Trump sued over 'corrupt and illegal' gold card 'scheme'

Former ethics czar and Democracy Defenders Fund founder Norm Eisen is after President Donald Trump in court with a new lawsuit to block a pay-to-play scheme.

On Bluesky, Eisen wrote that his group is suing Trump over the so-called "gold card" visa that allows anyone to fast-track citizenship for $1 million.

"This is about the rule of law — the president can't auction U.S. visas to the highest bidder," Eisen complained on the social media site.

The longtime Trump foe spoke to The New York Times about the program's illegality: it bypasses key congressional requirements and prioritizes the wealthy over those with high abilities or intellect.

“Rather than reserving those visas for the world’s best and brightest, the Gold Card program converts those visas into revenue-generating commodities sold to the highest bidder,” the lawsuit claims.

One of those who has taken advantage of the program is Nicki Minaj, a native of the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, who wants U.S. citizenship. While she's a permanent resident, she came to the U.S. illegally as a child, she said on Instagram in 2018.

“If you look at the statute, you can tell Congress made some pretty deliberate decisions about how they wanted to structure the availability of these visas,” Sarah Wilson, one of the lawyers who brought the lawsuit with Eisen.

The statute puts merit-based visas into either the EB-1 or EB-2 categories.

“None of those categories include ‘give us a million dollars,’” Wilson added.

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