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Monday, 04/03/2017 2:16:05 PM

Monday, April 03, 2017 2:16:05 PM

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Revised Trust Allows Donald Trump to Withdraw Funds Without Public Disclosure

Ethics experts said the new provision raises questions about conflicts

By REBECCA BALLHAUS April 3, 2017 1:36 p.m. ET
https://www.wsj.com/articles/revised-trust-allows-donald-trump-to-withdraw-funds-without-public-disclosure-1491240970

President Donald Trump can draw money from his business empire as its trustees see fit without disclosing it publicly, according to a revised version of his trust, a change that ethics experts say blurs the lines between the Trump Organization and his administration.

Mr. Trump said before his inauguration that he would put his assets into a trust and relinquish control of his businesses to his two adult sons, in an effort to avoid conflicts of interest during his presidency. Ethics experts criticized the arrangement, in which Mr. Trump would retain ownership of the business, arguing the nation’s first purely private-sector president hadn’t taken adequate steps to distance himself from his company.

According to a revised version of the trust released by the General Services Administration, “The Trustees shall distribute net income or principal to Donald J. Trump at his request, as the Trustees deem necessary for his maintenance, support or uninsured medical expenses, or as the Trustees otherwise deem appropriate.”

The trustees who would be responsible for making those decisions are Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, and Allen Weissenberg, the longtime chief financial officer of Trump Organization.

The trust doesn’t require that any such transfer of funds be publicly disclosed. While such a transfer likely would show up on Mr. Trump’s personal financial disclosure, he doesn’t have to release one until 2018 and the White House hasn’t said whether he will do so in his first year in office, as recent past presidents have done. Also, transfers likely would show up in aggregate form, obscuring the timing of the cash influx.

Ethics experts said the new provision in the trust raises questions about conflicts of interest surrounding the president and his business.

“It removes one safeguard from there being a disbursement to the president that could coincide with or be related to something that he does in his official capacity as the president of the United States,” said Bryson Morgan, a political law attorney with Caplin and Drysdale.

The White House and the Trump Organization didn’t respond to requests for comment on the changes, which were reported Monday by ProPublica.

The trust document, signed Feb. 10, also stipulates that the trustees won’t report to the president any details about the trust’s “holdings and sources of income.” But the president’s son Eric, who serves as an adviser to the trust though not a trustee, told Forbes in an interview last month that he would provide periodic updates to his father on “the bottom line, profitability reports and stuff like that.”

When the president announced his plan to place his assets in a trust in January, he said his sons would run his business and that “they’re not going to discuss it with me.”

In his first 10 weeks as president, Mr. Trump has drawn criticism for appearing to promote his business in his official capacity. He has made 14 trips already to Trump properties, including his Palm Beach, Fla., resort Mar-a-Lago and his Virginia golf course, which he visited on Sunday with Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) and Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Mar-a-Lago in recent months doubled its initiation fee to $200,000, and Mr. Trump plans to bring Chinese leader Xi Jinping there for meetings this weekend.

It isn’t clear whether Mr. Trump would have a need to draw funds from his business empire while in the White House.

While much of his lifestyle, including his official residences, travel and security, is provided by the U.S. government, Mr. Trump owns properties across the country that require costly upkeep. Mr. Trump said during the campaign he was worth $10 billion; A financial disclosure he released during the presidential campaign showed he held assets valued between $1.5 billion and $2.1 billion, though included in that are 23 assets whose value is labeled “over $50 million.” A Wall Street Journal analysis of the president’s finances last year showed Mr. Trump assets were relatively illiquid.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/revised-trust-allows-donald-trump-to-withdraw-funds-without-public-disclosure-1491240970

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