WASHINGTON DC – Monday, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced the ‘‘Prevention of Presidential Conflicts of Interest Act of 2017.’’ The legislation seeks to require the president to sell all assets that would create a financial conflict of interest. The bill also would apply to the vice president, the spouse of the president and to children of the president or vice president.
"The American people deserve to know that the President of the United States is working to do what’s best for the country – not using his office to do what’s best for himself and his businesses,” Warren said in a statement sent to International Business Times. “The only way for President-elect Trump to truly eliminate conflicts-of-interest is to divest his financial interests by placing them in a blind trust. This has been the standard for previous presidents, and our bill makes clear the continuing expectation that President-elect Trump do the same."
Trump said in December he plans on putting his sons, Don and Eric, along with several other executives, in total control of his businesses before becoming president of the United States.
The change, critics say, doesn’t equate to a "blind trust" presidents with potential conflicts of interest typically employ while transitioning to the highest office in the country.
Robert Weissman, president of the leftwing group Public Citizen declared his support for Warren's initiative.
“So long as President Trump has an ownership stake in the family business, his conflicts will corrupt the development of national policy on issues from consumer protection to tax reform, worker rights to bankruptcy, and even corrupt the conduct of foreign policy," Weissman said. "The problem can’t be solved by trustees, firewalls or promises not to talk about the business. Donald Trump knows what he owns, and he knows how the policy choices he makes as president will affect the family business."
Weissman went on to say a "second-grader could see that the only solution to this pervasive problem is for President-elect Trump to sell off the family business."
Because there is no sign he intends to do this, it is incumbent on the Congress to force him to do so, Weissman said.
