In response to news that President Donald Trump may accept a Qatari luxury jet, Fordham Law Professor Zephyr Teachout’s 2014 book about corruption and foreign influence on officials reminds of other instances where elected officials made questionable ethics choices.
One of the most lavish and controversial gifts was a gold and diamond snuff box given to Benjamin Franklin after his nine-year diplomatic tour of duty in France.
In 1785, King Louis XVI gave the Founding Father the elaborate parting gift which featured a miniature image of the monarch encrusted with 408 diamonds “of a beautiful water.”
It raised questions about corruption and foreign influence on officials in the newly formed American government, wrote Fordham Law professor Zephyr Teachout in her 2014 book, “Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin’s Snuff Box to Citizens United.”