THE TIGHTENING NOOSE:

A federal judge on Friday denied President Trump's request to stay a lawsuit alleging he is violating the Constitution by doing business with foreign governments, a decision that paves the way for plaintiffs to seek information about customers at his D.C. hotel.

U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte in Greenbelt, Md., denied the Justice Department's request that he pause the case to allow a higher court to intervene. And Messitte sharply questioned the president's position that his business does not improperly accept gifts or payments -- called emoluments -- as defined by the Constitution.

By Trump's analysis, Messitte wrote, the term emoluments is the subject of such "substantial grounds of disagreement" that payments his business received from foreign governments could not qualify. The judge did not agree: "The Court finds this a dubious proposition."

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