Trump vows total exit from business
NEW YORK (AFP) — Donald Trump tried Wednesday to head off criticism that his vast business empire poses an unprecedented conflict of interest for an incoming U.S. president, even as he comes under attack for packing his cabinet with fellow billionaires.
In one of his trademark pre-dawn tweet storms, the Manhattan real estate mogul promised that he will reveal a plan next month to put aside his “great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country.”
The 70-year-old tycoon did not say who would take over his multi-billion-dollar global property and luxury branding interests, but said his children would be present at a December 15 news conference.
He has previously said his daughter Ivanka and sons Eric and Don Jr. could take day-to-day charge while he is president, but it is not clear what he would do with his personal stake.
“While I am not mandated to do this under the law, I feel it is visually important, as president, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses,” he tweeted, in a bid to get ahead of the burgeoning ethics controversy.
U.S. law does not require Trump to give up his business portfolio, although the Constitution states that no federal official can receive a gift or “emolument” from a foreign government.
Some previous presidents have placed investments in a blind trust, but they were not required to do so and Trump has said since winning election in early November that his lawyers believe this unnecessary.
Critics argue, however, it would be an unprecedented ethical conflict for Trump to keep an interest in properties spanning the globe — investments that rely in part on goodwill from foreign governments and regulators.
Even on home soil, his company has been attacked for marketing the new Trump International Hotel in Washington — just a few blocks from the White House — to foreign diplomats.
His new chief of staff, Reince Priebus, has insisted there are “smart ethics lawyers” working on a plan to resolve this issue.
Trump has admitted the hotel’s brand is probably “hotter” now that he is to be president, but has vaguely promised to “phase out” his hands-on, check-signing role in Trump Organization business.
Meanwhile, the Republican is building the cabinet team that will join him in the capital after his January 20 inauguration with a mission to “drain the swamp” of Washington corruption.
So far, aside from former generals sidelined by President Barack Obama’s administration, Trump has focused on recruiting super-rich conservative figures from Wall Street and private business.
On Tuesday, Trump dined on frog legs, scallops and sirloin at a Michelin-starred restaurant with Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor and private equity baron.
Romney’s own 2012 presidential campaign foundered in part because he was tagged him as a member of an aloof, super-rich elite, but Trump is considering him as a possible secretary of state.
On Thursday, Trump was scheduled to embark on a victory tour, leading an evening rally with his running mate Mike Pence in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The pair are also to appear at the Indianapolis plant of an air conditioning firm that announced this week it will keep 1,000 jobs in the Rust Belt — a pledge Trump made during the campaign.
His transition team has dubbed it a “thank you tour.”