Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gifted US President Donald Trump a golden pager during their meeting in Washington on Tuesday, an Israeli political source told CNN.
The Constitution (Article I, Section 9) prohibits anyone in the US Government from receiving a personal gift from a foreign head of state without the consent of Congress.
The handling of gifts from a foreign official to any Federal Government employee, including the President, is largely governed by the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act of 1966 and further legislation passed in 1977. Congress has allowed Federal employees to retain any gift from a foreign government, as long as the totalĀ USĀ retail value of the gifts presented at one occasion does not exceed an amount established by the General Services Administration (GSA). Foreign official gifts over this āminimal valueā are considered gifts to the people of theĀ United States, which the recipient must purchase from GSA, at fair market value, in order to retain.
The Constitution (Article I, Section 9) prohibits anyone in the US Government from receiving a personal gift from a foreign head of state
I've added some bold to a word that's relevant here.
It's actually commonplace for foreign leaders to give gifts to US Presidents. These gifts are not personal gifts and are actually owned by the US government. Some of these gifts wind up in a Presidential library.
They can't take this stuff home with them as that would be illegal. Of course Trump does take stuff home with him that belongs to the US government, but that's the illegal part, not the accepting of the gift.
Fun Fact: Justin Trudeau (really Canada's ministry of foreign affairs) gave Trump a nicely framed photo of a hotel Trump's grandfather owned in the Yukon. That hotel was actually a brothel. The Trump family... keeping it classy for generations.