David Fahrenthold: Donald Trump just became his own landlord

Through the many controversies that followed Donald Trump along the presidential campaign, one that rarely stuck was the massive potential of conflict of interest facing the billionaire real estate mogul. What happens to the Trump brand once the president-elect takes office? Who runs the business?

In January, Trump said this: “I would put it in a blind trust. Well, I don’t know if it’s a blind trust if (my kids) Ivanka, Don and Eric run it. Is that a blind trust, I don’t know. But I would probably have my children run it with my executives and I wouldn’t ever be involved because I wouldn’t care about anything but our country.”

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That still appears to be Trump’s plan. Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold, who speaks weekly with Seattle’s Morning News, has been looking at this blind trust issue. He says there is “nothing blind” about the kind of arrangement Trump has proposed.

“A blind trust would be if he had sold all of his assets and put his assets under somebody else’s management in a way where Trump himself could not see how they were being used and spent,” Fahrenthold said. “In this case, Trump’s kids, who he’s going to keep close ties with, will be running the business and Trump himself already knows where all the investments are, who he owes money to, who he does business with. It’s the very opposite of a blind trust and it creates an enormous potential for conflict of interest when Trump is president.”

Fahrenthold explained that the President is not supposed to take emoluments from foreign governments or parties. Basically, that the President shouldn’t be paid by people overseas.

“That’s probably the most basic conflict of interest rule, and there would certainly be others for people who would be employees of the federal government, if any of the Trump children became employees of the government,” Fahrenthold said.

KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross noted that Trump’s plans for infrastructure and spending plans could inflate the economy. One investment that benefits greatly from that is real estate. Even if Trump put all of his assets into a blind trust, he still knows what real estate he owns.

“It would be hard to separate the two and how can you scold him for that?” Ross asked. “People elected him knowing that he was a real estate magnate, that that was not going to change. That he was not going to sell the company to some stranger. So that just comes with the package, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t think it does,” Fahrenthold responded. “We’ve never had a president who could be susceptible to that kind of conflict of interest. I think maybe people know that in theory, although I don’t think that was actually a very big deal during the campaign, but if he carries out an infrastructure plan in a way that benefits his own business interest, I think that’s something a lot of people would care about. … People assume that because Trump won that none of this matters and I think that’s not the lesson to draw. I think now that he’s the sole focus of everyone’s attention over the next few years, I think a lot of this is going to matter and I think it will matter increasingly as we go on.”

One such matter involves Trump’s current development of a $200 million hotel project at the Old Post Office Building, just blocks from the White House. The historic property is owned by the federal government and leased to the Trump organization. On Jan. 20, 2017 Trump takes control and, in essence, according to Fahrenthold, becoming his own landlord.

Ross asked if Trump’s pursuits of rebuilding roads and highways, which would thereby make it easier to access his properties like that hotel, be considered conflicts of interest?

“If it’s done in a way that disproportionately benefits his properties, there is so many different opportunities for this,” Fahrenthold said. “Trump, he now is his own landlord in DC … there is so many different opportunities for him to enrich himself disproportionately throughout the government. It’s going to take a huge amount of effort by him to avoid those kinds of conflicts of interest. I guess I see it, but I don’t really understand why he would bring on that kind of headache and permanent distraction.”

What about the tax returns?

Fahrethnold has been at the front of the line looking into Trump’s financial history and calling for the Republican’s tax returns. As president, does Trump need to release those documents?

“He could keep hiding them from us,” Fahrenthold said. “I see no reason why he would want to give them up now but, yes, it is traditional that presidents release their tax returns once elected but it’s also traditional that candidates release their tax returns, and he did not.”

At the same time, there is another email scandal afoot — though it has nothing to do with Hillary Clinton. Incoming Vice President Mike Pence is in a legal battle to shield some of his emails from the time when he was governor.

“Well, that seems fair,” Ross said.

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