. Trump had supported the anti-vaccination theory on stage at the 2015 presidential debates. In September 2015 he publicly stated, âoeWe had so many instances, people that work for me, just the other day, two years old, a beautiful child, went to have the vaccine and came back and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic.â

â" January 11, 2017 â" Donald Trumpâ(TM)s lawyer Sheri Dillon stated that Trump would âoevoluntarily donate all profits from foreign government payments made to his hotel to the United States Treasury.â Two months into his presidency, no evidence existed that Trump had followed through with this promise. If Trump did accept payments from foreign states through his businesses, as his lawyer claimed, he may have been in violation of the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution. This clause forbids government officials from accepting âoeany present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.â

â" January 11, 2017 â" Donald Trump refused to divest from his real estate companies or place his assets in a blind trust, as encouraged by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. The United States Government designates a âoeQualified Blind Trust:â for executive branch employees as one where the trustee has no relation whatsoever to the government official. Contrary to this, President Trump opted to entrust business operations of his companies to his sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. According to the Director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, Trumpâ(TM)s arrangement âoedoesnâ(TM)t meet the standards that the best of his nominees are meeting and that every President in the past four decades has met.â By continuing to maintain a direct connection with his businesses, Trump may have violated the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. This clause forbids government officials from accepting âoeany present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.â

â" January 17, 2017 â" After accusing him of sexual misconduct, Summer Zervos also filed a defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump. Zervos claimed Trump had tarnished her reputation when he issued false statements against her and others who had accused him of sexual harassment, calling them âoeliarsâ who were telling their stories for âoeten minutes of fame.â

â" January 20, 2017 â" During Inauguration Day, Melania Trumpâ(TM)s biography on the White Houseâ(TM)s official website, whitehouse.gov, included a paragraph that promoted her jewelry line, âoeMelaniaâ Timepieces & Jewelry.â

â" January 20, 2017 â" Before his election, Donald Trump had promised to entrust management of his companies to his children. But on the day Trump took office as president, state officials still had not received paperwork demonstrating that Trump had relinquished ownership in his companies. In order to transfer his ownership stake, Trump would have needed to file documents with state offices in Florida, Delaware, and New Yorkâ"the states where his holdings reside. State officials from all three states confirmed with ProPublica that they had not received the necessary documentation when Trump took office.

â" January 20, 2017 â" Within hours of his inauguration, Donald Trump took aim at the Affordable Care Act in his first executive order as president. Following up on his campaignâ(TM)s recurring promise to dismantle Obamacare, the order weakened the program by allowing states to âoewaive, defer, grant exemptions from or delay implementation of any provision or requirementâ that would place a âoefiscal burdenâ on the state.

â" January 21, 2016 â" In his first conference as White House press secretary, Sean Spicer stated emphatically that the gathering on the National Mall for Trumpâ(TM)s inaugural address, âoewas the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period.â Photo evidence of Barack Obamaâ(TM)s first inauguration and subsequent crowd analyses of Trumpâ(TM)s crowd proved this was untrue.

â" January 22, 2017 â" Senior White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said that Sean Spicerâ(TM)s false statements about the crowd size at Donald Trumpâ(TM)s inauguration were not lies, but âoealternative facts.â

â" January 22, 2017 â" Donald Trump refused to release his tax returns to the public, both during the campaign and after his election. He is the first president in over 40 years to withhold his financial information from the American public. Upon Trumpâ(TM)s election, senior counselor Kellyanne Conway explained his refusal, saying, âoeThe White House response is that heâ(TM)s not going to release his tax returns⦠we litigated this all through the election. People didnâ(TM)t care. They voted for him.â Donald Trump and his administration have justified his decision to break with historic precedent and keep his financial information from public scrutiny by saying that Trump is under a âoeroutine auditâ from the Internal Revenue Service. Officials from the IRS have clarified that an audit does not restrict a citizen from revealing their tax information.

January 23, 2017 â" Three days after Donald Trump took office, the Trump Organization filed paperwork confirming Trumpâ(TM)s resignation from over 400 companies. This suggests that, for his first three days as President of the United States, Trump was also an executive in over 400 private companies. When he did eventually file paperwork to relinquish his ownership, he still did not follow the advice of ethics experts by divesting from his assetsâ"meaning Trump had visibility on his private business interests.

â" January 24, 2017 â" Donald Trump signed executive memos to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, both of which had been blocked by Barack Obama. The Dakota Access inspired fervent protests from Native Americans and environmentalists, who asserted the proposed pipeline would taint drinking water and threaten sacred worshipping grounds. Speaking to a crowd of auto industry executives, Trump explained his decision to greenlight both pipelines, saying, âoeI am, to a large extent, an environmentalist⦠But itâ(TM)s out of control, and weâ(TM)re going to make it a very short process. And weâ(TM)re going to either give you your permits, or weâ(TM)re not going to give you your permits. But youâ(TM)re going to know very quickly. And generally speaking, weâ(TM)re going to be giving you your permits.â

â" January 24, 2017 â" Donald Trump barred all employees of the Environmental Protection Agency from posting on social media or speaking with reporters about their work.

â" January 25, 2017 â" Following up on his campaign promise to crack down on immigration, Donald Trump signed an executive order to both bolster the United States deportation force and direct construction of a wall along the Mexican border. The executive order also expanded the definition of âoepriority for deportationâ to include anyone charged with a criminal offense. Rather than requiring a conviction by a court, âoepriority for deportationâ would henceforth apply to any âoeacts that constitute a chargeable offenseââ"including minor offenses such as traffic violations and shoplifting.

â" January 25, 2017 â" After Donald Trump won the presidential election, his Palm Beach resort, Mar-a-Lago, doubled its initiation fee to $200,000.

â" January 25, 2017 â" Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to withhold âoefederal funds, except as mandated by lawâ from so-called âoesanctuary cities.â Sanctuary cities are municipalities where local police will not necessarily contact federal deportation officials if they find an arrestee is undocumented. Because they prevent reflexive deportation, these areas are considered shields against deportation for established undocumented immigrants. After Trumpâ(TM)s executive order to restrict federal funding, some sanctuary cities protested the order, saying they would not comply with deportation forces. Of the 168 counties where a majority of Americaâ(TM)s 11 million undocumented immigrants live, 69 of them (including Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York) said they would not comply federal requests to hold undocumented arrestees for ICE deportation forces.

â" January 26, 2017 In advance of a meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, Donald Trump tweeted that, If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting. Peña Nieto canceled the meeting.

â" January 27, 2017 â" At a private dinner, Donald Trump allegedly demanded loyalty from FBI Director James Comey. Comey claimed Trump said to him, âoeI need loyalty, I expect loyalty.â Comey had replied that he would always be honest with [Trump], but that he was not âreliableâ(TM) in the conventional political sense. Comey went on to explain why the Department of Justice and FBI should remain independent of each other. Director Comey was dismissed from office four months later.

â" January 27, 2017 â" Donald Trump signed what would become known as the âtravel ban,â an executive order which imposed a 90-day ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, while also indefinitely halting incoming refugees from Syria. Trumpâ(TM)s travel ban still allowed travelers from other Muslim-majority countries where he held extensive business interests, such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

â" January 29, 2017 â" Amid vehement backlash, Donald Trump aggressively defended his travel ban. Trump claimed that limiting immigration and refugees would protect the country from terrorists. He argued, âoeThis is not about religionâ"this is about terror.â In the fifteen years since 9/11, jihadists have killed a total of 94 people on American soil; none of these jihadists came from the countries banned by Trump.

â" January 29, 2017 â" Donald Trump ordered a raid in Yemen during which one Navy SEAL was killed, five American soldiers were wounded, and nearly 30 civilians died. The U.S. Central Command acknowledged that the civilian casualties âoemay include children.â A month later, U.S. officials announced the raid had yielded no new intelligence.

â" January 30, 2017 â" Donald Trump fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates for refusing to defend the travel ban. In a repudiation of the president, Yates had instructed Justice Department lawyers not to defend the executive order from any legal challenges.

â" January 30, 2017 â" Trump signed an executive order which instructed federal agencies to remove two regulations on private businesses for each new one added. The order also stipulated new rules should offset additional cost to businesses by eliminating regulations of equal or greater value to business bottom line.

â" January 31, 2017 â" Almost a year after Antonin Scaliaâ(TM)s death left one seat vacant on the Supreme Court, Donald Trump nominated Colorado judge Neil Gorsuch to take Scaliaâ(TM)s place. Barack Obama had nominated Merrick Garland to the position in 2016, but Senate Republicans broke with historic precedent and refused to hold Garlandâ(TM)s confirmation hearings.

â" January 2017 â" At least two foreign government-owned entities rented space in Trump Tower, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority. Donald Trump has announced he would not sell his ownership stake in Trump Hotels, and has argued, through his lawyer Sheri Dillon, that they didnâ(TM)t think âoepaying your hotel bill was an emolumentâ. The Emoluments Clause of the Constitution forbids government officials from accepting âoeany present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.â A lawsuit brought against Trump for maintaining his ownership stake rebutted Dillonâ(TM)s argument, saying, âoeAs the Framers were aware, private financial interests can subtly sway even the most virtuous leaders, and entanglements between American officials and foreign powers could pose a creeping, insidious threat to the Republic.â

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