Sunday, November 27, 2016

Priority questions for Congress

There are many questions relative to the pending Trump presidency. These questions are deserving of prioritizing by the President-Elect and Congress. 

The conflicts of interest presented by the Trump business empire should be of very high priority, because they potentially have bearing on every action to be taken starting on day one (January 20th) of the Trump administration. The questions need addressing starting now, and not waiting until January 20th.

Here are some priority questions for immediate consideration by Congress:

1. What is the relationship between the constitutional oath of office to "faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States" and the exemption for the President that is provided in the "conflicts of interest" statute? What does the word "faithfully" mean in the constitutional oath of office? Can Trump do anything he wants in service of the interests of his business empire and his family, or does the word "faithfully" limit what Trump can do?

2. If the word "faithfully" means there are limitations on what Trump can do, do you think Trump understands that?

3. What is the role of Congress in overseeing whether the President is "faithfully" executing his office? Can Congress impeach the President if it determines that the President has failed to faithfully execute his office? What if the President has one view of what "faithfully" means, and Congress has a differing view?

4. Do you currently have any concerns that President Trump will not faithfully execute his office? What assurances have you gotten thus far, or do you think assurances have been lacking? What do you understand is the President-Elect's understanding  of the word "faithfully"? To the extent you understand what Trump's understanding is, do you agree or disagree with Trump's understanding of what the word "faithfully" means?

5. Given that the question of whether Trump is faithfully executing his office will be relevant immediately starting January 20th, don't you and other members of Congress need to start your own consideration of this matter immediately, so that the country, the Trump administration and Congress are on good ground for moving forward starting January 20th?

Getting Congress to address the above questions:
Efforts to get Congress to address these questions will be more effective if done in an organized and coordinated way.
I am a resident of Alabama and am posing the questions to the Alabama legislative delegation in Washington per Priority questions for AL legislative delegation. I have sent tweets to the Alabama delegation and have posted the tweets in Priority questions for AL legislative delegation. In the next week or so, I will send hundreds or thousands of tweets to Alabama residents giving a link to Priority questions for AL legislative delegation. My tweets will say something like, "Please join with me in asking our AL legis. delegation these questions re Trump business empire. http://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2016/11/prioriy-questions-for-al-legislative.html"
To others who want Congress to face up to the Trump business empire, I say, let's try to act in an organized and coordinated way to make demand on Congress about this.
My suggestion would be for others to send tweets to their state's legislative delegation in Washington (as I have done with the Alabama delegation), and I would create a separate blog entry for that state and post the tweets that are sent. This would be followed by the sending of tweets to other residents in the state (as I am going to do in Alabama).
This approach would be subject to development as those participating in the effort think appropriate.
Please let me know what you think.

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