“victory” Cologne and perfume. “Crypto President” watch. Limited Edition “American Eagle” the guitar. T-branded Golf shoes and “fight fight fight” High top sneakers.
A sample of the many products licensed to carry President-elect Donald Trump’s brand, including some of them promoted On his social media site Truth Social a few weeks before his inauguration. If he continues to purchase his merchandise after returning to the White House, that could raise ethical concerns.
However, consumer products may be the least of Trump’s problems. He has a number of business ventures — including his social media platform, a fledgling crypto firm and the Trump Organization’s stake in the Middle East — that could present conflicts of interest, make the presidency vulnerable to foreign influence and violate federal law.
This includes the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause, which prevents the president from receiving gifts from foreign governments. Enforcement of the clause against a sitting president is rare, as previous presidents upheld a norm of divesting from holdings that might present a conflict of interest while in office. Trump, however, broke with that tradition in his first term.
Although the famous President Jimmy Carter Trust his peanut farmTrump took over his sons’ Trump Organization after becoming president in 2016. His global business empire 2.4 billion dollars spent Revenue including foreign governments over the next four years. Government ethics agencies sued him as a result, claiming he violated the foreign emoluments clause, but the case was dismissed is never resolved Before he left office.
Now, that lawsuit could be revisited, potentially putting hard limits on presidents’ ability to profit financially while in office. A representative of the Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment.
“We saw conflicts of interest, abuse of power, serving in government during his first administration,” said Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs for Common Cause, a left-leaning watchdog group that focuses on government ethics. “This next administration, we expect to see more of the same, and unfortunately, this looks like a fairly complicated Congress.”
Trump explained the conflict of interest in his first term
At the start of his first term, Trump suggested he would Take steps to separate yourself from his property.
However, he never parted with his assets, maintaining close contact with his sons regarding the Trump Organization’s dealings. As president he has totaled At least 500 visits On his own hotel and golf property, his Florida club called Mar-a-Lago “The White House in Winter“It brings taxpayer money to those properties.
It also sent a message that his property patronage could win influence with lobbyists, foreign actors and others in the Trump administration.
For example, diplomats from Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Georgia and other countries Hosted events at Trump properties or stayed at Trump hotelswith him The now-sold Trump International Hotel in Washington DC. Overall, the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) estimated that Trump benefited from about $13.6 million resulting in payments from foreign governments during his first term.
CREW argued that Trump’s actions were not only thinly veiled, but illegal. A The case was filed soon after his inauguration In 2017, the company argued that he violated the foreign emoluments clause. The attorneys general of Washington, D.C. and Maryland have made similar arguments in one Separate cases.
Two appeals courts — the Second Circuit and the Fourth Circuit — have allowed those cases to proceed over Trump’s objections. The president appealed to the US Supreme Court just before the 2020 election. When he lost the election to Joe Biden, his lawyers argued that judges should wait to rule on cases until after the inauguration, which would make them controversial and allow them to be dismissed without setting a precedent.
The judges ultimately did just that. As a result, any future litigation would essentially have to start from scratch to challenge any violations of the Emoluments Clause by Trump.
Never facing adverse legal consequences for his conflicts of interest, Trump has defied the ethical expectations of the president as well as officials around him, said Lisa Gilbert, vice president of Public Citizen, a left-leaning consumer rights advocacy group. Former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, for example, Promoted products The marketing by Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, potentially violates federal ethics rules that prevent executive branch employees from promoting products on behalf of their friends or associates.
“Fish rot from the head,” Gilbert said. “Seeing that he was very limited in the limitations he placed on himself encouraged those around him.”
How can Trump benefit from the presidency this time?
Trump did one Morality is pledging for a second termBut it makes no promises about how it might resolve its continuing conflicts of interest arising from its now more expansive businesses. This time, there are many more ways he can use the presidency for his own personal gain – and potentially be vulnerable to the influence of foreign actors.
“He’s basically violating ethics rules and conflict of interest laws much more clearly, much more clearly than last time,” Scherb said. “He’s not even trying to hide what he’s doing this time.”
Chief among these conflicts of interest is his stake in the publicly traded parent company of the president-elect’s social media platform, Truth Social. He made that bet after winning the election The price was $3.5 billion. The company has a share price oscillated from month to monthBut Trump’s stake still makes up a large portion of his estimate $6.8 billion net worth
Never before has a president held such a significant stake in a publicly traded company, and for good reason: Foreign actors can easily and completely legally buy its stock, inflating its value and Trump’s net worth. Not only that, but they could also “threaten to dump all their shares at once, which would erode his net worth,” potentially giving them “a huge amount of leverage over the president,” said Jordan Leibovitz, a spokesman for CREW.
The Trump Organization also recently Hit a series of deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars Establishing a partnership with as well as building luxury hotels and properties in Saudi Arabia, Oman and UAE Saudi funded LIV Golf. This has drawn Trump into a closer relationship with the Saudis, which began in 2017 when he stopped the country as number one. the first Visits abroad as President.
“It’s an easy way for the Saudis to pump money into the Trump Organization,” Leibovitz said.
In September, Trump also launched a crypto initiative, World Liberty FinancialBesides his sons and His new ambassador to the Middle EastBillionaire real estate tycoon Steve Witkoff.
Libowitz expressed concern about a $30 million investment in the company from Chinese crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, who is currently Fighting Fraud Allegations From the Securities and Exchange Commission. Trump and his family That deal is expected to net roughly $20 million, according to the BBC. Note that recently Dr. Trump Nominated crypto advocate Paul Atkins SEC chief.
Sherb said he doesn’t expect strong oversight of these conflicts of interest from the incoming Republican-controlled Congress. But if Trump again faces a lawsuit challenging his conflicts of interest, he could use a familiar legal strategy: Delay, delay, delay. This allowed him to run out the clock in the Supreme Court during the first round of salary litigation.
“Team Trump is an expert at delaying prosecutions, as demonstrated by his criminal prosecutions over the past four years,” Gilbert said. “That said, there’s going to be a plethora of breaches and ways for us to work, so I wouldn’t assume they’re going to avoid them.”
