Wall St. Journal: Trump Must Liquidate His Assets

[HAB911]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-trump-family-political-business-1479426984

The Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal, a stalwart of the conservative media, has published an editorial calling on Donald Trump to sell off all of his assets and put the money into a true blind trust to avoid serious conflicts of interest.


One reason 60 million voters elected Donald Trump is because he promised to change Washington’s culture of self-dealing, and if he wants to succeed he’s going to have to make a sacrifice and lead by example. Mr. Trump has so far indicated that he will keep his business empire but turn over management to his children, and therein lies political danger…

Some of Mr. Trump’s lawyers have called the plan a “blind trust,” which past Presidents have used to protect their assets from the appearance of conflicts-of-interest. But that set-up typically involves liquid assets like bonds and stocks, not buildings or a branding empire. Mr. Trump will know how any given decision will affect, say, the old post office property in Washington, D.C. that he’s leasing from the federal government (another conflict). By law blind trusts are overseen by an independent manager, not family members…

Mr. Trump’s best option is to liquidate his stake in the company. Richard Painter and Norman Eisen, ethics lawyers for George W. Bush and President Obama, respectively, have laid out a plan, which involves a leveraged buyout or an initial public offering.

Mr. Trump could put the cash proceeds in a true blind trust. The Trump children can keep the assets in their name, and he can transfer more to them as long as he pays a hefty gift tax. Finally, Mr. Trump should stipulate that he and his children will have no communication about family business matters.

The alternatives are fraught, perhaps even for the Trump Organization’s bottom line: Thanks to a Clinton Administration precedent, Presidents can face litigation in private matters—so the company will become a supermagnet for lawsuits.

The political damage to a new Administration could be extensive. If Mr. Trump doesn’t liquidate, he will be accused of a pecuniary motive any time he takes a policy position. For example, the House and Senate are eager to consider tax reform—and one sticking point will be the treatment of real estate, which will be of great interest to the Trump family business. Ditto for repealing the Dodd-Frank financial law, interest rates and so much more.

The conflicts span the globe, including a loan from the Bank of China and likely dealings with sovereign-wealth funds.

It won’t happen, of course, but nice to see the Wall Street Journal stating the obvious.

[spanone]

1. c'mon WSJ, why do you think he wanted to be president?

to enrich his brand.....you're smart enough to figure that out....eh?

[lonestarnot]

2. And what he doesn't liquidate, he must be made to surrender to the US Treasury until he no longer

occupies the White House.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. "Presidents can face litigation in private matters"

Good news indeed.