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Letter: Let’s seize Trump’s ill-gotten assets

(Evan Vucci | The Associated Press) President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, July 10, 2018, in Washington.

Your editorial rightly condemns the abhorrent practice of civil asset forfeiture.

In a country that proclaims itself dedicated to due process and the rule of law, it is intolerable that law enforcement can profit from seizing people’s property without either bringing charges or securing a conviction.

But there is one redeeming feature. Since we have a president who (in defiance of the emoluments clause) seems intent on enriching himself and his family, whether by Russian money laundered through German banks, Chinese support of his Indonesian resorts, Chinese patents granted to his daughter, or other nefarious maneuvers, and since securing a conviction for such behavior seems unlikely, given a complaisant Congress, perhaps his assets could be seized and put to some constructive use that would benefit the nation instead of him and his retainers?

Richard Middleton, Salt Lake City