That didn’t take long.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Democrat from Maryland and the ranking minority leader of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has requested a review of President-elect Donald Trump’s financial arrangements ...
“...to ensure that he does not have any actual or perceived conflicts of interest and that he and his advisors comply with all legal and regulatory ethical requirements when he assumes the presidency.”
His letter, sent on Monday, went to the chairman of the committee, GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz. It specifically mentions the role Trump’s children will play both in running his company and and in advising him as president.
Press reporters indicate that Mr. Trump will be relying heavily on his children to operate his financial empire, but these same individuals have played a significant role in his presidential campaign and continue to advise Mr. Trump on his transition team. This is certainly not a “blind trust.”
Originally, Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani said the president-elect could set up a blind trust for his business, an arrangement where someone who holds public office gives control of a company to an independent trust in order to avoid a conflict of interest. But shortly after, Giuliani backtracked and said such as arrangement would be unfair to Trump’s children.
“I think he’s in a very unusual situation,” Mr. Giuliani said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “He would basically put his children out of work,” he added, “and they’d have to go start a whole new business, and that would set up new problems.”
As president, Mr. Trump will not be required to sell his assets, which he has valued in billions of dollars. But the vast scope of Mr. Trump’s assets and business dealings is likely to lead to questions about how his actions as president would affect the financial fortunes of him and his family. Most modern presidents have elected to use a blind trust, which puts their assets under the control of an independent trustee.
In his letter to Chaffetz, Cummings asked that the committee review the issues and call on Trump officials to appear before the group to address concerns.