Trump’s lawyers use government shutdown as an excuse to delay emoluments lawsuit

President Donald Trump's lawyers are using the government shutdown he promoted by squashing a bipartisan budget deal as an excuse for delaying hearings in a lawsuit that alleges he is illegally profiting from the presidency, reports Politico.

The Constitution has a provision banning the president from accepting "emoluments" from foreign leaders. Trump's hotel properties have raked in millions from foreign leaders who stay there while doing official business.

Lawyers defending Trump in the Justice Department have invoked the shutdown in asking a federal appeals court "to postpone indefinitely all further filings" in the case, according to Politico.

Trump's lawyers don't have to turn in their next briefing until January 22 but the team of lawyers is not funded and claims that "Department of Justice attorneys and employees are prohibited from working, even on a voluntary basis, except in very limited circumstances, including ‘emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property’"