Trump can now tap money from his business, raising ethics concerns

It's easy to divest stock. It's not easy to divest real estate business, especially when it's mainly branding. It just won't work. Trump cannot divest even if he tried to. And it wouldn't be fair to force him to give up a lifetime of hard work he inherited from his grandparents.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

He was not obliged to do it. I wish he'd have not wasted time (and looked so stupid) making a spectacle out of it. I blame him as much as his detractors for the circus like atmosphere.

Yes - agreed. Trump invites all this. So - are we wrong to hold him to his word? Are we wrong to pay attention to what he does and doesn't do?

It's almost starting to be funny. Scrutiny is something that comes with the office you would think

New details about the president’s business arrangements highlight the insufficiency of his steps to mitigate conflicts of interest.

This goes directly against the purpose of a blind trust, which in this case would be to distance Trump from his sources of income in an attempt to get rid of his incentive—or even ability—to consciously act in his own financial interest. So far, the plan unveiled in January appears to be as inadequate as many ethics experts had feared.

Well researched - and long. Very long list of actual conflicts at the bottom. Wish I had time to link each one because it's interesting

a reply to: Spiramirabilis

A snake will bite you. Its what they do. Anger isnt really appropriate as a response because you should expect nothing else.

Same with Trump. He makes circus. Its why he was elected. And at the end of the day, the only way I see olding him accountable is to ignore his circus and instead drill down into actual performance.

80 days in...not much performance to judge yet. Mostly folks taking the bait and joining the circus. Although the Susan Rice thing looks interesting.

RE: Trump not keeping his word....call me jaded. In my life they've never kept their word. We could run down the list of lies. On the grand scale, however, Donald buying a yacht is a lie that hurts less than "If you like your insurance you can keep it". That one hit me in the pocketbook. That is kind of my litmus test for really caring.

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
a reply to: Byrd

You you prefer he tapped money from the public purse instead?

That's what he's doing, if you haven't noticed.

* he does government business on Trump properties and uses Trump products (steak, water, etc) for these meetings.
* he then charges the US full price for the rental on the Trump properties and the cost (retail) of the Trump products.
* since these are his companies, he receives the profit from this (the low end rooms are $1,000/night and suites can go for $3,500/night)
* and when he goes there, his staff also has to go.

>>>We, the people, pay for that.

a reply to: Byrd

He's not taking a presidential salary so it wouldn't be tax money paying for it when he goes to Mar a Lago.

He's taking pension and using pension to pay for it when he goes to Mar a Lago.

originally posted by: rickymouse
That would not be any different than getting royalties from a book, money out of the Stock Market, or income payments out of a business you own. I am sure that other presidents did that, look at Bush, look at Obama. Obama got royalties out of a book they wrote.

But the Presidents didn't own book publishing companies and paper mills.

So what Trump is doing is as if Bush had owned Bush Publishing Company, and decided to write a book. And then Bush Publishing Company paid Bush to write the book... and told the government that it can only use the Bush Publishing Company for publications... AND that Bush Publishing Company would print the book but the govenrment must pay for the book... AND that Bush Publishing Company would only use paper from the Bush Paper Mills... and that the Bush Paper Mills would only buy logs from the Bush Forest Plantation.

..and all of that at retail cost.

In the case of books, international publishers (not owned by these presidents or any government) bid for the book. They give the president an advance based on projected sales. The publisher owns a printing company but buys its paper from various sources. Those paper mills buy logs from various sources. And when the book pays back the royalty advance (about $1.50 - $2.00 from every book sold) THEN the president will get royalties (very rare but it happens.)

(N.B. I know how the publishing industry works because I've sold stories to Tor and Baen and book chapters to scholarly presses.)

a reply to: Byrd

Im going to just share what i posted in another thread as its relevant. Ill preface by saying i am a controller for a company that both owns and manages hotels, restaurants, etc, etc, etc. I do this for a living:

Terms like "fiduciary responsibility" drive this.

The space in his hotel has value. That value is on someones revenue forecast. If the owner of the hotel wants to stay in the hotel, then they still have to provide a method of payment. This can be cash, check, credit, or credit adjustment/balance transfer. But the management company is paid on a % of revenue or NOI/EBITDA...some scheme that ties performance to reimbursement. I'd bet that they'd no be happy to lose the revenue value of that real estate.

Then when the annual GL audit comes through, its not like you can just carry a huge debt account with a whopping balance....so to prepare for this you take all the money you adjusted off the guest ledger for the owner, and write it off to owner expense. Itll decrease the balance sheet.

Which will alos decrease the valuation of the property for creditors, which can make debt service payments skyrocket as they adjust interest to match your risk.

Someone has to balance the ledger....should Trump use cash instead of the owner expense liine instead of Uncle Sam?

TBH, im not even certain who is paying for what. Im just trying to explain the why, nd the ultimate choice youd have to make. If i were trump id not allow my cash to be used, nor would I allow my balance sheet to take a hit (thats irresponsible management....fiduciary responsibility). This would mean Trump was paying his own bills as president....which we don't do.

originally posted by: allsee4eye
a reply to: Byrd

He's not taking a presidential salary so it wouldn't be tax money paying for it when he goes to Mar a Lago.

He's taking pension and using pension to pay for it when he goes to Mar a Lago.

No, he's taking the salary. He has to by law. Remember that he just donated his first quarter salary ($77,000) to the Parks Service... on the tail of cutting more than a billion dollars from their budget.

a reply to: Byrd

He donated his salary to parks or charities. So the money he spends at Mar a Lago is not from his presidential salary which comes from tax payers. He is not spending tax payers money when he goes to Mar a Lago, which was my point.

a reply to: Byrd

Can you give me some examples of programs that DJT would like to defund in his proposed budget?

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: Byrd
The space in his hotel has value.

Yup.

But he could use Camp David or any other place at a great cost savings to the American public. Instead, he is charging us for the space he uses at his own property The cities are asking for his help in controlling costs, but he doesn't seem to be interested.

Mar-a-Lago is a very expensive hotel and when foreign diplomats and staff stay there it (not-so)coincidentally puts money into his businesses and his pocket. If he was donating the space (which he could afford to do, easily), I wouldn't mind as much... but I still see conflict of interest. Instead, we foot the bill.

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: Byrd

Can you give me some examples of programs that DJT would like to defund in his proposed budget?

CNN's my source here but reported in many places. If you google for it, you can probably find confirmation on a news source you prefer.

originally posted by: allsee4eye
a reply to: Byrd

He donated his salary to parks or charities. So the money he spends at Mar a Lago is not from his presidential salary which comes from tax payers. He is not spending tax payers money when he goes to Mar a Lago, which was my point.

Check your favorite news sources. Yes, he's using our money.

a reply to: Byrd

It would be against the constitution to force a US citizen where to go in the weekends. Mar a Lago is his own house. It's no one's business he goes there on weekends.

a reply to: Byrd

I put Trump in the same category that would for others in his position.

Reality is we elect the best liars to these positions and I just don't see how we can expect a different result. Not one of our elected leaders really has " we the people in their best interest ".

We need some changes in the whole system focusing on Trump is focusing on a symptom and will make no difference in the long run.

This is why I am somewhat apathetic.

originally posted by: Byrd

originally posted by: rickymouse
That would not be any different than getting royalties from a book, money out of the Stock Market, or income payments out of a business you own. I am sure that other presidents did that, look at Bush, look at Obama. Obama got royalties out of a book they wrote.

But the Presidents didn't own book publishing companies and paper mills.

So what Trump is doing is as if Bush had owned Bush Publishing Company, and decided to write a book. And then Bush Publishing Company paid Bush to write the book... and told the government that it can only use the Bush Publishing Company for publications... AND that Bush Publishing Company would print the book but the govenrment must pay for the book... AND that Bush Publishing Company would only use paper from the Bush Paper Mills... and that the Bush Paper Mills would only buy logs from the Bush Forest Plantation.

..and all of that at retail cost.

In the case of books, international publishers (not owned by these presidents or any government) bid for the book. They give the president an advance based on projected sales. The publisher owns a printing company but buys its paper from various sources. Those paper mills buy logs from various sources. And when the book pays back the royalty advance (about $1.50 - $2.00 from every book sold) THEN the president will get royalties (very rare but it happens.)

(N.B. I know how the publishing industry works because I've sold stories to Tor and Baen and book chapters to scholarly presses.)

But none of that has anything to do with Trump. I have not seen him promote any business interests with any government entity. He has given his kids business a little promotion a few times, that is not illegal though. Now if he was a major stockholder or CEO in one of our military contractors or in lockheed or other companies I could see a conflict of interest. Any president can be bought by big corporations or countries. I worry more about Hillary's ties to foreign governments that donated to her charity. If she would have got in, she would have owed many favors, the amount she got from these out of this country donators was way way more than Trump got. Like ten to a hundred fold.

We need to change back the political donations regulations so that they represent the people of this country, not big business or other countries. Politicians are not going to like that, and of course, neither will Trump.

a reply to: Byrd

Translation: Trump can now request that his son and his CFO deliver income (or principal) from his properties directly to him. So each of his (almost) weekly golfing trips to Mar-A-Lago -- funded by us, the taxpayers - goes directly into his pocket.

But it always was destined for his pocket via the Trust - seeing he's donating his salary how else is he going to pay bills. If he didn't do that you would be screaming that he is "triple Dipping"

a reply to: TheConstruKctionofLight

He has millions of pension a year. He don't need a 400 grand presidential salary.

a reply to: Kali74

from the quote

the president’s oldest son Donald Jr. and the firm’s chief financial officer, Allen Weissenberg -- to deliver income or principal from the company to the president at his request.

He will be receiving money via the Trustees, Trump does not guide the Trusts in their administration - still a Blind Trust as far as I can see

a reply to: mOjOm

FFS. Use you GD heads for once. This is yet one more lie on top of how many f*cking lies now???

Calm down...he's drawing money, he's donated his Presidencies salary....He is not in control of the Trust