Testifying at House Financial Services Democrats’ Hearing To Discuss Trump’s Crypto Corruption and Conflicts of Interest, Jeff Hauser elevates the centrality of the Constitution’s emoluments clauses
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Henry Burke, [email protected]
Testifying at the House Financial Services Committee Democrats’ Hearing on Trump’s Conflicts of Interest, Executive Director and Founder of The Revolving Door Project, Jeff Hauser decried the Trump family’s blatant corruption and the role crypto plays in destabilizing government integrity while calling upon Congress to take action to enforce the Constitutional prohibition on accepting foreign emoluments.
Delivering his opening remarks, Hauser explained: “America’s founders were certainly far from perfect, but they were politically sophisticated. They understood the risk political corruption posed to our nascent country. Indeed, one scholar observed that ‘The Framers were obsessed with corruption.’ […] That’s why the Constitution includes not just one but two ‘emoluments’ clauses. The Constitution bars emoluments–a fancy word for gifts or profits of any kind–to senior government officials from foreign governments, as well as by federal or state governments to the president.”
Hauser continued, “The Founders would be alarmed by the advent of cryptocurrency. Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has said that cryptocurrencies issued by politicians are ‘a perfect bribery vehicle.’ Why? Because they afford a degree of deniability that undermines any hope for criminal accountability.”
Describing the threat posed by cryptocurrencies in particular, Hauser said: “There is practically no way for a senior government official to be invested in the crypto industry without a conflict of interest. And there is no way to be sure that any government official with connection to the distribution of digital assets isn’t subject to difficult to detect, but potentially highly lucrative, emoluments. Current ethics laws fall far short of being able to address the challenge of crypto. That’s why Ranking Member Waters’ proposal that elected officials hold no crypto assets makes sense. Indeed, I believe it could be extended to Cabinet Secretaries, senior congressional staff, federal judges, and other senior government officials.”
When asked by Ranking Member Waters about steps Congress could take to hold Trump accountable, Hauser offered: “One of the key enforcement mechanisms of the emoluments clause that has to be on the table is impeachment. […] These values in our constitution about anti-corruption really should go beyond party.”
The full video of the testimony can be viewed here and a Twitter thread with select clips of Hauser’s testimony can be found here.
###