Democrats Take on Trump's Conflicts of Interest
Democrats continue to try and push President Trump and his administration to end the myriad conflicts of interest that are entangling the president and his family…. The hotel has become "the symbol of complete disregard for the lines of ethics, the boundaries of ethics, the conflicts of interest" in the Trump administration, says Democratic Rep. John Sarbanes. "I think it's something that resonates in people's minds, and frankly every day you see people trying to curry favor with the administration – booking receptions and other kinds of things at the hotel." … Unlike every other modern president, Trump has refused calls to put his assets in a blind trust. His son, Eric, has also said he plans to keep giving his father profit reports on the family's sprawling global business enterprise, which Democrats say is the very definition of a conflict of interest for a sitting president whose every tweet, proposed policy and speech can move global markets…. "It's breathtaking," Sarbanes says. The administration passes "an ethical policy that has so many waivers in place that it swallows it up and completely negates it. They say they're going to observe certain lines – but in the next breath almost, they demonstrate that they have no concept of what those lines and boundaries are."