**Official Trump Conflict of Interest Thread**

**boutons_deux** · 12-21-2016

Donald Trump’s ‘Half-Blind’ Trust Scheme Is Called Absurd

President-elect Donald Trump’s team is reportedly considering setting up a “discretionary trust” that would allow Trump to distance himself from his businesses while still reaping their financial benefits—an arrangement that, as government watchdogs put it, is “inappropriate” at best and “a betrayal” at worst.

Politico on Wednesday reported that Trump aides were speaking with the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) this week, indicating that the team is still attempting to sidestep ethical boundaries rather than abide by them. It’s the latest in a series of steps by the family that indicate they are selling off access to the president and attempting to profit off Trump’s rise to power.

“It’s highly inappropriate,” former ethics lawyer Richard Painter told Politico. “To have someone baby-sit your conflict-creating assets while you go around and do whatever you want, in my view that’s a violation of at least the spirit of the rules and that’s an abuse.”

In a typical blind trust, an independent financial manager takes over the official’s assets and handles them without input from the owner. Assets that are considered conflicts of interest—of which Trump has a historic amount—are sold off and replaced.
But, Politico’s Josh Gerstein writes,

with a discretionary trust, the conflicts almost magically disappear because the investments aren’t considered to belong to the incoming official at all—even if they’re producing a steady stream of income for the official.

Instead, the assets are held in a trust that is often overseen by a family member who can, but is not legally required to, send revenues from the assets to the government official.

Another benefit: there’s no explicit prohibition on the official talking with the trustee about the financial holdings.

“You don’t have to disclose it, since you don’t own it, Aunt Millie owns it,” Painter said.

“And it cures your financial conflicts of interest under the criminal statute. ...

If you really have a discretionary trust, you can participate in government decisions that affect those assets—if they let you get away with it.”
Kait Sweeney, press secretary for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), said that “by not disclosing and divesting,

Trump is betraying his own voters by prioritizing his own corporate interests at the expense of working families.

The framers of our Cons ution did not intend for presidents to put their own interests and corporations ahead of the American people.”

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/...+the+Headlines

Dems and courts must force Trash to sell everything, total divestment, OR RESIGN

**Winehole23** · 12-21-2016

Who would have standing to bring the complaint?

For better and worse, the only cure for a corrupt president is impeachment. Unless Trump crosses the US Congress, it ain't gonna happen.

**boutons_deux** · 12-21-2016

"impeachment", would delegitimize him even more, but if it got out of the Repug House, it would fail in the Repug Senate.

**boutons_deux** · 12-21-2016

OK asshole, of course

GOP Congressman says Trump’s conflicts of interest are OK because George Washington kept his house

Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) also incorrectly claimed Trump never really profited from government contracts.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) said on Wednesday that he does not think Trump needs to disentangle himself.

“To be fair to him,

he’s not a guy who made his money out of doing business with the government, particularly,”

Cole’s troubling suggestion that the only type of favoritism that government could show to businesses is through government contracts ignores the fact that

Trump has apparently made millions of agreements with government en ies including

a Central Park carousel,

a municipal golf course,

two skating rinks he operates for the city of New York, and a

Washington, D.C. hotel he operates under an agreement with the federal government.

https://thinkprogress.org/tom-cole-t...1d4#.qiawmcr0w

**pgardn** · 12-22-2016

Draining the swamp

This just happened.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/1...os-slim-232905

**boutons_deux** · 12-22-2016

Here’s The Law That Poses The Greatest Threat To Donald Trump

The Stock Act’s author explains the insider trading law will be extremely difficult for the next president to follow if he keeps his businesses.

Congress passed a law in 2012 called the Stock Act, which explicitly bars the president, members of Congress and senior executive branch officials from using their insider knowledge to make money.

Obeying the law is not especially difficult for most people. But most people do not have access to the immense amount of secret information that presidents deal with every day. And no presidents before have been billionaires with business holdings spread around the world.

The law is clear in saying that the president cannot do anything that resembles helping friends, family members or himself to make a profit off of information he gains from doing his job.

“It’s the same as it applies to the American people,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), the lead author of the Stock Act. “You cannot trade on nonpublic information. That is a criminal violation of the law.”

“The president, the vice president, Cabinet secretaries, all of them have to play by the same rules as every other American,” Gillibrand added. “And that’s what the Stock Act ensures.”

Indeed, the director of the federal Office of Government Ethics, Walter Shaub, recently declared as much in a letter explaining his official guidance to Congress.

“The Stock Act bars the President, the Vice President, and all executive branch employees from: using nonpublic information for private profit; engaging in insider trading; or intentionally influencing an employment decision or practice of a private en y solely on the basis of partisan political affiliation,” the letter says.

For Trump, it all presents a special problem, especially since he has unprecedented conflicts of interest, has so far decided not to completely divest himself of his businesses and is going to leave control of his business in the hands of his children.

It means that anything he says to his children or business confidants, or any tips he gives to friends that get turned into profits can get him in trouble. (The video above explains it in more detail.)

“If you tell people who work for you, or tell people you like or tell your best friend, that’s all insider trading,” Gillibrand said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/stock-act-donald-trump_us_5859c045e4b0d9a594566921

Since Trash, more than the Clintons ever did, think ethics, moral, laws, regulations, in letter or in spirit, don't apply to him, he will certainly violate the Stock repeatedly in the next 4 years, earning $Bs for himself, his family, his friends.

**boutons_deux** · 12-24-2016

A new solution for Trump and his team of billionaires: Ignore the law

Trump lieutenant Newt Gingrich this week proposed an elegant solution for all the conflicts of interest swirling around the president-elect and his team of billionaires: Ignore the law.

President-elect Donald Trump, Gingrich said, should let those in his administration do as they wish with their personal fortunes and business interests and pardon them if they are found to have violated laws against using public office for personal enrichment.

“He could simply say, ‘Look,

I want them to be my advisers, I pardon them if anybody finds them to have behaved against the rules, period’,”

Gingrich said on NPR’s “The Diane Rehm Show” on Monday.
“Drain the Swamp” is so October.

The General Services Administration has said Trump will be in violation of his lease agreement for the Trump International Hotel in Washington because the contract prohibits any U.S. elected official from participating in or benefiting from the lease.

Trump needs to decide whether to try to oust the head of the IRS, which he says is auditing him. (The Trump Foundation recently admitted to the IRS that it violated federal rules against self-dealing.)

Trump could avoid this cons utional problem and other law-breaking by divesting himself of his business holdings, but he so far has announced no specific action.

The billionaires and business leaders he has named to top posts present more conflicts and are subject to additional ethics laws.

But before the GOP was the Party of Donald Trump, it was the Party of Abraham Lincoln, who as a young lawyer in Illinois in 1838 warned that disregard for laws would leave the United States vulnerable to its own Caesar or Napoleon.

“I know the American people are much attached to their government,” Lincoln said then. “Yet, notwithstanding all this, if the laws be continually despised and disregarded . . . the alienation of their affections from the government is the natural consequence.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-new-solution-for-trump-and-his-team-of-billionaires-ignore-the-law/2016/12/23/f9f1689a-c90f-11e6-8bee-54e800ef2a63_story.html?utm_term=.bb312ca6e931&wpi src=nl_most-draw7&wpmm=1

I'm sure the billionaires he's appointed and their army of $1M lawyers are looking forward to ethics violations, which are probably already in planning stage.

**RandomGuy** · 12-27-2016

Originally Posted by boutons_deux

Here’s The Law That Poses The Greatest Threat To Donald Trump

The Stock Act’s author explains the insider trading law will be extremely difficult for the next president to follow if he keeps his businesses.

Congress passed a law in 2012 called the Stock Act, which explicitly bars the president, members of Congress and senior executive branch officials from using their insider knowledge to make money.

Obeying the law is not especially difficult for most people. But most people do not have access to the immense amount of secret information that presidents deal with every day. And no presidents before have been billionaires with business holdings spread around the world.

The law is clear in saying that the president cannot do anything that resembles helping friends, family members or himself to make a profit off of information he gains from doing his job.

“It’s the same as it applies to the American people,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), the lead author of the Stock Act. “You cannot trade on nonpublic information. That is a criminal violation of the law.”

“The president, the vice president, Cabinet secretaries, all of them have to play by the same rules as every other American,” Gillibrand added. “And that’s what the Stock Act ensures.”

Indeed, the director of the federal Office of Government Ethics, Walter Shaub, recently declared as much in a letter explaining his official guidance to Congress.

“The Stock Act bars the President, the Vice President, and all executive branch employees from: using nonpublic information for private profit; engaging in insider trading; or intentionally influencing an employment decision or practice of a private en y solely on the basis of partisan political affiliation,” the letter says.

For Trump, it all presents a special problem, especially since he has unprecedented conflicts of interest, has so far decided not to completely divest himself of his businesses and is going to leave control of his business in the hands of his children.

It means that anything he says to his children or business confidants, or any tips he gives to friends that get turned into profits can get him in trouble. (The video above explains it in more detail.)

“If you tell people who work for you, or tell people you like or tell your best friend, that’s all insider trading,” Gillibrand said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/stock-act-donald-trump_us_5859c045e4b0d9a594566921

Since Trash, more than the Clintons ever did, think ethics, moral, laws, regulations, in letter or in spirit, don't apply to him, he will certainly violate the Stock repeatedly in the next 4 years, earning $Bs for himself, his family, his friends.

Insider trading laws will be the hardest to skirt.

All the president has to do is bad-mouth one publicly traded company for something or other, and have any one of his advisers, children, or businesses sell/buy based on a foreknowledge of those remarks.

Given the overall nature of the people he is surrounding himself with, that one of them might be so stupid/greedy to do this is more than plausible.

**RandomGuy** · 12-27-2016

Originally Posted by tlongII

You are the dishonest one. You have arrived at many conclusions before Trump has even begun his presidency.

Donald Trump's Conflicts of Interest: A Crib Sheet

So far, the only indication that Trump may actually be distancing himself from his financial holdings is that, on December 6, Trump and his spokesman Jason Miller announced that Trump had sold off his stocks in June. However, neither provided any evidence of the sale, and considering the president-elect’s history of questionable or downright false statements regarding his finances—see, for example, David Fahrenthold’s months-long, exhaustive debunking of Trump’s claims regarding his charitable giving and namesake foundation—the claim remains suspect. Until proof of the transaction has been established, such as by releasing broker records, this article will proceed based on his FEC filings, which remain the most recent do entation of his financial holdings.

Central to the discussion is that, as Trump has repeatedly pointed out, the president and vice president are exempt from the Office of Government Ethics’ rules preventing conflicts of interest within the executive branch. More recently, attention has shifted to the Emoluments Clause, a relatively obscure section of the Cons ution barring the chief executive from receiving gifts from foreign governments, which numerous experts say Trump might violate if his properties receive preferential treatment from other world leaders. However, case law on the clause’s possible application is sparse.

At any rate, legality does not imply propriety. Unless Trump acts to put appropriate distance between himself and his business ventures, these questions are likely to continue throughout his time in the Oval Office. Below is an attempt to catalogue the more clear-cut examples of conflicts of interest that have emerged so far; the most recent entries appear at the top.

**RandomGuy** · 12-27-2016

Originally Posted by Mitch

Until I see something like this linked to Trump, you've no room

**tlongII** · 12-27-2016

Nice to see you reference a left wing rag again.

**RandomGuy** · 12-27-2016

Originally Posted by TeyshaBlue

Getting to the nuts and bolts of this..Trump is heavily leveraged in real estate. He can't exactly remove himself from a lien or other credit instrument. Placing proceeds in a blind trust doesn't cut it either as any money received by hook or crook is still his...just defered for another 4 years. Forcing him to take his holdings/companies public is a non starter. Trump dealing with a BOD and activist investors? Not happening.
The 4 year deferral seems to the only likely solution imo.

**RandomGuy** · 12-27-2016

Originally Posted by tlongII

Nice to see you reference a left wing rag again.

Translation:

"I can't actually argue the point, all I can do is bash the source"

Intellectual.

Bankruptcy.

**FuzzyLumpkins** · 12-27-2016

Originally Posted by tlongII

Nice to see you reference a left wing rag again.

We get it. You think the AP is unreliable and that your right wing websites with no cross checking are the way to go. Combine that with an obvious lack of critical thinking and you are a real peach, T.

**tlongII** · 12-27-2016

Intellectual bankruptcy.

Critical thinking.

**Mitch** · 12-27-2016

Originally Posted by RandomGuy

You still have the avatar of the people citi bank bought to work under Obama, brah?

**boutons_deux** · 12-27-2016

Whoa, There! Trump Faces Hurdles As He Moves To Dissolve Charity

shuttering the Donald J. Trump Foundation will require cooperation from the charity’s chief antagonist, New York’s Democratic Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

Schneiderman’s office is currently investigating allegations of self-dealing and other violations of IRS regulations by the charity, and his spokeswoman Amy Spitalnick told TPM on Tuesday that the foundation “cannot legally dissolve” until that investigation is complete.

The Empire State's attorney general is also responsible for approving the plan of dissolution that any nonprofit registered in New York that hopes to close down must file.

Nonprofit law experts told TPM that in order for that to happen, Schneiderman's office would need to determine that all of the Trump Foundation’s

outstanding taxes were paid,

that all funds were properly used by the foundation and

that all remaining assets are put toward charitable purposes.

Those experts warned that the process is likely to drag on for a year or more—long after Trump is installed in the Oval Office.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/obst...l-irs-approval

**boutons_deux** · 12-27-2016

Fact Checkers Eat Trump Alive For Claim That ‘All’ Foundation Money Goes To Charity

Not only has the foundation forked over hundreds of thousands of dollars to non-charitable causes, but Trump himself gave little of his own money to the organization.

http://www.politicususa.com/2016/12/...iticus+USA+%29

... but of course, in the post-truth/anti-fact/anti-rational America, Trash's supporters believe every ing one of his lies

**rmt** · 12-28-2016

Originally Posted by RandomGuy

A desire to demonstrate to evangelicals that their candidate's morals were not aligned with theirs.

A fact that probably escaped a lot of them because evangelicals have been fooled into thinking abortion is an important issue, IMO.

Guess I haven't been in this thread so I missed this one.

Evangelicals believe in the forgiveness of sins. I fail to see why what Melania did before she got married matters - by all accounts, she has been a devoted wife and mother. And using her pictures (obviously Trump's moved on) to demonstrate his lack of morals? I'm sure you can find lots of better examples. Trump never campaigned on a religious platform - he has not hidden who he is and the media has left no stone unturned in exposing everything they can about him. Evangelicals, like myself, are well aware of what he is. I have always thought that only someone like him would survive the barrage from the press, the Dems, the Repubs, the establishment, academia, etc. To this day, I'm still surprised he won.

Abortion is an important issue if you see the baby inside as a life - a life that's viable outside the mother at about 22 weeks (when the mother starts feeling the baby move around and what an awesome feeling that is!). I just cannot understand people like Hillary who are for abortion right up until delivery date - IMO, it's unconscionable. So given the choice between Hillary and Trump - there really isn't much to think about and gladly, the evangelicals turned out for him.

**boutons_deux** · 12-28-2016

saw this yesterday:

"Would "family values" Repugs (and evangelicals) ignore it if Hillary had 5 children by 3 different husbands?"

**CosmicCowboy** · 12-28-2016

Originally Posted by boutons_deux

saw this yesterday:

"Would "family values" Repugs (and evangelicals) ignore it if Hillary had 5 children by 3 different husbands?"

Meh...sitting on Huma's face was more Hillary's style.

**boutons_deux** · 12-28-2016

Donald Trump wants a cookie for shutting down his foundation — but the real conflicts of interest are elsewhere

Trump lavishes self-praise for one irrelevant maneuver — but four years won’t be enough to untangle his conflicts

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...78484572450816

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...81917215977473

It’s a distraction that in no way lets Trump off the hook for the myriad other ways in which his business conflicts with his impending duties as president.

Compared to the businesses, the self-dealing with Trump’s charity is the tip of a large iceberg.

Every time Trump does resolve one of these conflicts of interest, assuming he bothers to do so, he will present it as yet one more selfless act on behalf of the American people, for which he deserves credit.

http://www.salon.com/2016/12/28/dona...are-elsewhere/

Trash loves Trash as Trash's own gift to America.