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How the Trump family will profit from their father's presidency
"It's very possible that I could be the first presidential candidate to run and make money on it," Donald Trump said back in 2000 when he was contemplating a bid that he never followed through on. And while he didn't actually turn a profit on his 2016 run, it's looking more and more likely that being president is going to be very lucrative for Trump. By the time it's over, he may even be worth as much as he has always claimed to be.
The words "conflict of interest" don't begin to describe what the Trump administration is shaping up to look like — though there will be plenty of conflicts of interest with administration figures such as Rudy Giuliani, who made millions from foreign governments and corporations, some of which are hostile to the United States. But the real action is going to be in Trump's own family.
Anti-nepotism laws prevent Trump from giving his family members jobs in the administration. But don't think that's going to stop them from being active participants in U.S. government decision-making, or using the fact that Trump is president to keep money flowing in. In fact, we could see the president enriching himself and his family on a scale that we normally associate with post-Soviet kleptocrats and Third World dictators.
For starters, Ivanka, Eric and Donald Trump Jr. are on the executive committee of Trump's transition team, helping decide who gets hired for key positions and what the administration's initial focus will be. We learned that someone on the transition team inquired about obtaining security clearances for the three so that they could see classified information (though the Trump team protested that the request did not come from Trump himself). Then there's the matter of Ivanka Trump's husband :
"Donald Trump has taken the unprecedented step of requesting his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, receive top-secret clearance to join him for his Presidential Daily Briefings, which began Tuesday.
The words "conflict of interest" don't begin to describe what the Trump administration is shaping up to look like — though there will be plenty of conflicts of interest with administration figures such as Rudy Giuliani, who made millions from foreign governments and corporations, some of which are hostile to the United States. But the real action is going to be in Trump's own family.
Anti-nepotism laws prevent Trump from giving his family members jobs in the administration. But don't think that's going to stop them from being active participants in U.S. government decision-making, or using the fact that Trump is president to keep money flowing in. In fact, we could see the president enriching himself and his family on a scale that we normally associate with post-Soviet kleptocrats and Third World dictators.
For starters, Ivanka, Eric and Donald Trump Jr. are on the executive committee of Trump's transition team, helping decide who gets hired for key positions and what the administration's initial focus will be. We learned that someone on the transition team inquired about obtaining security clearances for the three so that they could see classified information (though the Trump team protested that the request did not come from Trump himself). Then there's the matter of Ivanka Trump's husband :
"Donald Trump has taken the unprecedented step of requesting his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, receive top-secret clearance to join him for his Presidential Daily Briefings, which began Tuesday.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-donald-trump-family-business-money-20161117-story.html
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