The Impeachment Motions: Jerry Nadler deserves an Oscar for pretending his probe is serious.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-impeachment-motions-11568416067
Democratic presidential candidates issued a gusher of words over three hours Thursday night, but one they didn’t utter was “impeachment.” That was no accident. The polls show the cause is a political loser, and maybe someone should tell Jerrold Nadler.
The House Judiciary Chairman is still trying to persuade voters that he has Donald Trump in his impeachment sights. Russian collusion wasn’t real, obstruction of justice didn’t fly, and payments to Stormy Daniels sound too much like lying about sex (and Bill Clinton ). So now Mr. Nadler is back to the old stand of arguing that Mr. Trump is enriching himself while in office.
This isn’t likely to go anywhere either, but it’s worth parsing the latest accusations to explain why. Democrats are investigating whether the Defense Department has been propping up struggling Glasgow Prestwick airport in Scotland to help the nearby Trump Turnberry golf resort. In a letter to then Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings noted the Pentagon has bought $11 million of fuel from Prestwick since October 2017. He also demanded details about a few Air Force crew members who stayed at Turnberry on a stopover this year.
The Prestwick airport, which is owned by the Scottish government, is struggling and its presence helps the Trump resort. But the Pentagon signed its contract with Prestwick in October 2016—before Mr. Trump was elected. Maybe Mr. Nadler should call Barack Obama as a witness.
As for the Turnberry stopover, the Air Force says seven active-duty and National Guard members stayed at the Trump resort on the way to Kuwait but stayed at a Marriott on the way back. The Air Force says the crew made its reservation through a defense travel system and used the “closest available” and “least expensive” accommodations to the airfield; the Trump resort was cheaper than the Marriott; and both properties were under the per diem travel rate of $166 a night. The Air Force says crews have stayed in the area 659 times over the past four years, and only 6% went to Turnberry.
The bigger problem with the Trump-enrichment narrative is that there doesn’t seem to be much enriching, as the press has been reporting for two years. Mr. Trump’s many controversies have caused companies from Macy’s to Wayfair to cease selling Trump brands. NBC dropped the Miss USA pageant.
Newsweek reported at the end of 2017 that an analysis by currency service FairFX found that room rates across the Trump empire had plummeted in 2017 by “as much as 63% since he moved into the White House,” as bookings tanked. Among those hardest hit was the Turnberry property; the price of a room fell 57% from January 2017 to January 2018. These decreases, said FairFX CEO Ian Stafford-Taylor, “suggest that it doesn’t necessarily pay to be president.”
Financial filings show that the Trump organization’s two Scottish golf courses continue to lose millions of dollars. Mr. Trump’s 2018 federal financial disclosure showed a modest revenue increase (less than $500,000) at his Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C., which has become a new favorite venue for conservative events.
Then again, revenue fell $3 million at his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort, perhaps due to organizations boycotting Trump properties. Overall, the President reported an $18 million drop in minimum revenue (to $434 million) compared to 2017. Mr. Trump isn’t a pauper, but the figures suggest he’s far from benefitting from the Presidency.
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Mr. Trump has fed Democratic suspicion by refusing to release his tax returns. And he is his own worst enemy when he brags about his properties or proposes hosting next year’s G-7 summit at his Doral resort. The latter is a bad idea for appearance’s sake alone, but claiming it violates the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution is implausible. If Mr. Nadler has evidence of genuine corruption or self-dealing, he ought to produce it.
Until he does, the corruption claims look like more political spin to con liberal voters into believing that House Democrats are serious about impeachment. Mr. Nadler went through an elaborate faux drama this week to hold a vote on the parameters of an impeachment probe, but if he were serious he’d demand a vote endorsing his efforts on the House floor as the GOP did in 1998 with Mr. Clinton.
That hasn’t happened because Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to protect swing-district Democrats from a risky vote. Mr. Nadler, for all his bravado, is merely going through the impeachment motions.
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