House Dem: Trump ‘still pumping business,’ PEOTUS, kids must sell off

“I’m very concerned about the conflicts of interest that the president-elect has, that his family members have,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

“These are not questions the public should be asking a new president once he takes office. There shouldn’t be any doubt that the president is acting in only one interest, and that’s the national interest and if he and his family have any connection to the family business I just don’t see how those questions can be avoided,” said the influential lawmaker.

Trump has promised to hold a press conference to discuss plans for his future business dealings. He has tweeted that he will step away from his business, writing, “The presidency is a far more important task.”

He is expected to keep his children in charge of the Trump businesses. His daughter Ivanka and husband Jared Kushner, both very influential advisors, are buying a home in Washington so they can be close to Trump.

Democrats have increasingly been raising concerns about how the president-elect can avoid mixing his business with presidential decisions.

And Schiff said that a “divorce” with Trump Organization isn’t enough.

“It certainly isn’t going to be enough for him to divorce himself from the family business. His kids are still running it and the family still owns it, let alone if any of the kids or in-laws have any role in advising the administration in any way,” the lawmaker said at a media breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

“Even if they’re not in the position of advising the administration, they’re not going to cut themselves off from having a relationship with the president-elect, which means the president-elect is going to know what the business is doing. And certainly the president-elect is going to be mindful of where he has businesses and where they’ve talked about growing their business.

“So the only way to really remove the conflict is to remove the family from those businesses. To divest from them,” said Schiff.

In fact, he accused Trump and his top aides of trying to profit off the election. He cited Trump’s stops at his hotels after the election and comments made by his national security advisor supporting the government of Turkey where there were threats to remove the Trump name from properties.

“What gives me concern about all this is the fact that during the presidential campaign, even within a week or two weeks of the actual election, the president-elect was still out there pumping his businesses, doing events at his hotels, bringing his hotels into the campaign and the conversation. If this is someone who even weeks before the presidential election can’t stop himself from promoting his own businesses, why on Earth would we think he’s going to stop when he takes office?” asked Schiff.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]