On the day President-elect Donald Trump had pledged to clarify how his companies would run during his term in the White House, his strategy to avoid conflicts of interest looks more confusing than ever.
On Tuesday, Trump said his sons would run his company, building what he says is a clear wall between his private business and public power. On Wednesday, his children had seats at the table of one of his biggest policy meetings yet, attended by the country’s top tech-industry elites and Trump Cabinet nominees. Also around the table- bottles of Trump Natural Spring Water, the president-elect’s water brand.
The episode bolstered a growing confusion over how Trump would separate his complex web of business interests from his job in the Oval Office, a central focus for many who have worried that Trump’s entanglements could steer his policy and presidency.
Top Democrats say they intend to target this vulnerability for Trump in the march to his inauguration and beyond. Democratic senators including Senator Elizabeth Warren said on Thursday morning that they would introduce a bill next month requiring the president to “disclose and divest” financial holdings that post conflicts of interest, mimicking a law that already binds most public officials.
“This is bigger than our president-elect. This is bigger than this moment,” said Democtratic Congressman Elijah E Cummings, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, during a forum at the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon. “This is about our democracy and the laws that go with it.”
Trump tweeted two weeks ago that he would hold a “major news conference” in New York on 15 December to give more details on his plans. But this week, his representatives said that conference, and any ensuing clarity, would have to wait until an undetermined date next month.
Trump added that he had already turned down “seven deals with one big player.” He said he turned down those lucrative arrangements out of personal desire, not because of legal requirements. “I’m not going to be doing deals at all,” he said. “I have the right to do it. I just don’t want to do it.”
There are no conflict-of-interest laws that would force the president to sell off his business interests. But the president must still abide by laws against bribery, fraud and corruption, as well as a constitutional ban against accepting payments from a foreign power, upheld by threat of impeachment.
But those stipulations may not solve the core problem. If Trump gives his children corporate management responsibilities but still partially owns the businesses, he will have a financial stake that could influence his presidential decision-making, former White House ethics advisers said.
On Wednesday, Trump invited some of the giants of American tech- Amazon chief executive and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg- to the 25th floor of Trump Tower, where he told them, “We’re going to be there for you.”
They listened a few chairs down from three of Trump’s children, Eric, Ivanka and Don Jr, the latter of whom tweeted afterwards: “Honoured to have sat in on this meeting. The most impressive group of minds I’ve seen assembled all looking to fight for America and US jobs.”
“President-elect Trump’s financial entanglements are unprecedented in American history, and the American people are still waiting to hear what steps he will take before January 20th to guard against conflicts of interest and corruption in his Administration,” Senator Richard Durbin said in a statement Thursday.
“Just this week, the President-elect cancelled a scheduled announcement about severing his business ties, taking time instead to meet with Kanye West,” Durbin added. “The American people deserve to know that their President is putting the US’ interests before his own, his family’s, or that of any foreign government.”
