Trump Children Won’t Have Formal White House Roles
President-elect Donald Trump doesn’t plan to nominate or appoint any of his children to a formal role in his administration.
Yet, his plan for three of them to run his sprawling business empire while he is in the White House is still drawing fire from ethics watchdogs who say it would pose too many potential conflicts of interest.
Mr. Trump’s umbrella company, Trump Organization, has begun taking steps to transfer management to Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka Trump and “a team of highly skilled executives,” according to a company spokesman. Last week, he appointed all three to the executive committee of his transition team, which is charged with choosing the administration officials who will run government agencies, some of whose decisions could affect the company.
Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, said Thursday that none of his children are planning to formally join their father’s administration, but didn’t respond to questions about whether any might play an informal role. Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is expected to serve in some capacity in the White House, compounding concerns about his wife, Ivanka, taking control of the family’s business. Mr. Kushner also may choose to play an informal advisory role without taking a formal White House staff position.
Those potential overlaps have drawn criticism from ethics experts in both parties. “We were told they were going to separate the business from the presidency,” said Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer for Republican President George W. Bush. “Within the first week, they’ve contradicted that.”
Mr. Trump has said he would put his holdings into a blind trust with his children as its trustees—making it effectively not blind, since federal law requires blind trusts to be managed by independent outsiders, not family members. What’s more, a blind trust would be difficult in Mr. Trump’s case because his assets are known: His buildings bear his name, and he profits from or takes losses from business deals he personally negotiated.
Mr. Trump retaining ownership of his businesses while in the White House is largely unprecedented in modern politics, though presidents are exempt from conflict-of-interest rules that apply to other administration members. Critics have voiced concerns not only that he could take government actions to benefit his companies, but that people could pay his companies money in an attempt to influence the president’s actions.
“This is as direct a conflict of interest as I’ve ever seen,” said Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, a nonpartisan ethics advocacy group. He said Mr. Trump’s conflicts can’t be solved but “can be minimized,” and called for him to place his holdings into a proper blind trust with an independent executor and to sell off his foreign investments. On Thursday, more than a dozen ethics groups sent an open letter to Mr. Trump urging him to do the same.
During the campaign, the Trump children served as top surrogates and informal advisers to their father, helping oust two of his leadership teams over the course of the election. Mr. Kushner also was key adviser to Mr. Trump, campaign aides said.
Mr. Trump’s holdings consist chiefly of real-estate assets and units that manage hotels and condo towers, all under the umbrella company of Trump Organization. The company is largely domestic, but it has been expanding overseas. The Trump Organization’s last 10 real estate or branding deals took place abroad.
A spokesman for the Trump Organization said the “structure” it chooses to transfer management to Mr. Trump’s children will “comply with all applicable rules and regulations.”
Aside from President Barack Obama, whose investments were relatively minor, the last four presidents have put their holdings into blind trusts. Presidents are exempt from conflict-of-interest laws, but have traditionally adopted blind trusts to avoid the appearance of conflicts.
Mr. Trump’s children have been working in the family business for years, but Mr. Trump has largely retained ownership of the companies with only a few exceptions, according to his Federal Election Commission disclosures.
Transferring management of the companies to his children wouldn’t allow Mr. Trump to escape another potential problem. If he retains his ownership in his business, his company’s dealings abroad risk violating a constitutional provision that federal officers cannot accept payments or gifts from foreign countries without the consent of Congress. Violations of the clause—which has largely not been litigated—could result in forfeiting the payments to the U.S. government.
During the campaign, Mr. Trump drew criticism for promoting—and paying—family-owned companies on the campaign trail. He held two events at his recently opened hotel in Washington, D.C., and spent nearly $10 million over the course of the election paying his companies and reimbursing his children for travel.
While they are on the transition team—technically a nonprofit, Trump for America Inc., rather than an official government entity—the Trump children aren’t subject to any government ethics rules.
Mr. Trump’s transition team on Wednesday released a code of ethics requiring team members to “disqualify” themselves from matters in which “my knowledge may directly conflict with a financial interest of mine, my spouse, minor child, partner, client or other individual or organization with which I have a business or close personal relationship.” In 2008, Mr. Obama released a similar code of ethics about a week after his election.
Once Mr. Trump enters the White House, federal nepotism rules put in place after President John F. Kennedy appointed his brother as attorney general prevent him from appointing relatives to a government position. Mr. Painter recalled a senior official during the Bush administration asking if his son could snag a White House internship. He was turned down.
Mr. Kushner may be able to get around those rules because some experts say they apply to federal agencies and not the White House staff itself. Mr. Kushner has indicated he wouldn’t draw a salary. He is considering placing his own real-estate business—separate from Mr. Trump’s—into a blind trust over which he would have no control or access, according to people familiar with his thinking. He would agree to suspend receiving any income or distribution from his real-estate and media holdings, those people said.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform, wrote a letter this week to Mr. Trump’s transition operation, asking for more information on reports that the president-elect is seeking a security clearance for Mr. Kushner.
Robert Kelner, chairman of Covington and Burling’s election and political law practice group, said most federal officials—likely including Mr. Kushner, if he were to serve in the White House—must “recuse themselves from particular matters that would impact their own or a family member’s financial interests,” which would include Mr. Trump’s businesses if Ms. Trump is running them. Mr. Kelner said that practice isn’t uncommon.
In 1993, President Bill Clinton allowed Hillary Clinton to effectively serve as a policy adviser, including giving her an office in the West Wing, where she spearheaded the administration’s health-care policy. That setup drew criticism from Congress, which perceived it as “overreaching” by the president, Mr. Painter said.
Source:https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-children-wont-have-formal-white-house-roles/ar-AAkqN2A
