Trump has refused to sell his ownership stake in companies through which he is assured to receive substantial payments from foreign governments in violation of the Foreign Emoluments Clause. At least five foreign governments pay a combined $2 million per month in fees for their units in Trump World Tower; and because all five of these foreign governments are currently paying Trump these monthly fees, Trump is in violation of the Foreign Emoluments Clause from the moment he took the oath of office. 

Congress must open an immediate impeachment investigation based on these grounds. 

Congress must also be prepared to expand its impeachment investigation if Trump receives any additional unlawful domestic or foreign emoluments via any of his business holdings, which includes: numerous real estate holdings, including golf resorts that have repeatedly hosted a golf league backed by the Saudi Arabian government; the Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social; and World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency project that will funnel 75% of its net profits directly to Trump.

2. Unlawful, unconstitutional, and corrupt conduct during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Congress’s impeachment investigation must also examine unlawful, unconstitutional, or corrupt practices that occurred during Trump’s re-election campaign, which include:

• Violating campaign finance laws by offering benefits in exchange for campaign contributions, including (1) by offering tax and regulatory favors to oil and gas executives if they provide r $1 billion in contributions;  (2) concealing legal services payments by his campaign and related super PACs; (3) unlawfully coordinating with super PACs that supported his candidacy, including those financed by billionaires he later appointed to key administrative positions; and (4) facilitating and accepting unlawful campaign contributions from Elon Musk via X and via Musk’s million-dollar “lottery” scheme that paid out prizes only to individuals who would publicly support Trump. 

• Using racist, xenophobic rhetoric, including by referring to  immigrants in Aurora, Colorado as “blood thirty criminals” from whom voters have to be “rescued”; repeating false claims about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, even after such claims led to bomb threats and other threats of violence; and referring to immigrants as committing “horrendous crimes” because of “their genes.”

• Threatening physical violence, including murder, against political opponents, a  U.S. military commander, journalists, and protesters; and 

• Spreading dangerous disinformation about U.S. hurricane disaster response. 

3. Abuse of the Pardon Power.

• Pardoning and Blocking the Prosecution of Fellow Insurrectionists

Congress’s impeachment investigation must include Trump’s abuse of the pardon power and his efforts to undermine the independence of the US Department of Justice in order to protect the January 6 insurrectionists—including himself. Trump himself engaged in insurrection on January 6, 2021, inciting hundreds of violent insurrectionists to storm the Capitol in order to try to overturn an election that he lost. His co-insurrectionists seized control of the Capitol, disrupted the peaceful transfer of power, assaulted law enforcement and journalists, vandalized the Capitol and individual congressional offices, and threatened the lives and safety of our elected officials and law enforcement. In the intervening years, almost 1600 insurrectionists have been charged with crimes related to January 6 and more than one thousand insurrectionists have been adjudged guilty. More than 400 were charged with committing violent crimes, including attacking police with pepper spray, flag poles, baseball bats, fire extinguishers and other weapons, and some were sentenced to decades in prison. But Trump has now granted complete and unconditional pardons or sentence commutations of all of them, including those who were convicted of assaulting law enforcement, as well as the leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers imprisoned for seditious conspiracy. He also has ordered the Department of Justice to drop cases against all remaining January 6 defendants. Trump has intentionally blocked our country’s efforts to hold his fellow insurrectionists accountable for their actions, and, in so doing, he protects himself from either further examination or further repercussions of his own role in the insurrection. In the face of a president abusing his power, as he has done here, Congress has a responsibility to follow the mandate of Article II, Section 4 (the Impeachment Clause) of the US Constitution and initiate an impeachment inquiry.

• Pardoning Violent Anti-Choice Protesters

Trump pardoned 23 anti-abortion protesters on Day 4 of his administration, signaling to the country that he will undermine any and all lawful efforts to hold anti-choice protesters accountable for violent assaults on doctors, medical professionals, patients, and medical clinics that provide reproductive health care—and undermine states’ rights to protect reproductive health care, the medical professionals who provide that care, and the individuals who need it. 

4. Unconstitutionally Stripping U.S. Citizens of their Citizenship.

Established in the Fourteenth Amendment in the wake of the civil war, birthright citizenship has been enshrined in our Constitution for more than 150 years, unequivocally and without exception conferring citizenship on “All persons born or naturalized in the United States.” In lawless defiance of the Constitution, Trump nonetheless issued an executive order purporting to strip U.S.-born citizens of their citizenship because of their parents’ immigration status. His order demonstrates his flagrant disregard of the Constitution. Instead of preserving, protecting, and defending the Constitution, he has launched an assault on the Constitution and on the legal rights of the American people. The order has been stayed, but this does not absolve Trump of his abuse of power, nor does it absolve Congress of its responsibility to hold Trump accountable for his dangerous and unlawful attack on U.S. citizens’ basic right to their own nationality.

5. Dismantling Independent Government Oversight 

In another dangerous and illegal abuse of power, one that leaves government agencies vulnerable to corruption and employees vulnerable to workplace abuses, Trump has fired officials from key government oversight positions across a number of departments and agencies. 

• Unlawfully Firing Inspector Generals

Late at night on the fifth day of his administration, Trump fired more than a dozen independent inspectors general from almost every major administrative agency of the federal government, and he did so under cover of a late Friday purge without notice to lawmakers or to the public. Inspectors general act as an independent check on waste, fraud, corruption, and abuse of power within powerful government agencies—many of which are now controlled by Trump’s closest allies. Inspectors general carry out audits and investigations independently of their agencies, and they are required to be nonpartisan. The firing unambiguously violates a federal law enacted in 2022 in response to abuses in Trump’s first administration.  The law requires Trump to provide Congress with 30 days’ notice and a “substantive rationale” for removing an inspector general. Congress must investigate to determine whether the purge of these critically important positions has been done to punish government watchdogs and free Trump and his allies to engage in corrupt misuses of agency budgets and power. 

• EEOC and NLRB Firings

Trump has abused his power in purging Democratic officials from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the National Labor Relations Board, both of which are required by law to be bipartisan bodies that protect workers from discrimination and unfair labor practices. Trump fired two Democratic commissioners of the EEOC and a Democratic commissioner of the NLRB without any legal basis. His NLRB purge leaves the Board with too few members to establish quorum, effectively blocking the Board from adjudicating any case before it and leaving workers vulnerable to unfair labor practices across the country. 

6. Abusing his power to seek retribution against perceived adversaries

As he has long threatened to do, Trump is abusing the power of his office to seek retribution against anyone he perceives as an opponent or who are willing to speak out against Trump’s crimes or abuses of office.

• Unlawfully firing attorneys involved in Trump investigation and prosecution. 

The Department of Justice unlawfully fired a number of career DOJ lawyers for no reason except that they properly carried out their duties as lawyers assigned to prosecute Trump as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation. DOJ attorneys are expected to carry out their duties impartially, regardless of the wealth, power, or status of individuals they prosecute, and they should not be persecuted for diligently doing their jobs. The firing of these officials undermines the DOJ’s independence and its ability to protect the American people from abuse, corruption, and crimes committed by people with power or influence.

• Persecution of Retired General Mark A. Milley

Trump is seeking retribution against Retired General Mark A. Milley, who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2019 to 2023, under both Trump and Biden. Via Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Trump has ordered the Department of Defense to launch an investigation into Retired General Mark Milley and has revoked Milley’s security clearance and security detail. This investigation was ordered only after Trump implemented a purge of inspectors general. Neither Trump nor Hegseth have provided any legitimate reason to demand investigation. Instead, Milley is being targeted for publicly criticizing Trump. Trump has long threatened retribution against Milley, including publicly suggesting that Milley should be executed for treason. Biden’s preemptive pardon protects Milley from legal prosecution, but Trump is seeking other means of retribution—including stripping him of security despite active threats to his safety.  This is a grave threat not only to General Milley but to all government officials past, present, and future who speak the truth about Trump’s misdeeds, and to our constitutional democracy and values.  

• Stripping public officials of security details

Trump has stripped a number of public figures from his own first administration of their security details, solely because they have opposed or fallen out with Trump or Trump’s policies. In addition to Retired General Milley, Trump has revoked security details from former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, Pompeo’s top aide Brian Hook, former national security advisor John Bolton, and former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci, despite each person facing credible foreign or domestic threats. 

7. Abuse of Emergency Powers

The President’s power to declare an emergency affords the President access to other powers and authority not normally afforded to the President. Trump has abused this power by falsely declaring national emergencies that do not exist in order to bypass the rule of law, further his own agenda, and confer privileges on favored business sectors.  

• Declaring a national emergency to justify deployment of troops at the U.S. border.

Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the U.S. border with Mexico constitutes a serious abuse of his power. By declaring a national emergency, Trump is able to bypass the rule of law and gains access to powers not normally afforded to the President—powers he is already abusing by ordering the deployment of U.S. military forces to the southern border to “support the activities of the Secretary of Homeland Security” and ordered the building of additional physical barriers at the border. In attempting to justify the baseless declaration of a national emergency, Trump targets undocumented immigrants, dangerously and falsely calling efforts by vulnerable people to seek sanctuary in our country an “invasion” that is tantamount to an “attack” on “America’s sovereignty.”  Immigration is neither, and there is no basis for a national emergency or troop deployment with our borders. 

• Declaring a national energy emergency

In an overt effort to protect oil and gas companies and enable these companies to bypass environmental laws and regulations in the production of domestic fossil fuels, Trump has declared a national energy emergency, largely on the basis of “high energy prices” and without acknowledging the environmental impact of these sectors or that the United States is the largest producer of oil and gas in the world. In his declaration, Trump orders federal agencies to facilitate fossil fuel production, including the use of federal land and the co-option of privately held land via the eminent domain power. But the declaration conspicuously excludes wind and solar power in its definition of “energy,” limiting those sectors that will benefit from the purported emergency to fossil fuel producers.  

8. Unconstitutionally Usurping Local and State Authority

Trump has attempted to unconstitutionally commandeer local and state authority to carry out his mass deportation plans by threatening state and local officials with criminal prosecution if they decline to be co-opted by federal immigration authorities. Under the Tenth Amendment, states retain “every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not . . . . expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.” In blatant disregard for this Amendment, on the second day of Trump’s second administration, Trump’s then-Acting Deputy Attorney General issued a memorandum asserting that “the Supremacy Clause and other authorities require state and local actors to comply with the Executive Branch’s enforcement initiatives,” and that “federal law prohibits state and local actors from . . . failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests.” Neither the Supremacy Clause nor the federal law empower Trump or any federal agency to commandeer local or state law enforcement and resources, or to determine whether or not states apply scant resources to federal projects—especially when those projects cut against the states’ own priorities. But the threat even of a baseless, unlawful prosecution may chill state and local officials, and undermine state governments’ ability to determine how best to serve their communities.  

9. Unconstitutionally Usurping Legislative Powers 

Trump’s attempt to freeze federal spending constituted a blatantly unconstitutional usurpation of powers afforded to Congress. Via the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, Trump attempted to freeze financial assistance programs—including grants, loans, and foreign aid—from all federal agencies. Those agencies will be required to determine whether the financial assistance programs are consistent with Trump’s Executive Orders and his administrative priorities—leading to potential permanent blocks on financial assistance that agencies, led by Trump allies, deem to be at odds with Trump’s agenda. This freeze, whether temporary or permanent, is blatantly unlawful. The trillions of dollars in funding subject to freeze and review have been appropriated by Congress for disbursement pursuant to power constitutionally granted to the legislative branch. Trump’s attempt to undermine congressional authority and seize control of trillions of dollars is a flagrant abuse of his power. The order was correctly rescinded, but Trump’s attempt to issue the order in the first place must still be considered in an impeachment investigation—as should any attempt made by Trump to usurp authority constitutionally granted to Congress.

10. Unlawful and corrupt empowerment and enrichment of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency

Trump must be investigated for his role in facilitating Elon Musk’s abusive exercise of power and unconstitutional receipt of emoluments as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and for similar abuses of power by other DOGE agents whose identities have not yet been disclosed to the American public. 

After obtaining nearly $300 million in campaign contributions from Elon Musk via super PACs and significant promotion on Musk’s social media platform X, Trump granted Musk unprecedented, unfettered, and unlawful access to and authority over federal government agencies, their collective budgets in the trillions of dollars, and the private data that these agencies maintain. As head of DOGE—which operates without any congressional authorization or oversight—Musk and his DOGE-affiliated agents demanded and were granted access to sensitive personal and financial information of millions held by the Department of Treasury, in violation of federal law that prohibits improper disclosure and misuse of this data. And Musk is in receipt of unconstitutional emoluments via lucrative government contracts with Musk’s companies. 

Trump’s evasion of normal oversight procedures to place Musk in his administration does not inoculate either Musk or Trump from congressional exercise of the impeachment power.  Indeed, the process by which Musk was placed in his position of authority must itself be investigated, along with his abuses of power and emolument violations as head of DOGE.

11. Threatened Displacement of Palestinians and Occupation of Gaza

Trump has announced his interest in carrying out ethnic cleansing in Gaza, displacing all Palestinians from their homeland and forcibly taking possession of Gaza with the United States as an occupying power. And he has made this threat just hours after withdrawing the United States from the United Nations Human Rights Council and terminating funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which provides aid to Palestinian refugees.  Trump’s plan violates the basic human rights of Palestinians and would make all Americans complicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity  His threat constitutes a dangerous abuse of power that endangers the lives and dignity of the Palestinian people.  Further, Trump’s open contempt for and abandonment of principles of international justice and law threatens global security and our own national security.  Congress must investigate whether his abusive and reckless actions are further grounds for impeachment.