An artist staged a colorful protest outside the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., Monday night, projecting a series of slides that included the emoluments clause to the U.S. Constitution and phrases like “Pay Trump bribes here.”
D.C.-based multimedia artist Robin Bell began projecting messages around 9:15 p.m. from a van parked across Pennsylvania Avenue from the hotel’s entrance, just blocks from the White House, the New York Daily News reported.
The slides included “Emoluments Welcome – Open 24 Hours” — a reference to the Constitutional prohibition on federal officials accepting payments from foreign states — as well as the decidedly less subtle: “Experts Agree: Trump Is a Pig.”
The artist — as well as many passers-by — depicted video and images of the project on his website and social media channels.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUJVCmwFBCZ/
A security guard at the nearby Old Post Office Pavilion put a stop to the project after about 10 minutes, standing in front of the projector to block it, the Daily News wrote.
“We had a couple great moments. A tour bus pulled up, people started clapping and taking photos,” Bell told the paper. “Everyone on the street, except for the security guard, seemed really happy.”
Since taking office, the president has come under fire — and faces a lawsuit from the ethics watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington — for potential violations of the emoluments clause from payments by foreign diplomats and governments in his various hotels, particularly the one in the nation’s capital.
The emoluments clause of the Constitution reads: “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.”