President-elect Trump would face difficulties meeting the highest standards for reducing conflicts of interest between the presidency and his personal business even if he tried to.
The former real estate investor and reality television star has not detailed his plans for handing off his business and other holdings when he takes office. Those steps are supposed to be outlined in a Dec. 15 press conference to explain how he will leave his “great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country.”
But ethics experts suggest that the only way Trump could avoid conflicts of interest would be to divest himself of his business entirely and put his wealth into a blind trust. Those measures, though, would be complicated by the fact that much of Trump’s business is tied up in his own name brand and by his track record of litigiousness and backing out of deals.
The best option for ensuring that Trump didn’t face any conflicts between his business or investments and his role as president would be for him to divest his assets and put the proceeds in a blind trust, ethics experts said.
Trump has suggested that he won’t do that, and instead will leave his businesses to his children to manage, a setup that ethics experts wouldn’t be sufficient to reduce conflicts.
Nevertheless, even if Trump were to try to liquidate his assets and put his assets in a blind trust, several experts suggested he would have some trouble finding a trustee to take the job.
“I think I would caution anyone going into a business relationship with Donald Trump. Not because of his personality, but because of his track record,” said Katherine Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis and expert in government ethics, noting instances in which Trump has refused to pay business partners.
Stephen Cohen, an attorney practicing in government employment law, said he could not see Trump trying to place his assets in a blind trust. But if Trump tried, Cohen suggested, any potential trustee would have to worry about Trump trying to influence him or her. “I don’t think he’s an honorable and trustworthy person,” Cohen said. “I wouldn’t trust him not to try to influence that person.”
Robert Walker, a government ethics attorney at Wiley Rein LLP, suggested that the kinds of financial institutions that specialize in blind trusts are used to working with ultra-high worth, exacting people. But even if he could find a trustee, Walker said, Trump could face difficulties selling off his business interests. “It would be very challenging for President-elect Trump to divest of all his current interests — property and otherwise — and to put either cash or remaining investment securities interest in a blind trust.”
Although campaign disclosures indicate that Trump controls hundreds of companies, those holdings are not so sprawling that Trump could not extricate himself, Trump biographer Tim O’Brien wrote in a recent Bloomberg article. The Trump Organization, according to O’Brien, mostly comprises a licensing business, several golf courses and resorts, and some real estate and retail interests.
Nevertheless, not enough is known about Trump’s businesses to say that he would be able to divest himself of those businesses. “There’s a lot that we don’t know about his assets, and it’s possible that some arrangements can’t be sold,” Clark said. In particular, some businesses could take the form of partnerships that Trump couldn’t unilaterally sell.
It would not be sufficient for Trump to simply hand over his stake in the Trump Organization to a third-party trustee, without liquidating it, experts said. In that case, he would still face the inevitable conflicts that would arise when business came before the president’s office that affected any of his assets.
Such conflicts would be especially glaring given the nature of his businesses. A blind trust is “not the place to put name-brand assets or assets that he owns in conjunction with his family,” Walker said.
Such hazards are likely to arise, or have already arisen, in the case of foreign governments or business lobbies booking space at Trump’s Washington hotel, Cohen noted.
Giving control of the business to his children would fall even further short of what experts consider a proper setup. That is especially true given that Trump’s children have been involved in the White House transition and could be involved in the administration to some extent.
Nevertheless, whatever decision Trump reveals next week, the public will have to accept it, given that the president is not bound by the same ethics laws that apply to the legislative branch, Cohen said. “Basically, he can do whatever he wants,” Cohen said. “The only constraint on him is himself and the electorate.”
