# Will Trump Keep His Business Interests Separate from the Presidency? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 20, 2016, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-keep-his-business-interests-separate-from-the-presidency/772600 "2016-11-20T22:35:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-keep-his-business-interests-separate-from-the-presidency/772600/121 "2016-11-28T16:11:22Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > The New York Times published a very revealing [article](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/26/us/politics/donald-trump-international-business.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=a-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0) today. The Times does a deep dive. Why wasn’t this seriously discussed during the campaign? It was mentioned in passing but without any depth at all. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-keep-his-business-interests-separate-from-the-presidency/772600/122 "2016-11-28T17:08:15Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > Why wasn’t this seriously discussed during the campaign? It was mentioned in passing but without any depth at all. Because most liberals (with a few notable exceptions like Michael Moore) had hypnotized themselves into thinking Trump victory was impossible. Nate Silver, previously called a great sage for his statistical methods was scoffed at. Prediction markets were ignored. Why would the details of a catastrophe be relevant if it had zero probability? Because the news networks have ceased any pretense of delivering intelligent news or comment. The Jerry Springer Show has become the model for any TV “News” broadcast more serious than the weather report. Because newspapers, once hailed as the noble fourth estate, and which brought down the crooked R.M. Nixon, are now a shadow of their former greatness, with content that would flunk Freshman English, and opinions written by whichever random blogger gets the most ad clicks. Because the remnants of conservative media, once hosting praiseworthy news sources like _National Review_ and the _Wall Street Journal_, has become a cesspit of money-grubbers, racists and traitors, who applaud the dumbing-down of America since it improves their electoral chances. Because many Americans put more thought into which flavor of potato chip to buy than they do into an election. Because America’s best days are behind it, and the world weeps as the Great Experiment of Democracy verges on collapse. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-keep-his-business-interests-separate-from-the-presidency/772600/123 "2016-12-01T01:18:25Z")
The Office of Government Ethics is thanking Trump [with just a hint of sarcasm](http://www.vox.com/2016/11/30/13797226/trump-conflict-of-interest-office-government-ethics-tweets). ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-keep-his-business-interests-separate-from-the-presidency/772600/124 "2016-12-13T01:18:12Z")
> [@](#): > > The president-elect was scheduled to give a news conference Thursday to detail plans to separate himself from his business concerns. It was to be his first news conference since winning the election Nov. 8. Well, dang, I was looking forward to that! ☹ I guess he wants to keep us in suspense again. > [@](#): > > President-elect Donald Trump will wait until January to say what role he will play in his business empire as president, delaying one of the most critical and highly anticipated announcements of the transition. > > Trump has been under significant pressure to step away from his various businesses since winning the election to avoid possible conflicts of interest. On Sunday, Trump repeated he will hand over day-to-day management of the Trump Organization to his three eldest children, but suggested he would not fully divest from the company. > > “Essentially, I’m not going to have anything to do with the management,” Trump told “Fox News Sunday.” “When I ran everybody knew that I was a very big owner of real estate all over the world. I mean, I’m not going to have anything to do with the management of the company. I’m not going to be doing deals at all.” > > [Rest of the story](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/12/12/trump-postpones-announcement-on-how-he-will-avoid-conflicts-of-interests/?hpid=hp_hp-cards_hp-card-politics%3Ahomepage%2Fcard) I don’t think press conferences are going to be The Donald’s thing. A room full of possibly hostile, inquisitive, smart, well-informed lying scum with long memories?? Nah. He’ll just tweet. Probably during one of those pre-dawn calls of nature. Hey, we oldsters have them. I predict he gives the January one a pass, too. (Yes, I know Obama wasn’t big on press conferences either.) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-keep-his-business-interests-separate-from-the-presidency/772600/125 "2016-12-14T15:21:44Z")
[ > [@](#): > > The government says Donald Trump must divest all financial interests in his splashy new Washington hotel or be in breach of his lease the moment he becomes president next month, House Democrats said Wednesday. > > An official from the General Services Administration, which holds the lease on the Trump International Hotel, said in a Dec. 8 briefing that “Mr. Trump must divest himself not only of managerial control, but of all ownership interest as well,” the top Democrats on the House oversight and transportation committees wrote to the agency. > > The letter suggests the government concurs with experts who have interpreted the hotel’s lease as saying Trump has to give up his stake in the newly-opened hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue. > [@](#): > > At issue are 43 words of the lease’s clause 37.19 on top of page 103, which has been interpreted by some experts on government contracting law — and Trump critics — to force the president-elect to unload his equity stake in the government-owned building near the White House. The document’s key part: No “elected official of the Government of the United States” shall be “admitted to any share or part of this Lease.” > > The GSA has concluded that means Trump must dump all of his financial interest before he takes office Jan. 20, according to the House Democrats. > > They wrote to GSA Administrator Denise Roth that Ivanka Trump, the president-elect’s daughter, has been the chief contact for the agency — which raises “obvious” conflicts of interest. ]([http://bigstory.ap.org/article/democrats-cite-govt-trump-must-divest-dc-hotel](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/democrats-cite-govt-trump-must-divest-dc-hotel))Now we get to see what happens! What are the odds that Mr. Trump will fight this? What are the odds that he’ll just “sell” it to Ivanka? If he does, what are the odds that Ivanka will be found to be a wholly owned subsidiary of Mr. Trump? 😉😛 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-keep-his-business-interests-separate-from-the-presidency/772600/126 "2016-12-14T16:06:23Z")
What happens if he’s in breach? What are the actual consequences to him? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-keep-his-business-interests-separate-from-the-presidency/772600/127 "2016-12-14T16:29:16Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [url=[http://bigstory.ap.org/article/democrats-cite-govt-trump-must-divest-dc-hotel](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/democrats-cite-govt-trump-must-divest-dc-hotel)]Now we get to see what happens! > > What are the odds that Mr. Trump will fight this? What are the odds that he’ll just “sell” it to Ivanka? If he does, what are the odds that Ivanka will be found to be a wholly owned subsidiary of Mr. Trump? 😉😛 > [@Gyrate](#): > > What happens if he’s in breach? What are the actual consequences to him? I think he’ll just ignore the whole thing and no one will call him on it. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-keep-his-business-interests-separate-from-the-presidency/772600/128 "2016-12-14T16:45:47Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > What happens if he’s in breach? What are the actual consequences to him? Good question. I assume that at the very least, he loses the lease. > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I think he’ll just ignore the whole thing and no one will call him on it. He’s already been called on it. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-keep-his-business-interests-separate-from-the-presidency/772600/129 "2016-12-14T16:57:45Z")
He’ll wait until Jan. 21 and tell the new AG to tell the GSA that language only applied if a serving official entered the lease, not if the leaseholder became an elected official later. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-keep-his-business-interests-separate-from-the-presidency/772600/130 "2016-12-14T17:34:57Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > He’ll wait until Jan. 21 and tell the new AG to tell the GSA that language only applied if a serving official entered the lease, not if the leaseholder became an elected official later. This. It will be pretty much the deciding factor in who gets appointed to the office. And Republicans will not care one little bit. It’s been said we’re in a post-truth world. Well, we’re also in a post-ethics world. It used to be that a break-in at your political opponents headquarters could bring down a presidency. Now? A break-in at your political opponents headquarters BY THE RUSSIANS is actually celebrated, because “your guy won”. Morals and ethics are completely gone now. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-keep-his-business-interests-separate-from-the-presidency/772600/131 "2016-12-14T22:11:22Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Good question. I assume that at the very least, he loses the lease. > He’s already been called on it. I meant he will CONTINUE to ignore it no matter how many times he is called on it by no matter how many people. When he doesn’t want to do a thing, he either 1) ignores it, or 2) says he’ll deal with it later and then doesn’t. Like a toddler or a teenager. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-trump-keep-his-business-interests-separate-from-the-presidency/772600.md?page=6)