people notice these things when they affect their daily bottom line, almost everyone files an income tax return. it's larger than the number of people who buy insurance through the obamacare individual market and that was an enormous issue. i think republicans still pressure from donors. there's likely to be voter backlash. >> it's a great point. you're going to notice whether you're paying more taxes or not. thank you both. >> thank you. that is all in for this evening, good night. happy friday. thanks for being with us tonight. we've never before had an american president take office with so many live business interests. not to mention business interests that he didn't extract himself from before taking the oath of office. president trump kept his business interests for the most part, he did pass day-to-day control of his real estate companies to his sons. then his daughter and his son-in-law joined the administration with high level positions, all this is created a historically unprecedented

situation in which we really don't know if the president of the -- if the president of the united states and his family are using his position to enrich themselves. that kind of concern is one of the main reasons that president trump candidates released their tax returns. it's also a main reason why people want to see this president's tax returns in particular, because people want to know about his foreign sources of income. how much money he's receiving from foreign sources. can any of that money be traced back to foreign governments? which would be illegal under the constitution. well that brings us to tonight. tonight i'm very excited to say we've got the perfect person to take us on an unprecedented journey inside president trump's web of foreign financial ties. richard edngel takes us to panaa tonight to the first trump-branded hotel to go up overseas. you will want to see this.

here now is on assignment with richard engel. >> rising high above the panama city skyline, this 70-story building, curved and lit up like a christmas tree is unmistakable. this is the trump ocean club. and we've spent months going over mountains of paperwork and talking to lawyers, investigators, and businessmen. we were trying to figure out who exactly was involved, the investors, the brokers, and importantly, who bought the apartments and hotel rooms. what we found out is that this building attracted enormous amounts of dirty money from all over the world, in particular, from russia. because of the name on that building. that name is trump. ♪ ♪ good evening, we're on assignment in panama city tonight. this is a notorious money laundering center. it's also where the first tower

to be built outside the united states and carry the name trump on it was built. our investigation as you'll see shows that criminals from all over the world use this building as a laundromat for their money. but the trump organization doesn't actually own the building. it made a licensing deal with a local developer so the president basically just gets paid for the use of his name. does that mean he can't be held responsible for any of the criminal activity that happened here? the trump organization says, it does mean just that. but anti-corruption experts disagree. it's a question of good business practice they say. and because we have a president who owns a global business, business practices matter. here's our exclusive investigation in conjunction with our friends at reuters into that building. >> hello. i'm ivanka trump. welcome to -- >> it was the first trump-branded tower to go up

overseas. and the first trump project ivanka led from inception. >> visit our lobby concierge, beautiful pool deck -- exclusive beach club. >> now, that sense of ownership is gone. the trump organization which no longer runs the building says it had no hand in vetting the people who financed, sold, or bought it. >> now that president trump is in the white house, do you think the trump organization and the trump family are trying to distance themselves from you? >> i wouldn't say that they're trying because i don't think that i can harm them. >> it took months to track alexander ventura down and persuade him to sit down for an interview. he asked that we disguise his appearance. he's on the run from the law in panama where he's wanted for fraud. he says he sold hundreds of units in the trump ocean club to people who also went to a lot of trouble hide their identities.

>> and the banks weren't asking any questions where the money was coming from? >> no. never. >> sounds like nobody was asking any questions. >> no, no. >> not you, not the trump organization, not the banks, not the developers. >> nobody. >> nobody checked anybody out. >> so people were buying, spending millions for apartments that existed on paper -- >> 5, 10, 20 yununits at a time. the money would go to ventura. >> if you want to know about the flow of dirty money through panama, montee is the man to ska. in 1992 he was convicted of 20 counts of money laundering and fraud. he still knows all the players and all the plays. do you think it's possible trump didn't know the kind of people were buying his building? >> he didn't know. he didn't know. >> how could he not have known? >> you don't walk up to someone and go hey, are you a russia mafia? >> is it fair that trump didn't

ask because he wanted to know. >> i would to want know who's buying a building with my name on it. >> that's you. >> critical of businesses and their connections to government officials spent months in investigating trump-branded properties around the world. and especially the one in panama. patrick ally is the group's co-found per. >> it was a money laundering hot spot. any responsible businessman should to want know who their clients are and where the money's coming from. if that responsible businessman is now the president of the united states, this is a matter of public interest. >> the idea for the trump ocean club was born long before the businessman became president. it was in the 2000s on his hit tv show "the apprentice" ceo trump made all the decisions. >> you're fired. you're all fired. >> but his children were joining the family business. and ivanka trump suggested that they take the trump brand

global. panama seemed like a good place to start. >> well, my interest in panama really began when we had the miss universe contest in panama, which i own, i own the miss universe and it was one of the most successful contests we've ever had. so i was in panama. i was there for quite a bit of time with the miss universe and i fell in love with the place. >> but the panama he was falling in love with was not the panama where more than a third of the population lived in poverty. ♪ ♪ it was the glamorous water front where brand new luxury towers were being snapped up by the international hot money crowd. >> train loads of people were coming because they would advertise in miami, toronto, russia, and pre-selling all the buildings. and the more they built, the more they sold. but nobody ever occupied the apartments. >> they were empty buildings. >> they were em my buildings. >> the buildings he says were a great place to bury dirty money. he says the buildings were

almost literally made of drug money. >> cocaine concrete. >> chaz cocaine concrete? >> it's money that came from cocaine. a lot was drug money. >> you take the cocaine, you turn it into a building? >> yeah. >> how do you know all of this? >> i was directly involved. i saw it happening. >> it was this booming market that the trump organization was entering. were drawn up for an ambitious tower, with a mix of hotel rooms and high end condos. all on a plot of land owned by a small time local businessman roger kafif who was going to be the building's main developer. ivanka travelled to panama to meet the team. >> introduce med and my company would be selling the units. >> reporter: according to ventura, ivanka was planning to presell units for around $120,000 each. ventura said he could sell them for a lot more.

>> what did she say when you told her that? >> she said, but can you sell it at that price? i said, yes. so the agreement was i had a week to sell 100 units. >> how did you sell 100 units in a week? >> it was easy to sell in fact, you know, when his name. >> the name of the most famous man in real estate who was also the building's salesman and chief. >> one of the great things about panama, not only the beautiful building, but the incredible views. >> the name, trump, was magic. and he came down, donald trump came down. he has a great presence. he's a fabulous marketing person. >> but according to ventura, it was ivanka trump who handled all the details. what kinds of things did ivanka do? >> meeting with the architects, deciding the finishings of the project, the prices, when it's going to be released, when it's not going to be released. everything related to the project because according to to

the contract, trump organization has to approve everything because of his name on the project anyway. >> so it sounds like the trump organization specifically ivanka was deeply involved. >> yes. i mean, she was a person responsible for the project. >> ventura who had a small real estate agency was not selling the trump brand. he had made the big leagues. >> he became overnight a mover of money. >> who was it that ventura and the firm homes were targeting? >> russians. russians that had dirty money. >> specifically. >> specifically. and then the russian mafia came in, guy called alexander sasha alchul. >> and what was he doing? >> came down, made a proposal to ventura, and made him an offer he couldn't refuse. >> reporter: he became a partner in ventura's marketing firm, but we can't verify his connection to the russian mafia because, although the allegation has been repeated in several court cases,

he seems to fend off the charges every time. another partner also bought several units in the building. he has sense been accused of running a prostitution ring in canada, but the case was dropped when both key witnesses disappeared. the firm's representative was later found by a ukrainian court guilty of people smuggling. one of the customers who bought units in the building was an exconvict who served time in israel for kidnapping. and those are just the ones we managed to identify. while claiming he didn't know it at the time, ventura now admits that he was selling units in the building to members of the russian mafia. >> i had some customers with some, you know, questionable background. >> what does that mean? >> i mean, you know, i found out later, not in the beginning, belongs to mafia, everything like that.

but anyway, i was not getting paid in cash. >> that is not the story we heard. >> they used half a dozen lawyers would come pick up a million dollars in a satchel. >> that was happening at the trump club? >> yeah. >> ventura was marketing the trump ocean club as part of a real estate portfolio where corrupt people could park their money? >> you got it. >> and they did. >> yeah. but they didn't just park the money, their money was turned over consistently. >> so how does a luxury tower become a money laundromat? here's thousand works. the buyer uses dirty money to buy, say, unit 1605 in the unbuilt tower. then, sometimes just two weeks later, unit 1605 gets resold, the money coming out of the building is now clean, the proceeds of a legitimate real estate deal. the only way to trace it's dirty origins would be to go back to the beginning, and identify the original buyer. and that should be relatively

easy, but not in panama. our investigation led us here to panama's public registry. after going through a lot of paperwork, a pattern started to emerge. it turns out, many of the condo units aren't owned by individuals, but corporations, often with generic names like ocean trump 1605 investment corporation. so why would someone use a corporation to buy a condo? often to hide the identity of the real buyer. >> one of the things with these shell companies is you can simply transfer the company, the buyer -- the bear share, to anybody you want. >> so you set up a shell company, nobody knows who's the actual owner is. >> no. >> then you buy the unit. you get a piece of paper that says you own the unit. >> you already owner. >> and then do what you want. >> you're holding money. you're holding a million dollars. it's not even a check. in a bear's share. and you can transfer it to

anybody. >> fold it and put it in your pocket. >> correct. >> and you were coming in with hundreds of buyers? did the trump organization want to know who these buyers were? where the money was coming from? >> no. not that i am aware of, you know, no, not at all. >> did they ever ask you? >> no. >> were these buyers planning on living in these units? >> most of them, no. >> and that never raised aid larm bells with you? there's something buying 15 units, doesn't to want live in the place from russia? >> no because that was normal. they if they laundered money, that's their problem. >> one of the most famous money launders in the world bought units in the building too. we met a former prosecutor who worked on the guzman case.

>> we heard the same thing from freezener. >> what was their relationship among -- >> partners. >> they became after a couple of years business partners. >> how did they work together? how did that collaboration work? >> he would bring the money. david would bring the money in, and the money would get distributed. >> what about guzman? >> ventura, they basically slept in the same bed. >> guzman is in u.s. custody, convicted of laundering millions of dollars from mexican drug dealers. >> were you? >> no. guzman's man. >> no, i had 45 days with him, and we never talked about anything illegal, you know. >> but he did admit that he and guzman did some business together. >> so you moved some of guzman's money into the trump ocean club? >> yes, i did, yes. >> how many units? >> not many. i think maybe maximum ten units. >> did you investigate

ventura -- >> translator: yes, he was under investigation for fraud. >> and what did you find out? >> translator: well, at the time i was working four or five fraud cases he was involved in. >> fraud because ventura seems to have gotten too greedy. after a while, collecting a 3% commission wasn't enough. he started selling units on paper, in several buildings to more than one buyer at a time, eventually his pyramid scheme collapsed. he was arrested and charged with fraud. somehow, he managed to get bail and escape the country. in a statement to nbc news, a spokesman wrote that the trump organization was not the owner, developer, or seller of the trump ocean club panama project and that the trump organization was not responsible for the financing of the project and had no involvement in the sale of units or the retention of any real estate brokers. the spokesman said the trump organization had no relationship with ventura or knowledge of the allegations against him.

we also asked ivanka trump for comment, but her team referred us back to the statement. i believe this is the picture of you with president trump. >> yes, that's correct. that's mar-a-lago, yes. >> so you're meeting with him, you stop, pose for the photograph. >> yes. >> ventura didn't mind showing us old pictures as long as we didn't show what he looked like now. and your interaction with him is, good job, keep up the good work. keep selling. >> keep selling, that's it. >> how many units did you personally sell? >> i believe i sold about, between 350 to 400 units, you know, from the project. >> so that would be worth how much? >> over -- a little bit over 100 million. >> over $100 million. >> yes. >> when the trump organization goes into a licensing deal, when it sells it's name and brand on one side the trump organization is deeply involved. the family are involved. so they can be very hands-on. very, very interested when they want to be. when it comes to problems, like

the dodgy money involved, they don't to want know. that's the developer's responsibility. that's not our responsibility. >> look, you spent your life around criminals or investigating -- >> i was a criminal. >> being a criminal. >> yeah. >> what do you think about the kind of business that trump was lending his name to? >> i'm not trying to protect him, but he is not the one that's doing all of this. he simply has a name, a corporation, and that's what it is. >> do you think people should be judged by the company they keep and the businesses they run? >> definitely. 100%. if i was somebody like trump, i'd do a background check. i'd want to know who they buy their underwear from. so there isn't any connection to any form of crime. >> as a former money launderer, the trump ocean club, how would you rate it? and it's quality. >> for money laundering? >> for money laundering. >> i'd say triple a.

>> now there is no suggestion that the president or his family were directly involved in any of the illegal activity that went on here. as we said, they were just licensing out the trump brand. and initially managing the building. it's just that this building was a magnet for dirty money. and we found no sign of an attempt by the trump organization to protect that brand which is perhaps now our nation's most prominent brand from being tarnished by association. the building was opened in 2011. [ applause ] and on stage were three men, our future president, the developer, and panama's president, who was then a close friend. >> thank you very much for being here today. and you're my friend. >> he is now awaiting an extradition decision in a jail cell in a federal detention center in miami. we'll tell you that whole story next. in every town, across america. small businesses show their love to you. with some friendly advice,

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welcome back to panama. since it was completed in 2011, that building behind me, the trump ocean club that we've told you all about has seen some hard times. the development company went bankrupt and seems most everybody who invested in the building lost money. except, of course, for the trump organization. it was forced out of the building's management but still runs the hotel side of the business and even though we found when we stayed there recently the building seems almost empty. the trump organization continues to collect a licensing fee. just for the use of the name. by 2010, those fees added up to

more than $70 million. ricardo didn't do as well. the man who helped the trump ocean club get off the ground is now in a federal detention center in miami. feeling a lot less presidential than when he helped inaugurate the building. a billionaire, ricardo mart martinelli was a perfect match for donald trump. >> you're my friend. great honor. >> and he was first to realize his political ambition by the time the trump ocean club opened in 2011, he was president of panama. his very presence sent a message, this was a well-connected project. >> he liked to mention every time that he has a very good business relation with trump.

this man said the trump building could not have opened it's doors without the blessing of the president. did martinelli help get this building off the ground? >> sure. >> you can do this thing without the agreement. >> ricardo whom a u.s. diplomat droibed as having a limited attention span and making strong, impulsive decisions, had much in common with the future president of the united states. he also built himself an empire. he owned the largest chain of supermarkets. but money wasn't enough. he wanted power too which is why he decided to run for president. she is head of the branch of transparency international. she found many similarities with candidate trump. >> the lack of experience in

government management, campaigning on the ticket of the outsider. >> in 2009, martinelli ran a colorful campaign. the crazy one. a name he happily embraced. >> he even created a slogan that he used during the campaign c l called, we the crazy people are the majority. >> and they were. he won by a landslide on the promise of a better future for panama. for a while, it seemed he'd kept his word, the economy boomed, unemployment dropped, he oversaw an expansion of the panama canal and opens a subway system, but soon, allegations of corruption started to surface. >> martinelli was more than a president.

a former mayor of panama city. he accuses martinelli of running the country like his own business. >> he ruled not on the executive, he had his hands in the judiciary, he broke the law, he broke the constitution, violated every possible rule. and goat away with it. >> he was really looking out for his own interests. and during his time, what happened in the country was without precedent. he was the largest scale robbery of our treasury. >> not long after his term ended, martinelli quietly boarded a private jet and disappeared. days later, panama's supreme court charged him with embezzlement and illegal wiretapping. >> what did he do to you? >> violated and tapped conversations i had with my wife.

my kids, my entire staff, my professional staff, also with my campaign manager and all of my campaign team. >> he ended up living in the lap of luxury in miami. but eventually, the law caught up with him and he's now sitting in a federal detention center waiting a decision on his fate. panama is demanding extradition and he's appealing. ultimately the decision will be made by the state department, raising the question of whether there could be interference from the white house. >> if you would have asked me in january before mr. trump took the oath of office, i would have said no, but with everything that is to now of how there are very blurred lines regarding the business interests of the trump organization and the business of government, my answer would be,

i don't know. >> i would be outraged if mr. trump intervenes and overrules the lawyers and the legal department at state to help his friend mr. martinelli stay in the u.s. and avoid justice. >> whether or not the president would still call martinelli a friend is now anyone's guess. and that's not the point really. what this situation shows is how stick the whole issue of conflicts of interest, real or perceived can be. so how do we frame what we've uncovered here? do we see it through the lens of corporate responsibility and ethical standards or are there also legal issues to consider? we'll be talking next to a former prosecutor about that.

accused of obstructing justice to theat the fbinuclear war, and of violating the constitution by taking money from foreign governments and threatening to shut down news organizations that report the truth. if that isn't a case for impeaching and removing a dangerous president, then what has our government become? i'm tom steyer, and like you, i'm a citizen who knows it's up to us to do something. it's why i'm funding this effort to raise our voices together and demand that elected officials take a stand on impeachment. a republican congress once impeached a president for far less. yet today people in congress and his own administration know that this president is a clear and present danger who's mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons.

and they do nothing. join us and tell your member of congress that they have a moral responsibility to stop doing what's political and start doing what's right. our country depends on it. ♪ when you have doctors working as a team for your health, you get the care you need to help you thrive. ♪ visit kp.org to learn more. kaiser permanente. thrive. ♪ heavy, labored breathing heavy, labored breathing coughing breathing through oxygen mask

breathing through oxygen mask breathing through oxygen mask breathing through oxygen mask covered california. it's more than just health care. it's life care. welcome back to panama city. we've told you all about our investigation into the building behind me and how we found that it drew in dirty money from all over the world. but keep in mind that even though it's called the trump ocean club, this building doesn't actually belong to our president. he's just licensing his name for a profit. the question is, does that mean that he and his company should not be held responsible for what happens in the building. to help us answer that question, we turn to mr. brown, who's prosecuted his share of money laundering cases. mr. brown, thank you very much for joining us. first off, should we be concerned about this?

>> well, any u.s. real estate company that makes a decision to do business in a high-risk jurisdiction where money laundering occurs, you know, needs to be careful, needs to take a number of precautions. >> does it seem to you that those precautions were taken or do we not know at this stage? >> well, i don't know based on your reporting, but i can tell you what the real risks are in a situation like that. basically, the u.s. company needs to be careful both in terms of going into the deal and on the way out. so going into the deal, you need to worry a little bit about whether money is going to grease the skids for any foreign politicians, which is a violation of u.s. law, and then of course when it's time to sell the condos you do have to be cautious about whether the people buying those condos are criminals looking to wash their money. >> so here's the issue, the

statement we received from the trump organization made a clear line saying that it wasn't directly involved in sales, so therefore, doesn't really take responsibility for who was buying, who was selling. but, does the fact that the trump organization was getting a piece, getting a percentage of the units that were sold, does that make a difference? >> well, the fact that it was licensing it's name really doesn't make a difference at all in terms of how u.s. money laundering law operates. the only issue really that's -- >> i'm talking about getting a piece of the units that were saled. that it was incentivized, every unit that was sold, the trump organization got a check for it. >> well, that may or may not matter, the critical question is did the trump organization or any similar organization know that the money coming in was criminal -- from criminal activity or turn a blind eye to it. >> but you've prosecuted cases like this. what would it look like if you're talking about a company

that was operating here in panama, but wasn't directly controlling the buying and selling, but it turns out, and our investigation has shown that the people who were buying and selling were dubious. does that parent company, the company that was lending it's name bear any responsibility? >> yeah, it's all going to turn on not the technical nights, not the formalities of were you licensing, were you not, it's going to turn on nitty gritty facts in the end of what did the u.s. company know know about it's partner and it's conduct and what didn't it know. and, you know, that's, you know, very fact-intensive thing that is very interesting here. >> so it's about intent really. if they knew what was going on and didn't do anything, it's a problem, if they didn't know, they can claim they didn't know. >> right. that's exactly right. >> mr. brown, former public unit chief of the southern district of new york. thank you for joining us tonight.

>> thank you. up ahead, we take a look at the bigger picture of the global trump brand and ask, is the president's business getting in the way of the business of the presidency? dad: molly, can you please take out the trash? (sigh) ( ♪ ) dad: molly! trash! ( ♪ ) whoo! ( ♪ )

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tripadvisor. the latest reviews. the lowest prices. welcome back to on assignment. we're in panama city and we're taking a step back from all the news and there seems to be always a lot of news these days to take a closer look at our president's business empire around the world. starting with that building

behind me. donald trump rose to national prom pans in as a casino mogul. >> opening day at what donald trump in typical understatement is calling the eighth wonder of the world. the trump taj mahal. >> but then the casino business caught up with him. >> midnight tonight is a witching hour for donald trump if he can't make an interest payment of $37 million or work out a deal with his creditors, his taj mahal casino in atlantic city faces bankruptcy si. >> a series of those final troubles resulted in him filing for corporate bankruptcy six times. and so, he got out of the casino business. he expanded his business interests overseas, the panama tower is just one of many international business ventures that he's dabbled in. the trump business empire now spans across five continents and nearly two dozen countries and that includes licensing. according to to the washington post, donald trump has licensed his name to at least 50

different licensing or management deals. take, for example, argentina where donald trump licensed his name for a 35 story trump tower. when the president of argentina called president trump to congratulate him on his win, local reports in argentina surfaced that president trump reportedly asked the president to help him get approvals for his project pushed through. those reports were denied by the arch teen president's office, the city also denied permit. in uruguay, trump has a licensing deal for a residential tower that's currently under construction. earlier this year, eric trump travelled to check on the building's progress. his trip cost tax payers close to $100,000 in hotel bills for the secret service. in canada, in toronto, trump struck a deal with a russian-born canadian billionaire to license his name, the russian billionaire used a russian state-run bank to finance the project. a bank under u.s. sanctions.

in the former soviet republic, trump lent his name to a five-star hotel built in the shape of a sail. according to to the new yorker, donald trump's partners in the deal were a powerful family with ties to iran's revolutionary guard. a few weeks before taking office, trump cancelled the deal leaving an almost complete, never opened hotel. but not before earning nearly $3 million from the project according to his financial disclosure forms. in turkey, trump has licensed his name to trump towersist tan bully. his partner comes from a wealthy, well-connected family in turkey. recently the turkish president has gone after trump's partner. some experts suggest that by going after his partner, the turkish president is exerting political pressure on trump. turkey's leader asked theed a mrgsz to extradite a clerk that turkey wants who was living in the united states. and those are just some of the dealing. there are many more.

most of these business deals are with foreign heavy hitters and with the president refusing to die vest ownership of any of his businesses, experts argue that they are potential violations of the clause of the constitution, which prohibits the president from accepting payments or anything of economic value from foreign governments. in fact, we're going to have one of those experts on next. she said something that really struck me because i've been traveling the world for a living for quite some time, and lately, i'm hearing what she's hearing. >> what's distressing to me is people laughing at us, they're laughing at us. a heart transplant... that's a whole different ballgame. i was in shock. i am very proud of the development of drugs that can prevent the rejection and prevent the recurrence of the original disease. i never felt i was going to die. we know so much about transplantation. and we're living longer. you cannot help but be inspired by the opportunities that

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welcome back to panama city. as we told you, we've spent a lot of time here in panama investigating the dirty money that poured into the trump ocean club building over there. one of the things we kept hearing from people we talked to was, what do you expect? if you do business in panama, corruption is just part of the deal. and people don't just say that about panama, they say that about many of the country's where the president's company does business. there's an often repeated suggestion out there that the trump organization targets countries with lax regulations and a culture of corruption. that got us wondering, is that a fair suggestion? so we decided to look at all the country's we could find, which the trump organization considered as possible locations

to expand into and run them against the annual ratings published by transparency international, a well respected anti-corruption campaign group. the results are pretty telling. take a look at this. >> out of all the countries where the president has explored or closed deals, more than half are in countries that get a score below 50. that's out of 100. in school, we used to call that a fail. take this, it's one of the most corrupt places on earth, transparency international gives it just 30 points. the philippines doesn't do better coming in at 35, argentina and indonesia score just label the better at 36 and 37 respectively. and the country we're in, panama, gets 38 points. compare that with our own national average, which stands at 74 out of 100. that's quite a difference. so does the fact that president trump has so many businesses in places with a bad reputation,

harming our national reputation? are we all now label the guilty by association? i spoke to one person whose been thinking about that a lot lately. >> i thought the american system was supposed to be designed differently. i we were not supposed to look like panama or the philippines or you name it. afghanistan or as bah january. >> sarah chayes learned about corruption the hard way living for a decade in afghanistan where she investigated and exposed dirty officials, a risky thing for an american woman to be doing. >> he is using his governmental power to protect that monopoly. >> reporter: now she's brought that experience back to the u.s. where she often provides expert testimony to congressional hearings. and now, a court case in which the president himself is a defendant. >> the president of the united states is receiving money, fees,

just a good of items of value from a variety of different foreign governments without ever having consulted congress or congress ever having made a statement whether that's legal or not. >> according to a watchdog group is a violation of the foreign emoluments close of the constitution stating no person of office of profit or trust shall without the consent of congress accept any present emolument office or title of any office from any king, prince or foreign state. the wording is quaint but chayes believes it's a modern-day application. >> if you choose to shoulder the honor of serving the people of the united states of america as their president you can't simultaneously be serving yourself as a businessman. choose. one or the other. >> why not let congress pursue this? why did lawsuit? >> this is a clear violation of a constitutional provision.

congress has shown no interest in defending that constitutional provision. if we can't test the constitution in the courts where can we test it? >> she wrote a brief for the case identifying specific examples of overseas business interests the president has that may be a violation of the emoluments clause. high on the list -- the trump ocean club in panama. she says the president continues to receive items of value in the form of infrastructure repairs and permits from the panamanian government. but that according to her is not the only problem. what if i tell you it's the first project he chose to do internationally? >> it is of concern to me because what it suggests is that this was a business operation seeking easy money, that often means illegal money, it means dealing with a government that

is bent on self enrichment rather than bent on serving its own people. it's a bad sign. >> before he took office, the president tried some say unsuccessfully to draw a line under his past by putting his business empire into a trust held by his sons. his lawyers also dug deep into the statute books and pulled out a get-out clause exempting a president from prosecution over conflicts of interest. the president embraced that legal opinion immediately. >> i have a no-conflict situation business i'm president. >> is he right? is the president above conflict of interest laws? >> in terms of the integrity of our government, america has been relying on a tissue of norms and expectations. it turns out that a determined kleptcrat will blow through

norms and expectations. >> the current laws weren't built for the trump administration? >> not to withstand the trump administration. >> but chayes who wrote "thees of state" about the danger corruption poses to global security believes as a nation we are on a slippery slope. >> the united states is showing really concerning signs that i recognize from some of the most systemically corrupt countries around the world. so when the united states does things, it is like a green light. it sets the example for other countries. >> what does it do to america's standing in the world? >> dents america's standing. when ice distressing to me is people laughing at us but similarly in other countries where governments really are bent on maximizing private gain, they see similarities between

how they want to run their country and how president trump is running the united states. it's just opens the vanguards. >> in a district court in new york last month the president's lawyers argued for the case to be thrown out claiming the plaintiff's interpretation of the clause was flawed. the group's chances of winning appears to be slimming to none but chayes says speaking out is what counts here. >> we are americans. should we be demanding any less of our government than south koreans are of theirs? we don't get a democracy because god handed it down from the sky. we defend it and insist on it. and i'm really struck at how passive, frankly, the american people seem to be at the moment when our very system of government is in danger. >> when you hear sober,

thoughtful people start talking about our system of government being in danger, it's time to start paying attention. you're watching "on assignment" in panama city. stay with us. my experience with usaa has been excellent. they always refer to me as master sergeant. they really appreciate the military family, and it really shows. we've got auto insurance, homeowners insurance. had an accident with a vehicle, i actually called usaa before we called the police. usaa was there hands-on very quick very prompt. i feel like we're being handled as people that actually have a genuine need.

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whenstuff happens. d... shut down cold symptoms fast with maximum strength alka seltzer plus liquid gels. only have a sore throat? get long-lasting relief for up to 6 hours with new alka seltzer plus sore throat relief. welcome back. it's been a busy day for us here in panama city. there's been a lot of reaction to our story already. ranging from a democratic congressman calling for an urgent investigation into this story by congress, the justice

department and robert mueller to on the other hand a viewer who wrote in to tell me go, trump. my 401(k) is doing great. media still mad at losing the election. this isn't about politics. this is about what you think of the responsibilities that apply to an american company that comes to a place like this to do business. should it uphold standards that we expect back in the states? or, should it play by whatever rules the local market or the global market play by? we already know which side of this argument president trump is on because he told us himself. in 2012, president trump called into "squawk box" on cnbc to express a clear opinion of the law that forbids american officials from briding. >> they do what they have to do. it's horrible law and it should be changed. i mean, we leer like the policemen for the world. it's ridiculous. >> question answered. rachel will be back on monday

and "an assignment" will be back in the new year. for now, good night from panama city. good evening. i'm lawrence o'donnell. this is tonight's "last word" live from los angeles tonight. president trump and republican leaders in congress won some very important votes yesterday but president trump doesn't seem to want voters thinking about that tonight. he doesn't want trump voters thinking about it. he doesn't want democratic voters thinking about it. he doesn't want independents thinking about it because votes that donald trump won in congress yesterday hurt all of those voters. the trump tax cuts that passed the house of representatives and the senate finance committee are the worst pieces of tax legislation that have ever passed the house of representatives and the senate finance committee. the worst. but the full senate hasn't voted