Trumps non-solution to his conflicts of interest and emoluments problems
President-elect Donald Trump’s strategy on addressing his conflicts of interest seemed to be to throw out as many bells and whistles as possible, sprinkle some remarks from highly compensated lawyers and hope he could muscle his way through concerns that he is setting up a scheme that will invite corruption and run afoul of the Constitution.
He is setting up a “trust” — but one not remotely blind — to hold his business assets. They will be managed by his two sons and a Trump employee, all of whom fail the fundamental test of a blind trustee — independence. Letting on that even now he was engaged in business dealings (supposedly turning down a $2 billion deal in Dubai) only underscores the ethical morass from which he refuses to extricate himself. Moreover, denying that he has dealings in Russia has been fact-checked and found wanting. He famously went to Russia for his Miss Universe pageant, and in fact bragged last May, “I had a major event in Russia two or three years ago, which was a big, big incredible event.”
The Post Fact-Checker Glenn Kessler found:
The evidence is clear, from his own words and those of his associates, that he has been eager to business in Russia. One of his sons traveled six times in 18 months trying to do deals — and said “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets.” The Trump Organization’s general counsel also confirmed that the company has looked at deals in Russia.
Without access to Trump’s tax returns — which he has refused to disclose — it may be impossible to tell whether he currently has Russian assets. But he shouldn’t be so quick to suggest he has never had an interest into doing business in Russia.
Since he refuses to release his taxes there is no way to verify his claims about Russian loans or businesses.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/01/11/trumps-non-solution-to-his-conflicts-of-interest-and-emoluments-problems/?tid=hybrid_collaborative_1_na&utm_term=.7788a9f6fbd2
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