On Friday, President Donald Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020. This bill, among other things, includes the establishment of the Space Force as the sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, as well as 12 weeks of paid parental leave for federal workers. However, noticeably absent from this bill was an end to American support for Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, nearly two years after the New York-based human rights advocacy group Human Rights Watch reported that Saudi Arabia's coalition, supported by the United States, had committed 87 attacks that were in violation of international law, which killed almost 1,000 civilians, and just over a year after it was concluded by the CIA that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman orchestrated the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Earlier this year, President Trump even vetoed a joint resolution, passed by Congress with bipartisan support, that would have ended U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition in the war in Yemen. So, why is the president apparently perfectly fine with supporting this illegal intervention? The answer to this question lies in the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
First of all, what is the Emoluments Clause? Well, it's a constitutional provision that basically prohibits the president from accepting money from foreign government. Allegations that President Trump has violated the clause by keeping the lease he owns in his D.C. hotel were confirmed in January of this year by the General Services Administration's (GSA) inspector general. Last year, The Washington Post discovered that, within a month after Trump's 2016 election to the presidency, Saudi government lobbyists paid for 500 rooms at the hotel over the course of three months. Organizers and veterans, who were offered a free trip to D.C. by these lobbyists, said that they were sent by the lobbyists to express opposition to Saudi government-opposed legislation. These lobbyists paid over $270,000 for the veterans' stays at the hotel, an average of $768 per night. The Post also reported that Trump had registered eight companies in Saudi Arabia during the election.
Given these statistics, it's not hard to see why President Trump has shown unwillingness to be tough on Saudi Arabia, even as they commit war crimes in Yemen. After all, money talks in Washington, and as long as Trump is profiting off of their government, he's going to keep doing favors for them, even as they greatly endanger our reputation and credibility.
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