Foreign governments did not purchase anything from Obama. That is not how books work. (Granted, assuming the Trump administration has any idea how books work was probably a overly optimistic concept.)
Obama was paid, by his publisher, a specific percentage of every book printed and sold to book stores and other book retailers. That is what Obama was paid for, the right to print a specific copy of a book with his copyrighted text in it, which the publisher sold and gave him some of the money. And that was basically the end of the story as far as Obama knows.
Those books, later, were presumably sold. And hypothetically some of them could have been sold to a foreign government. It is extremely difficult to tell how Obama would have known about this, and moreover would seem to imply that the president canāt own anything at all that leaves his possession, because someone two people away might sell it to a foreign government.
Trump, on the other hand, knows damn well what foreign governments are paying for rooms at his hotels, because they announced it. Moreover as he operates his businesses as a pass-through, the money literally comes to him. Thereās not even the indirection of a separate financial entity that he owns stock in.
Actually, there be two levels required. Publishers sell books to bookstores and other book resellers. For Obama to know that a foreign government have purchased his book thereād be at least two levels of record-keeping required.
I actually think it would be kind of funny if some Democratic politician called their bluff, and demand his book publisher tell Congress if theyād ever passed any sales information to the level of individual buyer on to the president, or any information that could allow him to put that together. Because the answer is certainly going to be no.
And, of course, ask Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dumber the same thing about who is paying the Trump organization money.
Yes I know this, I worked at Borders for 15 years.
Fun fact we were not allowed to give anybody individualās sales history if they special ordered books, think of the āAnarchist Cookbookā, which by the way I special ordered a dozen or so during my time.
The gifts often end up in the Presidential Library. At Bubbaās triple-wide overlooking the Ark R one display case has 5 or 6 saxophones Bubba had been given by various heads-of-state.
When Obama received payments for books bought, he didnāt know who had bought them. The tRump Organization surely does know who is booking hotel rooms. The book analogy doesnāt pass the laugh test.
Especially poorly articulated whataboutismā¦ Emoluments isnāt only about whether or not a president earns money/value from a foreign interest. Itās whether that money/value could be used to influence a presidentās policy making.
Hereās a comparison:
Obama didnāt sell books to foreign interests who paid him or his company directly for the books. There was zero money/value directly attributable to specific governments or foreign players. He collected only indirect and unidentifiable profits from book sales. Not from specific foreign or state actors.
Trump, on the other hand, sold Saudi government players and lobbyists block-booked 500 nights worth of rooms & services, at apparently inflated rates, at his D.C. Hotel. It is a high profile payment directly to a āTrump Organizationā business entity, amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars. And thatās just one of many such examples. Itās a money/influence pipelineā¦
The first example doesnāt violate any emoluments clause. The second most certainly does.
