[asdff]

I would hope the law isn't so loose in interpretation where people could get away this easily with this looney tunes legal defense. For example I used to work in a public capacity and we couldn't even take gifts, so I would think the president couldn't just say they were gifted a huge yacht or something for a wink wink nudge nudge, or else it would have been done by now.

[vharuck]

You should read their recent decision in a corruption case. There is a federal law for agents of government bodies or organizations that receive above a certain threshold of federal money, saying they can't accept or solicit bribes or rewards for official acts. The reasoning is federal money shouldn't be squandered on crooked deals.

A mayor gave a large contract to a local business owner who then gave the mayor $13,000 in gifts and "advisory" fees. SCOTUS said that was okay, because the mayor didn't explicitly agree to a "quid pro quo" bribery deal before giving out the contract. They jumped through hoops to avoid the "rewards" part of the law.

So if you get your old public position back, you might be able to reap some SCOTUS-blessed rewards.

[zeroonetwothree]

It’s actually for state actors, not federal. I think it would have been problematic if giving your public school teacher a gift lands them in jail for 15 years.