By Dan Qiu

Rep. Jamie Raskin spoke to University of Maryland students at a conference on Monday night  in which he heavily criticized President Donald Trump’s business relations with foreign governments and his disrespect of Congress.

“The original sin of the president is not to divest himself from the 500 businesses he owned and [that he] continues to do business with foreign governments,” Raskin said.

The conference was hosted by the College Park Scholars Public Leadership Program and took place in the Brendan Iribe Center. Program Director Professor Susannah Washburn sat next to Raskin on the stage to ask him questions.

President Wallace Loh made an appearance at the beginning of the conference and gave a brief speech in which he encouraged students to participate in politics.

“American citizenship is not a spectator sport,” Loh said.

Raskin, a Democratic congressman who has represented Maryland’s 8th Congressional District since 2017, is known for his role as a member of the House Judiciary Committee in pushing the Trump impeachment trial along with other progressive congressmen.

Raskin explained that Trump’s financial misconduct was a major motivation for him to participate in his impeachment.

“He used [the] government itself as an instrument for money making, and nobody did anything about it,” Raskin said.

 Raskin described the relationship between Trump and Congress as a “broken window scenario” because the president refuses to address Congress about his receiving foreign money.

“Article I, Section 9 says that ‘no person… occupying an office or trust under the United States shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept a present or a payment from an office of any kind whatever, from a king, prince or foreign state,’” Raskin said.

Raskin continued his criticism, saying that no previous president has gone around asking Congress for consent before accepting a gift from a foreign government. This includes Abraham Lincoln, who tried to accept the King of Siam’s offer of war elephants during the Civil War, which he ultimately had to reject due to disapproval from Congress.

When asked about his leverage since Trump was acquitted by the Senate, Raskin said he and his fellow representatives will try to make an issue about the president obstructing Congress.

Raskin accused the president of ordering the executive branch to not cooperate with Congress. He brought up the 1821 Supreme Court case Anderson v. Dunn which affirmed the House of Representatives’ power to cite people for contempt, a right that was last exercised by the House in 1913, and indicated that it is the last way to hold the president accountable.

“This is what we have to do to get respect for the Congress,” Raskin said.

Raskin also pointed out the role and power of Congress in the system of checks and balances.

“We can impeach the president. The president can’t impeach us,” Raskin said.

Aside from the topic of Trump, Raskin talked about his policies and ideologies, reasons that he ran for the position, his campaign process and his experiences as a congressman. He repeatedly emphasized his progressive stance on issues such as climate change prevention and same-sex marriages.

Raskin said that it is essential to work with the opposing party in politics to achieve a common goal.

“The substitute… [for] bipartisan politics is one-party dictatorship, and nobody wants that,” Raskin said. “When you get into an office, you don’t just look out for your party, you look out for everybody.” 

Raskin emphasized that his role, as well as that of the rest of Congress, is to be the “servant of people.”

“The moment we act like we are the masters of the people, that is the moment to evict, to eject, to reject, and impeached, and removed,” Raskin said.

Undecided freshman Ian Elky, who attended the conference to get credit for a class, said that he was impressed by what Raskin said during the event and agreed with Raskin’s point about setting aside party differences.

“It’s like, try to focus on what is morally correct, even if that means going against your partisan identity,” Elky said.