Name: Could A President Trump Still Run His Business Empire?
Uploaded: 2016-12-31T08:21:10.000Z
Duration: 3 min 13 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Presidential candidate Donald Trump has a stake in hundreds of businesses including

hotels and golf courses around the world.

Adverbs of manner

While it’s still unsure how much the real-estate mogul is actually worth… there’s no denying

But what happens to all Trump’s assets and investments if he becomes the next president

Will he have to give up his businesses while in office?

Well, it’s complicated but the answer is no, legally speaking.

The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 does not require that the president sell or change

how they handle their private businesses.

In fact, only unelected officials who serve in the executive branch are prohibited from

For example, the Treasury Secretary under George W. Bush had to sell off his Goldman

But the president is exempt, on the basis that any business holding could be viewed

as a conflict of interest since the president holds the highest office and is assumed to

Instead of taking all of the President’s business holdings, we as the electorate are

expected to trust the person we elect not to act dishonestly.

Still, if elected, Trump would be at the very least legally required to disclose all of

his holdings, companies and business relationships.

Historically, in order to maintain propriety, presidents have put their investments in a

blind trust, which is run by a third party without involvement by the president.

Since the 1960s, most presidents have done so.

But the problem with blind trusts is that it’s really hard to make sure they’re

And there is a big complication when it comes to Trump: his name.

Since his a large source of income is his brand name, it would be impossible for Trump

not to notice which buildings and businesses license his name after transferring ownership

Also, if his children run the trust, as he said they will, it would obviously be far

Without Trump selling off the entire Trump Organization and removing his children from

the company as well, the conflicts of interest that exist can’t truly be mitigated.

This is potentially a huge problem, especially concerning Trump’s unique political and

Take South Korea for example: Trump recently said that the country should handle its own

military defense without any U.S. aid, including the development of nuclear weapons.

And in past business dealings in South Korea, Trump partnered with Daewoo Engineering and

Construction, a company involved in nuclear energy.

Hypothetically, if Trump is elected and follows through with his push for nuclear development

in South Korea, Daewoo Engineering and Construction - therefore the Trump Organization - could

And this just one example of potential foreign conflicts of interest.

According to Newsweek, Trump is allegedly connected to business dealings in at least

10 other countries including India, Russia, Ukraine, Brazil and Germany.

And The New York Times reports that the Trump Organization owes hundreds of millions of

dollars to the Bank of China and Goldman Sachs.

But in truth, we don’t even know the depth of his businesses and possible conflicts since

he has not publically released his financial information.

In essence, if elected, we’d have to trust that he would act in the best interest of

the United States, despite the apparent conflicts that would emerge as he engages politically

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Could A President Trump Still Run His Business Empire?

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