The lawsuit filed against President Donald Trump by the state attorneys of Washington D.C. and Maryland on Monday is a stunt by "two pinheads looking for publicity," John Sununu, former governor of New Hampshire and chief of staff to President George H.W. Bush, told Newsmax TV.
In the complaint, Washington’s Karl Racine and Maryland’s Brian Frosh say Trump’s luxury hotel in Washington and his worldwide network of hotel and golf courses violate the Constitution's Foreign Emoluments Clause, which bans him from accepting payments from foreign governments.
"I suspect that what they're referring to is that foreigners may come and rent a room at the Trump hotel in Washington and somehow that affects, triggers the emoluments clause," Sununu said Monday on "America Talks Live" with Bill Tucker.
"I would have more faith in the sincerity of their suit if they had filed it against President [Barack] Obama and President [Bill] Clinton when they were selling lots and lots of books overseas and receiving the same kind of income from foreign countries. There's a parallel there that they've failed to treat on an equal basis when they had the chance."
But all in all, Sununu added, the legal action is "really two pinheads looking for publicity."
Tune in to Newsmax TV beginning at 12 PM EDT to see "America Talks Live" — on FiOS 615, YouTube Livestream, Newsmax TV App from any smartphone, NewsmaxTV.com, Roku, Amazon Fire — More Systems Here
Sununu also chastised Trump for his sometimes foot-in-mouth tweets.
"The country would be served well, I think, if the president somehow broke two thumbs.... He has to understand that he exposes himself to really a pervasive parcing of every word he uses in there," Sununu told Tucker.
"The media can take a proper sentence or a proper collection of 140 characters and by parcing it with bias they can make it sound like it's something that it was not intended to be. That's the biggest concern I have.
"He does not understand that in this liberal media bias that exists out there and the millions of people that are against him that are also in the Twitter-sphere — they can turn what is a constructive and innocent comment of his into something that's evil and creates exposure for him."
Sununu is the author of author of "The Quiet Man: The Indispensable Presidency of George H.W. Bush," published by Broadside Books.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.