Donald J. Trump’s global business empire will create an unprecedented number of conflicts of interest for a United States president, experts in legal ethics say.
The Trump Organization’s contract with the General Services Administration prohibits any elected official of the United States government from being part of the lease or deriving any benefit from it.
Unless the agency ends its lease before the president-elect takes office, Mr. Trump will, in effect, be both the landlord and tenant of the building, according to two government procurement experts, Steven L. Schooner and Daniel I. Gordon.
Mr. Schooner and Mr. Gordon wrote that putting Mr. Trump’s children in charge of the organization was “plainly insufficient to avoid strictly any conflict of interest or even the appearance of a conflict, particularly where the president’s name will remain as the hotel’s name, brand, trademark and marquee.”
Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank, is in negotiations with the Justice Department to settle claims over its handling of mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 financial crisis.
Questions remain about the bank’s ability to pay a large penalty. The Justice Department’s opening bid was $14 billion.
If the negotiations are not settled by Jan. 20, Mr. Trump will oversee a department that has the potential to make or break the bottom line of one of his biggest lenders.
The head of the Internal Revenue Service is nominated by the president for a five-year term. Republicans have tried to impeach the current commissioner, John A. Koskinen, whose term ends on Nov. 12, 2017. Mr. Koskinen could resign or be impeached before then, clearing the way for Mr. Trump to nominate a new commissioner.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...conflict-of-interests.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency responsible for enforcing labor laws and safeguarding employees’ right to organize.
The five members Mr. Trump appoints will be in charge of investigating complaints brought by workers, which could include those at his hotels and other properties.
In fact, a week before the election, the board ruled against the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, which Mr. Trump co-owns, for refusing to negotiate with a new culinary workers union.
I know this is America and anyone can run for president but this is kinda ridiculous. He has so many ties to his businesses that there is so much conflict of interest. Even if it does not affect him directly, it affects his family.
