It ' d be ok if he ' s an 11 series <| sep |> If ownership stakes in commercial enterprises that do business with the government were an impediment , almost no modern President could have taken office . No . Modern and old Presidents have all known this was an issue before running and decided that if they were to be elected , they would sell off any assets which might run into problems or simply barred payments from offending parties . Jimmy Carter sold off his peanut farm because of it for goodness sake . An emolument is simply an archaic term for a ' salary ' No , it is an archaic word that means gain and advantage . It is an extremely broad word intentionally put into the Constitution to prevent profiting from office and bribery by foreign powers .