Exclusive: Elijah Cummings Probes Trump Officials over Pence’s Stay in Ireland

Breitbart News has exclusively obtained letters House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) sent to Donald Trump administration officials, as well as Trump Organization officials, regarding Vice President Mike Pence’s stay at a Trump hotel in Ireland.

Democrats quickly attacked Vice President Pence regarding his stay at Trump International Golf Links In Doonbeg, Ireland. Pence chief of staff Marc Short insisted that the VP’s office followed protocol and received State Department signoff on the trip. Short also said that Pence is personally covering the costs for his mother and his sister to stay at the Trump hotel. Pence’s office has insisted that President Trump did not “direct” the vice president to stay the Trump hotel in Ireland.

Breitbart News exclusively obtained letters that Chairman Cummings sent to White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, U.S. Secret Service Director James Murray, Vice President chief of staff Short, and Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg regarding Pence’s stay at the Trump hotel in Ireland.

Elijah Cummings Letter to Marc Short by Breitbart News on Scribd

Chairman Cummings said in the letters to the officials that the Democrat-led Oversight Committee “does not believe that U.S. taxpayer funds should be used to personally enrich President Trump, his family, and his companies.”

From these documents obtained by Breitbart News, Cummings wishes to know how much the trip cost the “American taxpayer–or benefited the Trump organization.” The Maryland congressman suggested that this trip might amount to a “conflict of interest” and “waste of taxpayer funds,” or even a violation of the Domestic Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

Cummings cited that the Emoluments Clause stipulates that the president can receive a salary during his tenure in office but that “he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.”

Cummings demanded that the White House hand over documents with “itemized costs” for Pence’s trip, as well as the costs for President Trump’s June 2019 trip to Trump Doonbeg.

Chairman Cummings’ inquiry into Pence’s trip to Ireland has incensed those close to the White House.

One source close to the White House told Breitbart News, “First they attack the President. If they can’t get the President, they attack the people closest to him. This is nothing more than political harassment to people closest to the President. Will House Democrats ever pass meaningful legislation, or will these witch hunts just never end?”