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Trump's potential for conflict of interest is 'almost infinite'
CNBC ^ | 11/25/2016 | Jake Novak - CNBC

Posted on 11/25/2016 2:28:22 PM PST by poinq

But the biggest Trump fans and "Never Trumpers" alike should be concerned about something we haven't yet quite experienced on such a serious scale in American politics, and that is having a President of the United States who's also the owner of dozens of iconic and eponymous businesses. Oh, and so far that incoming president says he intends to continue owning and running them.

It's not just that Mr. Trump is a businessperson, it's the fact that he has so many varied and well-known business interests that the potential for conflict of interest is almost infinite. This is a far cry from President Jimmy Carter, who was able to solve his potential conflicts simply by handing his peanut farm over to an independent lawyer for his term in the White House.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2016issues; blindtrust; conflicts; jakepolitkovskaya; president; trump; trumpfamily; trumptransition
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To: Jim Robinson

Of course Hillary Clinton’s legendary international bribery solicitation machinery should be of no concern to those aligned with the establishment or on the left......

Nor should any anger over her Communist Chinese & Saudi Arabian funding or the sponsorship by the archvillian, George Soros......


21 posted on 11/25/2016 2:41:33 PM PST by Trump_vs_Evil_Witch (Deport George Soros)
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To: poinq

I think one of the things Trump fully checked out before the famous escalator ride in Trump Tower in June 2015 was this very question: How big a wall MUST be between him and his holdings if he becomes POTUS?


22 posted on 11/25/2016 2:42:03 PM PST by Tucker39 (Welcome to America! Now speak English; and keep to the right....In driving, in theolog and politics.)
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To: poinq

The left are in death convulsions. Their little plan to convert the United States into a giant Al-Mexezuela was tharted.


23 posted on 11/25/2016 2:42:47 PM PST by SpaceBar
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To: SpaceBar

thwarted


24 posted on 11/25/2016 2:43:05 PM PST by SpaceBar
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To: poinq

Whatever they come up with here, the compeyition, Hillary, was selling favors, secrets and weapons materials to foreign governments as US Secretary of State through private, illegal, clandestine routes, with a conspiracy of US government employees


25 posted on 11/25/2016 2:43:10 PM PST by stanne
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To: Secret Agent Man

Yepper!


26 posted on 11/25/2016 2:43:45 PM PST by Bogie
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To: poinq

Trump’s potential conflicts of interest will be small compared to the members of Congress who accept campaign contributions (and PAC contributions) from corporations they are charged with regulating on various committees and in Congress as a whole. They’ve been operating in, and profiting from, a system of legalized bribery for decades.

They sell access and influence like prostitutes sell...


27 posted on 11/25/2016 2:44:02 PM PST by Will88
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To: Lisbon1940
If he can make a little money on the side while he is serving the American people, then what is the big whoop?

Yes. How does Obama afford a 8 million dollar mansion in California on $400 thousand a years?

28 posted on 11/25/2016 2:46:12 PM PST by Parmy (II don't know how to past the images.)
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To: Bogie

I don’t want to hear this crap about Cheney lining his pockets on FreeRepublic. It is stupid and trash. Let me quote something:

In one of the largest sums ever donated to charity by a U.S. public official, Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne gave away nearly $7 million last year to help the poor and to medical research.

According to income tax information released by the White House on Friday, the Cheneys’ adjusted gross income in 2005 was $8,819,006.

The sum was largely the result of Mr. Cheney’s stock options from Halliburton and royalties from three books written by Mrs. Cheney.

The Cheneys gave more than three-quarters of their income - $6,869,655 - to several charities, including George Washington University’s Cardiothoracic Institute and a charity for low-income high school students in the Washington, D.C. area, Capital Partners for Education.

The Cheneys’ charitable generosity stands in marked contrast to that of their predecessors, whose sometimes stingy donations became a national embarassment.

In 1997 for instance, Al and Tipper Gore contributed just $353 to charity, a sum that raised eyebrows even in friendly media circles.

The something I am quoting: FreeRepublic

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1615415/posts

Did he and his wife also max out the tax credit for same by doing this gift in 2005 — you betcha, but so what.


29 posted on 11/25/2016 2:46:21 PM PST by KC Burke (Consider all of my posts as first drafts. (Apologies to L. Niven))
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To: poinq

OH! MY! GOD! Donald Trump could leave the Whitehouse and be worth BILLIONS of dollars!

Wait! Wait! He is already worth BILLIONS of Dollars! False alarm! ;-)


30 posted on 11/25/2016 2:46:29 PM PST by SubMareener (Save us from Quarterly Freepathons! Become a MONTHLY DONOR!)
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To: poinq

Did George Washington and Thomas Jefferson put their plantations in blind trusts, or did they help keep them operating?


31 posted on 11/25/2016 2:47:08 PM PST by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: Parmy

Not just CA. Also....DC, Dubai (or is it Qatar?), Chicago....

...for a guy who was maxed out on his credit card at the 2000 DNC convention-when he tried to rent a car to go speak.


32 posted on 11/25/2016 2:48:16 PM PST by combat_boots (God bless Israel and all who protect and defend her! And please, God, bless the USA again.)
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To: poinq

I suppose it could be construed as conflict of interest if the WH hosted visitors in Trump’s hotel.

Meanwhile,
HilLIARy already pre-sold out the WH in its entirety, by soliciting hundreds of millions of dollars in ‘contributions’ from foreign dictatorships, largely enemy/Moslem nations too


33 posted on 11/25/2016 2:48:38 PM PST by faithhopecharity ("Politicians are not born. They're excreted." Marcus Tullius Cicero.)
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To: poinq

Esta mierda otra vez? There doesn’t appear to be any law that prevents Trump from owning businesses-George Washington did, too-I think one was a whiskey distillery-and since Trump isn’t going to accept a paycheck from the American people, where is this “conflict”? I’m pretty sure congress or the we the people don’t have the right to take away his ability to make a living-after all, he is not a professional politician.

Maybe one of the 1st things congress should do after the inauguration is to pounce on the Clintons and their foundation-show these hand wringers what a REAL conflict of interest is...


34 posted on 11/25/2016 2:52:01 PM PST by Texan5 (`"You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to drive a hard line"...)
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To: Hugin
Yada. Yada. Yada.

As if Trump's POTENTIAL conflicts of interest are worse than Hillary Clinton's ACTUAL track record.

35 posted on 11/25/2016 2:52:18 PM PST by Vigilanteman (ObaMao: Fake America, Fake Messiah, Fake Black man. How many fakes can you fit into one Zer0?)
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To: airborne

Thanks, that’s definitely more like it.


36 posted on 11/25/2016 2:53:38 PM PST by JerseyDvl (PRESIDENT TRUMP trumps hate and racism! Put some ice on it Hitlery ;-)
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To suggest the DC Establishment has no conflicts. You’re a deceitful POS, Novak.

The MSM it the Country’s greatest threat. Screw you, Comcast.


37 posted on 11/25/2016 2:54:34 PM PST by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: poinq

>>If Trump does not keep his businesses then we will forever be stuck with the political class.<<

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Exactly right.

But conflict of interest is a difficult thing, sometimes, for even a person of good faith to identify.

I know this, because when I first met my wife she worked for another company we were doing business with, and I did not perceive my own clouded judgement until that situation was resolved.

Trump needs to come up with a solution for this. I think he needs to resign from his Boards and recuse himself from participating in any business dealings or receiving any Confidential information that would not go to the normal shareholder or limited partner.

That being said, he can still enjoy going to his properties and they may still benefit (or suffer) from the inevitable impact of his presidency on the Trump brand.


38 posted on 11/25/2016 2:55:51 PM PST by Disestablishmentarian
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To: poinq

F A K E . N E W S

over here left-wing watch-dogs


39 posted on 11/25/2016 2:57:40 PM PST by DoughtyOne (jcon40, "Are we be coming into the age of Sanity?")
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To: poinq

So let me get this straight.

Trump males money off real estate, and paid for his own campaign and then doesn’t take a salary because he feels he has enough. He also has business in nations that while we are not at war, the media says should be regarded as our enemies. Maybe, just maybe, this discourages him from going to some war when it may not really be neccessary, maybe him having what he wants already is good too. I just don’t see much wrong with it, unless someone can solidly prove something else.


40 posted on 11/25/2016 2:58:00 PM PST by Morpheus2009
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