The Mad Dash to Assess Donald Trump's Conflicts of Interest, Suspense Builds Around Appointments and More

While President-elect Donald Trump is tweeting away between meetings with potential candidates for cabinet positions, ethics lawyers are measuring up the potential conflicts of interests between the impending Trump presidency and his many global business interests.

Although most president-elects sell their businesses or put them in the hands of an independent manager, Trump has refused to do that. Instead, he has put the Trump empire in the hands of his children, including Ivanka Trump, who also sat in on a meeting with the Japanese prime minister last week, raising exactly the kind of conflict of interest questions ethicists are worried about.

“If we’ve got to talk to a foreign government about their behavior, or negotiate a treaty, or some country asks us to send our troops in to defend someone else, we’ve got to make a decision. And the question becomes: Are we going in out of our national interest or because there’s a Trump casino around?” Richard Painter, chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, told The Washington Post.

Top Stories

A Scramble to Assess the Dangers of President-Elect Donald Trump’s Global Business Empire: "Trump has refused calls to sell or give his business interests to an independent manager or 'blind trust,' a long-held presidential tradition designed to combat conflicts of interest. Now, policy and ethics experts are scrambling to assess the potential dangers of public rule by a leader with a vast web of private business deals." (The Washington Post)

Trump Keeps America in Suspense: "Donald Trump famously declared to keep America 'in suspense' about whether he would accept the outcome of the election, injecting the possibility of a reality show plot twist into the presidential race. Now that he pulled out a shock win, the president-elect is keeping up the drama, parading a wild range of job candidates, well-wishers and business titans before the public as he builds out his administration." (Politico)

Indian Business Partners Hope to Exploit Their Ties to Donald Trump: "It is a daunting proposition to put $2 million apartments on the market in Pune — a quiet industrial city in the west of India, where even the fanciest neighborhoods are lined with squat housing blocks. But the developers of Trump Towers Pune, an elegant pair of 23-story black-glass pillars, have an extraordinary new marketing tool they are moving quickly to exploit: the president-elect of the United States." (The New York Times)

Trump to Live in White House: "President-elect Donald Trump will live in the White House, he said Sunday, ending speculation about whether he might opt to stay in New York City and reside in Trump Tower or at one of his other properties. His wife, Melania, and 10-year-old son, Barron, will likely join him after Barron finishes the school year this spring, Trump added." (Politico)

Pope Francis Extends Catholic Priests' Right to Forgive Abortion: "Pope Francis has extended the powers of Catholic priests to forgive abortions, making the announcement in an apostolic letter released Monday. It continues a special dispensation granted last year for duration of the Year of Mercy, which finished Sunday." (CNN)

From the Twitterverse

President-elect Donald Trump must have confused "Saturday Night Live" for news:

Today's Numbers

• Symantec to buy LifeLock for $2.3 billion to expand into ID protection.
• Germany's Angela Merkel announced she will run for a fourth term in 2017.
• Donald Trump agreed to settle several lawsuits related to Trump University for $25 million.
• Each Trump visit to New York costs Port Authority $100,000 to pull off.

Quote of the Day

Tim Kaine on post-2016 election life:

“The entourage felt cool on occasion,” he said this past week, “but it was never me. So this is more me.”

Allen McDuffee is a politics and policy reporter, investigative journalist, blogger and podcast host. He has written for The Atlantic, Wired and The Washington Post. Follow him on Twitter: @AllenMcDuffee

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons