Trump: I'll Leave My Business 'in Total' While President

He says he will 'fully focus' on presidency
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 30, 2016 6:35 AM CST
Trump: I'll Leave My Business 'in Total' While President
Donald Trump says his kids will be in complete control of his business operations.   (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

Donald Trump is clarifying how he'll deal with his businesses while president: He won't deal with them at all, he promises. In a series of tweets Wednesday morning, Trump said he "will be leaving my great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country." He reiterated his view that he is not obligated to do so under law, but said, "I feel it is visually important, as President, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses." Trump said that legal documents were being drawn up to make it official, and that he would provide more details at a Dec. 15 news conference.

"The Presidency is a far more important task!" he wrote. It's not clear whether his children would take over. Earlier this week, New York Times business writer Andrew Ross Sorkin made the case for an independent overseer in an open letter to the president-elect. He even floated a candidate: Kenneth Feinberg, who was in charge of the 9/11 victims' compensation fund and who told Sorkin he'd be willing to do it. Also Wednesday, former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin confirmed that he has been chosen to be Treasury secretary, and Wilbur Ross confirmed that he is the pick to be commerce chief, reports the AP. (Mitt Romney, meanwhile, had a cozy dinner with Trump as the decision on secretary of state looms.)

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