Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gifted US President Donald Trump a golden pager during their meeting in Washington on Tuesday, an Israeli political source told CNN.
The Constitution (Article I, Section 9) prohibits anyone in the US Government from receiving a personal gift from a foreign head of state
I’ve added some bold to a word that’s relevant here.
It’s actually commonplace for foreign leaders to give gifts to US Presidents. These gifts are not personal gifts and are actually owned by the US government. Some of these gifts wind up in a Presidential library.
They can’t take this stuff home with them as that would be illegal. Of course Trump does take stuff home with him that belongs to the US government, but that’s the illegal part, not the accepting of the gift.
Fun Fact: Justin Trudeau (really Canada’s ministry of foreign affairs) gave Trump a nicely framed photo of a hotel Trump’s grandfather owned in the Yukon. That hotel was actually a brothel. The Trump family… keeping it classy for generations.
These gifts are personal gifts, and they can be taken home, if they’re below the GSA threshold. If they’re above that threshold, the president has to pay fair market value. If they don’t pay up, it goes to the library. That’s all in the text I pasted. “Personal” is not relevant; that word is not in article I section 9.
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
I’ve added some bold to a word that’s relevant here.
It’s actually commonplace for foreign leaders to give gifts to US Presidents. These gifts are not personal gifts and are actually owned by the US government. Some of these gifts wind up in a Presidential library.
They can’t take this stuff home with them as that would be illegal. Of course Trump does take stuff home with him that belongs to the US government, but that’s the illegal part, not the accepting of the gift.
Fun Fact: Justin Trudeau (really Canada’s ministry of foreign affairs) gave Trump a nicely framed photo of a hotel Trump’s grandfather owned in the Yukon. That hotel was actually a brothel. The Trump family… keeping it classy for generations.
These gifts are personal gifts, and they can be taken home, if they’re below the GSA threshold. If they’re above that threshold, the president has to pay fair market value. If they don’t pay up, it goes to the library. That’s all in the text I pasted. “Personal” is not relevant; that word is not in article I section 9.