Regrettably, the Republicans who control Congress have decided they have no obligation to hold presidents of their own party accountable. Despite repeated requests by Democrats, they have shown little interest in investigating Mr. Trump’s business interests when there are compelling reasons to do so. Just this week, The New Yorker reported that Mr. Trump licensed his name to a hotel and residential tower being developed by a political family in Azerbaijan that has close ties to an Iranian group linked to that country’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
So it may be up to the public to press the White House on ethics. In a hopeful sign, a restaurant in Washington, Cork Wine Bar, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against Mr. Trump’s hotel, located in a building owned by the government. The lawsuit asserts that the hotel is competing unfairly and illegally because it is owned by the president and is violating its lease with the General Services Administration, which states that no elected official can benefit from the lease. The plaintiffs want Mr. Trump to resign, sell the hotel or shut it down while he is president.
