The Trump Organization announced a new ethics agreement on Friday that will allow it to determine how the family and President-elect Donald J. The law stipulates what actions to take. Federal Conflict of Interest Law.
The measures outlined in the document largely echo promises made by Trump's family eight years ago when he first took office. It includes appointing an outside ethics lawyer to investigate large family business transactions worth more than $10 million, holding assets owned by Trump in a trust, and detailed financial information about the company. This includes restricting Trump's access to.
But unlike eight years ago, the Trump family has not promised to halt new international real estate deals. Instead, it has agreed only to “not enter into new transactions with foreign governments,” mirroring a plan first shared with the New York Times in December.
“We're further along than we've ever been,” Eric Trump said in an interview with the Times on Friday.
Ethics lawyers quickly called the move insufficient, citing the Trump family's separate disclosure this week that they would be hosting a golf tournament in April at the Trump National Doral Resort in Miami. Rejected. The tournament is sponsored by LIV Golf, a new league established and funded by the Saudi government. The deal will bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue.
Richard W. Painter, who served as White House ethics lawyer during the George W. It will happen,” he said. He has long criticized Trump's handling of ethics issues. “The flow of funds must be stopped on January 20th.”
The ethics pledge included the announcement that William A. Burke, a prominent ethics attorney at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, would serve as outside counsel for the family company. He will review acquisitions and sales of real estate valued at more than $10 million, large leases of buildings owned by the Trump family, new loans and loan refinancing transactions, as well as transactions with federal and state governments and claims against foreign governments. It's planned.
“It is an honor and a privilege to work with such a great company at an unprecedented and pivotal time in its storied history,” Burke said in a statement Friday.
Mr. Burke is a former federal prosecutor and served as White House Counsel during the George W. Bush administration. He is well-respected and well-known even among Trump's critics in Washington.
He has previously been involved in legal matters related to Trump, including former Trump aides Stephen K. Bannon and Reince Priebus in the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. He represented many witnesses, including Mr.
Burke was also interviewed to represent Trump in a criminal case in which he was accused of illegally exfiltrating classified documents after he left office in 2020, but ultimately declined to join the team. did.
The ethics agreement also requires the Trump family to donate profits they collect from small transactions with foreign government entities, such as stays at Trump-owned hotels and resorts by diplomats and other government delegations. , the family took similar steps in their first ethics agreement. management.
According to the pledge, Trump will receive “general business updates” but will not have access to detailed financial information. He will have “no involvement in the management of the company,” including “no role in day-to-day decision-making.”
The Trump family also promised to give Secret Service and other government agents discounts when staying at clubs and hotels to protect the president-elect and his family.
During Trump's first term, these bills accumulated more than $1 million and attracted intense national attention. These led to accusations that the Trump family overbilled the federal government, charges the family disputed.
Norman L. Eisen, who served as ethics lawyer in the Obama White House, said Trump will continue to be able to use his position in the White House to promote his family's hotels, golf courses and private businesses. He argued that the agreement was insufficient. Venues such as the Mar-a-Lago club. Families can also rely on his power to generate new real estate deals.
“This kind of self-regulation was meaningless in the first Trump administration and will no longer be effective in the second,” said the National Democratic Defense Agency, which tracks ethics and legal issues in the new administration. said Eisen, who founded an organization called the Foundation. management.
The agreement comes at a time when Trump is naming a new chairman for the security, as well as potential ethics concerns that could emerge as a result of Trump's relationship with World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency company he helped found. It doesn't address the issue. Exchange Commission that regulates virtual currencies.
The agreement also does not address potential conflicts that could arise from Trump's majority stake in Truth Social, the social media platform he founded after leaving the White House. Trump has used the platform to make dozens of public announcements about Cabinet picks and other actions as president-elect. Because Truth Social is a publicly traded company, anyone can buy shares in the company and even inflate the stock price to benefit Mr. Trump and his family.
During Trump's second term, his family also plans to continue signing new real estate deals with partners around the world. The company has taken similar steps in recent months with branded hotels and golf resorts in Dubai, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia, which will generate millions of dollars in revenue for families.
The Trump family has also been in talks in recent weeks with a company that manages debt for the former Trump International Hotel in Washington. The hotel operates in a federally owned building and is currently branded the Waldorf Astoria.
The leasehold interest in the building was sold by the Trump family in 2022, but the buyer has since defaulted on the loan. Discussions about a possible buyback of the hotel's control are in a very preliminary stage, said an executive involved in the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
It remains unclear whether such an agreement will materialize. During the first Trump administration, the hotel served as a gathering place for lobbyists, Trump supporters and diplomats visiting Washington. Any move to regain control could raise further questions about the conflict.
The president and vice president are protected from conflict of interest laws that require federal employees to sell stock holdings that could benefit from their actions or to avoid actions that could benefit the federal government. He is the only executive branch employee who is exempt. yourself or your family.
But the president remains subject to the Constitution's so-called emoluments clause, which prohibits federal employees from receiving anything of value from foreign government sources. A lawsuit was filed under this provision during the first Trump administration, but the matter was not resolved and was dismissed as an issue when Trump left office.
Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.
