President-elect Trump’s Statement Today Hasn’t Yet Solved his Pervasive Conflict of Interest Problems

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Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer

President-elect Donald Trump said today he will announce on December 15 how he intends to deal with The Trump Organization in order to avoid conflicts of interest while serving as president.

Trump said he would take himself out of the “business operations” of The Trump Organization, but provided no further details on what he meant by this.

President-elect Trump cannot solve his pervasive and dangerous conflict of interest problems if he continues to maintain ownership of The Trump Organization or if his children either own or operate the business enterprise. The only real solution here is for Trump to divest his assets to a true blind trust that is managed by a truly independent trustee.

The American people did not provide Trump with the privilege of being president in order for the office to be used to enrich himself or his family. They did not provide him with the presidency to create the appearance, if not the reality, that the Trump administration’s domestic and foreign policies are being determined in return for financial benefits provided to The Trump Organization.

In recent years, many Republicans and other groups, including Democracy 21, called for the Clinton family to make a clean and complete break with the Clinton Foundation if Hillary Clinton was elected president. For the same reasons, it is essential that the Trump family make a clean and complete break with the Trump business enterprises.

Democracy 21 will await with interest President-elect Trump’s announcement on December 15 to see how he plans to solve his conflict of interest problems.

Click here to read a statement on Trump issued today by Norm Eisen, former chief White House ethics lawyer for President Obama and Richard Painter, former chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush.