Trump has over 2,000 conflicts of interest since he’s taken office: report

[bostonangler]

A new report from the nonpartisan non-profit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) shows that President Trump has more than 2,300 conflicts of interest since he’s taken office — and counting. The conflicts stem from the president’s ties to his businesses, despite his claim that he divested when he took office.

According to the study, the president “has created an environment where the actions of his administration, and those trying to influence it, can benefit the globe-spanning real-estate and branding empire that he still profits from.” The report highlights over 2,300 specific conflicts of interest, but makes a point to note that the conflicts of interest that Trump has created are “at some level immeasurable.”

An unfathomable amount

CREW spokesman Jordan Libowitz says that the figures CREW has compiled could, in reality, be higher. “There is quite possibly many things that we have not been able to see,” he told Yahoo Finance, adding that it’s “an unfathomable amount.”

“Presidents from both parties went out of their way not to have conflicts of interest,” he said. “This is a president who seems to be courting conflicts of interest,” noting that both Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush (President George W. Bush also divested) put all their money in a blind trust, “so there was no way they could be influenced by what they owned business-wise.”

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he departs for travel to the AMVETS convention in Kentucky from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S. August 21, 2019. REUTERS/Tasos Katopodis

When he became president, Trump ceded control of The Trump Organization, which includes hotels, golf resorts, and apartment buildings. But, CREW has pointed out, it doesn’t mean that Trump has divested.

When Trump became president, he created a revocable and non-blind trust. He’s allowed to remove money from it with permission of the trustee — his son, Donald Trump, Jr. – meaning that the president can still draw on the profits made by the business.

These conflicts of interest cover visits by the president, administration officials, members of Congress, and foreign heads of state to Trump properties as well as political events hosted at Trump hotels and golf courses. By CREW’s estimates, Trump has visited his own properties 362 times so far — at taxpayers’ expense. The report notes that the number of days the president has spent at a Trump-branded properties — including the Florida resort Mar-a-Lago and his golf course in Bedminster, N.J. — account for nearly a third of the time he’s been in office.

Other conflicts include visits from 111 officials from 65 foreign governments to Trump properties, and free publicity that CREW says the president has given his businesses while he’s been in office.

“Trump has tweeted about or mentioned one of his properties on 159 occasions,” CREW noted, “and White House officials have mentioned a Trump property 65 times, sometimes in the course of their official duties.”

This March 11, 2019 file photo, shows the north entrance of the Trump International in Washington D.C. (AP Photo/Mark Tenally, File)

According to the study, political groups have spent some $6 million at Trump properties. Previous analysis of Federal Election Commission filings by Yahoo Finance shows that Trump businesses were making money from his campaign. CREW said this represents a marked increase from before Trump took office: “In more than a decade prior to his run for president, Trump’s businesses never received more than $100,000 from political groups in a single year,” the report stated.

His 2016 campaign spent nearly $12 million on hotel stays, catering, rent, and more at Trump businesses, according to the New York Times.

Foreign governments and organizations linked to foreign governments have also visited Trump properties 12 times. According to CREW, those events were attended by at least 19 Trump administration officials.

Questions of legality

But just because it’s a conflict of interest doesn’t necessarily make it illegal. And Libowitz says it “depends” on the issue when matters of legality are raised. “For some of them, conflict of interest laws don’t apply to the president,” he said. “For some, there are emoluments issues.” (CREW is involved in a lawsuit against Trump for violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution; the suit is ongoing. Previous emoluments lawsuits from CREW were dismissed and are awaiting decisions on appeal.)

Reports from the BBC and the Washington Post also allege conflicts of interest from the president, stemming from visits and events held at Trump-branded hotels and golf courses.

Libowitz says that when conflict of interest laws were written, lawmakers “never imagined” a president with a multinational, multibillion-dollar corporation to their name. And, he pointed out, it was a “norm” to have a president who avoided even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

“Now you have a president who doesn’t,” he said. “And it has become a major problem.”

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/trump-has-over-2000-conflicts-of-interest-since-hes-taken-office-report-142507087.html

 

 

 

America first..... LOL 

This guy is cashing in and could care less how it looks.

B/A

Edited August 22, 2019 by bostonangler

[nstoolman1]

Just a little balance to the story.

 

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/sep/18/citizens-for-responsibility-and-ethics-shows-washi/

[bostonangler]

11 minutes ago, nstoolman1 said:

Just a little balance to the story.

 

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/sep/18/citizens-for-responsibility-and-ethics-shows-washi/

 

Nice opinion piece. That's funny he called them partisan as though he isn't... He is laughable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Berman

Career[edit]

After law school, Berman worked as a labor law attorney for Bethlehem Steel, and from 1969 to 1972 he served as a corporate lawyer for Dana, an automotive parts company in Toledo, Ohio. From 1972 to 1974 he was employed as labor law director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C.^[9]

He moved into the food and beverage industry in 1975 under the mentorship of Norman Brinker, founder and owner of the Steak & Ale chain of restaurants. Berman started a government affairs program, launched his first PAC for Brinker, and worked there until 1984. He served as executive vice president of Pillsbury Restaurant Group from 1984 to 1986. In 1986, he formed Berman and Company. In 1991, he created the Employment Policies Institute to research entry-level work issues and argue "the importance of minimum wage jobs for the poor and uneducated." In practice, this translated to opposing minimum wage hikes on the theory that they would reduce employment.^[12]

In the 1990s, Berman was the president of Beverage Retailers Against Drunk Driving (BRADD), an organization formed to combat Mothers Against Drunk Driving.^[12] As president, he argued for "tolerance of social drinking."^[12] He has also worked as a consultant for the Minimum Wage Coalition to Save Jobs.^[12]

Berman has appeared on 60 Minutes,^[5] The Colbert Report,^[13] and CNN^[14] in support of his organizations. 60 Minutes has called him "the booze and food industries' weapon of mass destruction,"^[5] labor union activist Richard Bensinger gave him the nickname "Dr. Evil,"^[4][5] and Michael Kranish of the Boston Globe dubbed him a "pioneer" in the "realm of opinion molding."^[15] In September 2013, the Huffington Post included Berman on its list of members in "America's Ruling Class Hall of Shame."^[16]

Organization

As of May 2009, Berman was the sole owner and executive director of Berman and Company, a for-profit management firm that ran fifteen corporate-funded groups, including the Center for Consumer Freedom. He has held at least sixteen positions within these interlocking organizations.^[17] As of 2010, just six of these nonprofits provided as much as 70% of Berman and Company's revenue.^[18] Bloomberg News reported that from 2008 to 2010, Berman and Company was paid $15 million from donations to his five nonprofit organizations.^[19] Through these organizations, Berman and Company has received 60 "POLLIE Awards" since 2002 from the American Association of Political Consultants.^{[20]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Berman}