Nashville’s congressman and other Oversight and Government Reform Committee members want President-elect Donald Trump’s financial arrangements reviewed like the committee’s chairman insisted when Hillary Clinton looked like the next president.
U.S. Reps. Jim Cooper, Elijah Cummings and other Democrats on the House committee sent a letter to Chairman Jason Chaffetz requesting an immediate review of Trump’s financial arrangements because the Utah Republican has “not taken steps to conduct basic oversight of these unprecedented challenges.”
For example, Philippine developer Jose E. B. Antonio was named in October as special envoy to the United States, The New York Times reports. Trump is Antonio’s partner in a $150 million tower in Manila’s financial district. The 57-story, multi-purpose building’s slogan: “Live Above the Rest.”
Recently, Trump told The New York Times, “The law’s totally on my side, the president can’t have a conflict of interests;” as if he’s immune. “Of course,” Oversight Committee Democrats say, “this statement is incorrect.” Trump already has conflicts of interest “between his widespread global business interests and his Constitutional obligations as president.”
In August, Chaffetz pledged to hold the next President-elect accountable, no matter who’s in the White House.
Chaffetz said his “job is to hold them accountable and provide that oversight,” Cummings (D-Md.) wrote to Rep. Chaffetz on Nov. 14. “No one,” Cooper said, “is above the law. The President-elect should fully disclose his holdings and dispose of any potential conflicts of interest. And Chairman Chaffetz should follow through on his promise to provide oversight and accountability.”
Democrats on the Oversight Committee also quote the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The Salt Lake Tribune, the latter endorsing Cummings’ position that if Chaffetz wants anyone to take him seriously, then he should lead a rigorous review of Trump’s holdings.
