President-elect Donald Trump speaks at his first official news cenference since the November elections.Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Donald Trump insists he's going far beyond what U.S. law requires and will isolate himself from the global hotel and real estate empire that bears his name.
The U.S. president-elect pointed to a stack of signed documents at a news conference Wednesday that he says transfer "complete and total control" of hundreds of Trump companies in more than 20 countries to his sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, and another Trump organization executive, Allen Weisselberg.
But Mr. Trump is still balking at doing what every U.S. president has done since Richard Nixon – and what ethics experts insist he should. And that is to sell everything he owns or put any assets that might pose a conflict of interest in an independently run blind trust.
Mr. Trump's response is simple and straightforward. Americans knew he was a businessman when they elected him. And now they should trust him to steer clear of any potential conflicts of interest while he's in the White House.
As a sign of good faith, the Trump Organization will terminate all pending partnerships, and won't sign any new international-business deals, including hotel-licensing arrangements. Mr. Trump pointed out that in recent days he turned down a $2-billion (U.S.) real estate deal in Dubai.
"I could actually run my business and run government at the same time," Mr. Trump told reporters at the Trump Tower in New York – a key piece of his $3.6-billion (U.S.) empire. "I don't like the way that looks, but I would be able to do that if wanted to."
But Sheri Dillon, Mr. Trump's lawyer, said Mr. Trump shouldn't have to "destroy the company that he built" as the price of becoming president.
Ethics experts say Mr. Trump and his legal advisers don't get it.
"Forget the gold standard, the silver standard and the bronze standard. This falls far short of what every president has done in the last few decades," pointed out Jordan Libowitz of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "The entire issue of conflicts stems from ownership, not management."
Mr. Trump's holdings – including real estate, hotels, golf courses and naming deals on buildings and consumer products – present a unique challenge. They are typically emblazoned with his name and sometimes his face. Mr. Trump, the president, will remain indistinguishable from Mr. Trump, a businessman who profits from his own brand value.
"Trump doesn't care," lamented Stuart Gilman, a former United Nations diplomat whose company, Global Integrity Group, of Manassas, Va., advises governments and organizations on ethics and governance.
"Literally, everything he touches he's conflicted over. It's a bizarre Midas problem. As president of the United States, all of his businesses turn to gold, potentially, because of his role."
Mr. Trump's refusal to sell his assets or set up a blind trust for his empire isn't strictly illegal. But it runs counter to four decades of precedent set by U.S. presidents going back to Jimmy Carter, who handed over his Georgia peanut farm to an independent trustee. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama each sold most of their assets and placed the proceeds into true blind trusts.
They did so even though presidents and vice-presidents are specifically exempted from the 1978 Ethics in Government Act, which requires members of Congress, cabinet secretaries and other top officials to recuse themselves from any government business that affects their personal financial dealings. Several of Mr. Trump's ultrawealthy cabinet picks are now scrambling to sell their vast business holdings to avoid running afoul of the law, including his choices for commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross; secretary of state, Rex Tillerson; and treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin.
Paul Martin, the most recent Canadian prime minister with significant business interests, transferred ownership of his international shipping company, Canada Steamship Lines, to his three sons before he took office.
Mr. Trump's decision to not follow the example of his predecessors highlights the need to extend the scope of ethics laws to the Oval Office by requiring complete divestiture, according to Mr. Libowitz.
"When the conflict statute was written they weren't imagining someone with a multinational, multibillion-dollar business to his name," he said. "They were thinking of Jimmy Carter's peanut farm, which wasn't going to affect anyone, anywhere."
But Mr. Trump's lawyers insist some of the trickiest ethical-problem areas simply don't apply to Mr. Trump. For example, Mr. Trump's newest hotel is just a few blocks from the White House, located in a historic former post office owned by the federal government. As long as he owns the hotel, the incoming president will essentially be landlord and tenant, putting him in apparent violation of a law that bars elected officials from benefiting from a government lease.
But Ms. Dillon, his lawyer, said the law doesn't apply to Mr. Trump, who was a private citizen when the lease was signed.
She likewise dismissed concerns about an obscure section of the U.S. Constitution – the Emoluments Clause – which makes it illegal for any U.S. official, including the president, to take payments from foreign governments. Experts have suggested that the proceeds from some of Mr. Trump's foreign-licensing deals as well as foreigners booking rooms at Trump hotels would violate the Constitution. Ms. Dillon said the law was never meant to apply to "fair value exchanges," such as hotel bills.
Just to be safe, the Trump organization will donate all profits generated from foreign governments at his hotels to the U.S. Treasury.
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