Trump to leave business to focus on running country Treasury chief named
US President-elect Donald Trump yesterday tried to stifle concerns that his business empire represents a conflict of interest, promising to put it aside as he packed his cabinet roster with fellow billionaires. In one of his trademark predawn tweetstorms, the Manhattan real estate mogul said that next month, he will reveal a plan 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 dayto-day charge of the business 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.
US 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. Critics argue it would be an unprecedented ethical conflict for Trump to maintain an interest in properties spanning the globe that rely in part on goodwill from foreign governments and regulators.
And, even on home soil, his company has attracted criticism for marketing the new Trump International Hotel in Washington - just a few blocks from the White House - to foreign diplomats. But his new chief of staff , Reince Priebus, insisted there were “smart ethics lawyers” working on a “plan”.
Trump has admitted the hotel’s brand is probably “hotter” now that he is the 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 Jan 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 failed 2012 campaign for the presidency foundered in part because Democrats tagged him as a member of an aloof, super-rich elite, but Trump is considering him as a possible secretary of state. The latest two figures Trump has nominated for senior roles - Wall Street veteran Steven Mnuchin and stressed asset investor Wilbur Ross - are both billionaires and even richer than Romney.
Trump’s defeated Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, was attacked during the campaign for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars for giving private speeches to Goldman Sachs bankers. But Trump, having already named former Goldman banker Steve Bannon as his chief strategist, this week nominated another, Mnuchin, for the key role of Treasury secretary. Mnuchin was a partner in Goldman Sachs before he launched an investment fund backed by Democratic Party supporter George Soros. He financed Hollywood blockbusters like “Avatar” and “Suicide Squad”.
Alongside Mnuchin, Trump picked Ross, best known for investing in failing steel and coal firms and turning them into saleable investments, as commerce secretary. Appearing with Ross on CNBC, 53-year-old Mnuchin said: “We’re thrilled to be here and we’re thrilled to work for the president-elect and honored to have these positions.”
Mnuchin’s appointment is widely seen as a reward for taking Trump’s side at a time when many of the Republican Party’s major donors, such as the billionaire Koch brothers, had shunned him. Trump’s picks are the first major nominations to his economic policy team. The president-elect has vowed to cut corporate taxes and to encourage multinational companies to repatriate their earnings. He plans to scrap the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reforms, enacted to protect consumers and the financial system from Wall Street excesses that some argue caused the financial crisis.
Ross has advocated a steep tariff on Chinese steel imports to prevent what Trump has alleged is the dumping of cheap commodities on the US market. Today, Trump was scheduled to embark on a victory tour of sorts, leading an evening rally with his running mate Mike Pence in Cincinnati, Ohio. The pair are also to appear earlier in the day at the Indianapolis plant of an air conditioning firm that announced yesterday it would maintain 1,000 jobs in the Rust Belt - a pledge Trump had made during the campaign. The transition team has dubbed it a “thank you tour”. — AFP