[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16026-16027]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             CONFLICTS OF INTEREST IN TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a strong recommendation 
that President-elect Trump address immediately and put to rest the 
overwhelming conflicts of interest that abound with his personal 
business affairs that threaten to undermine the public interest and 
destabilize his future administration.
  When America's Founding Fathers wrote the Emoluments Clause in our 
Constitution, their firm intention was to insulate our new government 
from unethical foreign inducement to our elected officials and 
corruption attendant to the intertwining of Europe's politics with our 
own.

                              {time}  1130

  So reads our Constitution, Article I. Article I, right at the 
beginning, Section 9, clause 8: ``No Title of Nobility shall be granted 
by the United States''--that means we don't coronate kings here--``And 
no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, 
without the Consent of the Congress, accept any present, Emolument, 
Office, or Title, of any kind whatever from any King, Prince, or 
foreign State.''
  No elected official in this country is above the Constitution, the 
law of the land. This is the strict, time-tested standard, ethical 
standard to which the President and Congress and all senior government 
appointees are held.
  Unfortunately, American history has no shortage of examples of 
Presidents and senior officials who attempted to skirt this ethical 
standard outside of appropriate channels, and they paid the price: 
Ulysses S. Grant's Whiskey Ring, or Warren G. Harding's Teapot Dome, or 
Richard Nixon's Jewel Scandal or Watergate, to name a few. Each 
represents an instance of improper gifting, self-dealing, and an array 
of clandestine and illegal activities, of which President-elect Trump 
would be wise to reflect upon their consequences.
  There have been many suggestions offered to the President-elect on 
what he should do to clear up such potential conflicts about his 
foreign investments, contacts, and his vast private wealth that could 
compromise his position as President; yet President-elect Trump's 
advisers keep us waiting and dodging the main question.
  He, himself, has said that action is not legally required. He is 
wrong. He also incorrectly asserts there can be no conflict of interest 
for a President. History shows that is false.
  Without separation of his private interests from his public 
interests, how will the American people know he is acting fairly and 
impartially in his appointments to regulatory agencies, for example? or 
his funding recommendations of budgets and departments that could 
impact his investments? Or how about the contracts that are let by the 
Federal Government itself?
  How will he work with banks, and which ones, nation-state-owned or 
foreign, that have loaned him and his associates money?
  Who will he be appointing to key regulatory positions that could 
impact his vast financial interests across many continents?
  A former Reform Party Vice Presidential candidate opined on the 
Huffington Post site that Mr. Trump has three options to address his 
conflicts of interest:
  Number one, to place his company and assets into a true blind trust, 
supervised by a totally independent entity;
  Number two, to persuade the GOP-controlled Congress to enact a law 
that exempts the President from the Emolument Provision, which I would 
vote against; or
  Number three, to resign, or risk impeachment.
  As the Office of Government Ethics advised, only a true divestiture 
of his financial stake in his sprawling and global business dealings 
will resolve ethical concerns about conflicts of interest as he assumes 
the role of President of the United States.
  Now, this map gives you a sense of some of his interests that he has 
acknowledged in some of his filings, of 144 companies in 25 different 
countries. We don't know what these relationships are. He has a 
sprawling global business empire, and the list includes countries with 
strained diplomatic ties to the United States.
  As the President, his responsibilities will force him to make 
decisions on foreign policy and tax policy, for example, that will 
impact these significant business interests. Only a truly complete 
removal of his ownership can assure the American people that his 
Presidential actions and political decisions are not motivated by 
personal financial interests. Even then, suspicion will arise about 
every move he makes and be subject to prosecution.
  In the 3 weeks since his election, President-elect Trump has held 
meetings and calls with foreign dignitaries, Prime Ministers, and 
Presidents in his official capacity as President-elect. That is normal. 
What is not normal or appropriate, though, is for the public to hear 
afterwards that his adult children, who are slated to take over the 
family business, were also present.
  The American public is well aware that the Trump team has a steep 
learning curve in understanding his role, the operation and legal 
allowances of our Federal Government, and he has a long way to go in 
separating his personal financial interests from his public financial 
interests. I can't say in strong enough terms we do need to have his 
tax filings on record, and we do need to have clarification for the 
American people that our Constitution must prevail.
  No public official--no public official--is exempt from the law of the 
land, and the highest law is the Constitution of the United States. He 
must separate himself from his business dealings.

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