Loebsack among Dems filing suit against president

U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, joined a lawsuit that accuses President Donald Trump of violating the part of the U.S. Constitution that forbids an officeholder from accepting any 'present, Emolument, Office, or Title” without lawmakers' consent.

The suit was filed Wednesday and included close to 200 congressional Democrats.

The president has been criticized for failing to adequately sever connections to his business and for profiting from his position. And the lawsuit says Trump 'has chosen to accept numerous benefits from foreign states without first seeking or obtaining congressional approval.”

The suit is the latest legal challenge filed against the president based on the emoluments clause of the Constitution.

This suit is unique in that it includes as plaintiffs nearly all of the Democrats in Congress.

Joe Hand, a spokesman for Loebsack, said Wednesday the issue is one that needs to be adjudicated.

'Dave believes there is a lot of ambiguity surrounding this law that needs to be sorted out,” he said. 'It is an important constitutional question that must be resolved.”

Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., is one of the relative few Democrats who didn't sign on to the lawsuit.

A spokesman, Jared Smith, said 'while Cheri believes President Trump broke his promise to separate himself from his business interests, she wants stay focused on protecting jobs, health care, and our rural economy rather than become a plaintiff in the lawsuits moving forward.”

The White House already has said that the president is not in violation of the emoluments clause and has suggested partisan politics are at work with the lawsuits.