Democrats on Monday demanded that the House Oversight Committee investigate possible conflicts of interest between President-elect Trump and the businesses he still runs, and complained that Republicans have been ignoring these issues even though they chased similar questions when they related to Hillary Clinton.
“You acted with unprecedented urgency to hold ’emergency’ hearings and issue multiple unilateral subpoenas to investigate Secretary Clinton before the election,” they wrote in a letter to Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. “We ask that … you show the same sense of urgency now.”
The letter was signed by all 17 Democrats on the committee, and is a follow-up from inquiries by Rep. Elijah Cummings, the committee’s ranking Democrat, asking for Chaffetz to conduct “basic oversight” into Trump’s potential conflicts of interest. Democrats accused Chaffetz of ignoring their past request for an investigation.
“Although you have stated publicly that you will hold Mr. Trump to the same standards as President Obama and Secretary Clinton, you have not responded to Ranking Member Cummings’ letter, and you have not taken steps to conduct basic oversight of these unprecedented challenges,” the group wrote. They said their offices have been flooded with calls on the issue over the past two weeks.
“At the same time, during this two-week period, troubling new revelations about Mr. Trump’s actions — as well as those of his family members and business associates — have made the need for robust congressional oversight even more urgent,” the letter read.
The group cited comments made over the past few weeks by Trump himself, specifically to the New York Times last week, where he said that the law is “totally on my side, the president can’t have a conflict of interest.”
They called for Trump to liquidate his assets and place them in a blind trust, although Trump has hinted he may not need to take that step, and that he still intends to hand over his business to his children. Issues between Trump’s official duties as president-elect and business interests seemed to collide almost two weeks ago when Ivanka Trump, the president-elect’s eldest daughter, sat in on a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest.
The letter also asks Chaffetz to formally ask Trump to provide the committee with copies of his tax returns, which he has refused to release until an audit into them is complete.
Chaffetz went back-and-forth over his support for Trump throughout the campaign, particularly after a leaked video emerged showing Trump making lewd remarks about women on a hot microphone in 2005, saying he was “out” and would not back him. Soon after, Chaffetz revealed that he would vote for him because of his opposition to Clinton.
A spokesperson for Chaffetz declined to comment on the letter.
