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Trump hotels in lawsuit; Cuba policy announcement coming

The attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit today claiming that government payments to President Donald Trump’s businesses violate the U.S. Constitution.

Separately, the president is expected to visit Miami as soon as this week to announce a new Cuba policy that could tighten rules on trade and travel, according to sources interviewed by Reuters.

According to the complaint, filed in U.S. district court, payments to the president’s enterprises from foreign and domestic governments through his hospitality empire draw business away from Maryland and D.C. venues and put local governments under pressure to give Trump-owned businesses special treatment, Reuters said.

The Trump Organization has said it will donate profits from customers representing foreign governments to the U.S. Treasury but will not require the customers to identify themselves. The Justice Department declined to comment, and White House officials did not respond to requests for comment, according to Reuters.

Cuba policy

Trump’s Miami visit is expected to include an announcement rolling back parts of former President Barack Obama’s opening to the island, according to a U.S. official and people familiar with the matter, according to a U.S. official speaking with Reuters.

Among the options under consideration are banning U.S. companies from doing business with Cuban enterprises tied to the military – which controls a large part of the communist-ruled island’s economy – and tightening rules on Americans traveling there, according to people familiar with the discussions. In June 2016, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, now owned by Marriott International, began managing a Four Points by Sheraton hotel in Havana, the first hotel to operate under a U.S. brand since before the embargo.

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