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Conflicts of Interest

The Oxford Dictionary defines a conflict of interest as "a situation in which the concerns or aims of two different parties are incompatible" or "a situation in which a person is in a position to derive personal benefit from actions or decisions made in their official capacity."

Trump has many businesses, investments, and business relationships that create conflicts of interest for him as president. He has refused to eliminate those financial entanglements. He has also refused to disclose his taxes, as all modern presidents and presidential candidates have done. This makes it impossible to know whether actions he is taking as president are being done in service of the U.S., or for his own financial gain (or the gain of those close to him, such as his family).

The Constitution has a provision known as the Emoluments Clause, which bans payments from foreign powers. This was intended by the framers to prevent U.S. officials from being corrupted by gifts or payments. Trump's businesses receive payments from foreign powers. 

See also Corruption.

Timeline

2018.03.12Donald Trump Jr. has a previously undisclosed business relationship with a longtime hunting buddy who helped raise millions of dollars for his father’s 2016 presidential campaign and has had special access to top government officials since the election. apnews.com (See also Corruption, Donald Trump Jr, Department of the Interior, Ryan Zinke)
2018.03.12Qatari officials gathered evidence of what they claim is illicit influence by the United Arab Emirates on Jared Kushner and other Trump associates, including details of secret meetings, but decided not to give the information to special counsel Robert Mueller for fear of harming relations with the Trump administration nbcnews.com (See also Jared Kushner, Russian Meddling in Election, Trump Relationship with Russia, Foreign Policy)
2018.03.12White House adviser Ivanka Trump receives more than $1 million each year from her family’s business that develops luxury resorts across the globe, sometimes with help from foreign governments, but her continued relationship with the Trump Organization creates countless potential conflicts of interest as she represents President Donald Trump at meetings with world leaders and lobbies U.S. lawmakers. mcclatchydc.com (See also Ivanka Trump, Trump Business, Corruption)
2018.03.16A new U.S. advisory board created to help rewrite federal rules for importing the heads and hides of African elephants, lions and rhinos is stacked with trophy hunters, including some members with direct ties to Donald Trump and his family. apnews.com (See also Ryan Zinke, Department of the Interior, Corruption)
2018.03.16Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired former FBI deputy director Andrew Mc­Cabe, a little more than 24 hours before McCabe was set to retire — a move that McCabe alleged was an attempt to slander him and undermine the ongoing special counsel investigation into the Trump campaign. washingtonpost.com (See also 2016 Campaign, Jeff Sessions, Department of Justice, Resignations and Dismissals)
2018.03.20The Republican National Committee spent roughly $271,000 at Donald Trump’s private businesses in February, according to documents filed Tuesday evening. washingtonpost.com (See also Trump Business, Corruption)
2018.03.28A federal judge ruled that the District of Columbia and Maryland may proceed with a lawsuit against Donald Trump alleging that Trump’s business dealings have violated the Constitution’s ban on receiving improper “emoluments,” or payments, from individual states and foreign governments. washingtonpost.com (See also Legal Activity, Trump Business)
2018.03.29Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt leased a Washington apartment owned by a lobbyist friend last year under terms that allowed him to pay $50 a night for a single bedroom -- but only on the nights when he actually slept there. bloomberg.com (See also Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, Corruption)
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt’s lease at a Washington apartment owned by a lobbyist friend allowed him to pay $50 a night for a single bedroom, but only on the nights when he actually slept there.
2018.03.29For much of his first year in Washington, Trump’s EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt occupied prime real estate in a townhouse near the U.S. Capitol that is co-owned by the wife of a top energy lobbyist. abcnews.go.com (See also Scott Pruitt, Environmental Protection Agency)
2018.04.02Scott Pruitt, the E.P.A. chief, was using an apartment partly owned by the wife of the chairman of the lobbying firm while its client sought the agency’s sign off on a pipeline project... which was then approved. nytimes.com (See also Scott Pruitt, Environmental Protection Agency, Corruption)
2018.04.09Lawyers representing Donald Trump’s company last month wrote directly to the president of Panama, asking him to intervene in a legal fight over the Trump International Hotel in the capital — and warning that the case could have “repercussions” for Panama’s reputation. washingtonpost.com (See also Trump Business, Corruption, Legal Issues)
2018.04.12A former Secret Service agent, with a background investigating the Gambino crime family, Pasquale Perrotta, is serving as the chief of security for Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has clashed — at least once physically — with top E.P.A. officials who challenged Mr. Pruitt’s spending, and has steered at least one E.P.A. security contract to a business associate. nytimes.com (See also Scott Pruitt, Environmental Protection Agency, Corruption)
2018.04.12Judges on a federal appeals court panel appeared hesitant to overrule Donald Trump and install the deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as the agency's temporary leader, but two of the three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit indicated they had a problem with the person Trump selected to take the position, Mick Mulvaney, because he also heads the White House Office of Management and Budget. latimes.com (See also Mick Mulvaney, Legal Issues)
2018.04.23The Republican National Committee spent more than $224,000 at Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club in March, according to newly filed FEC reports - far and away the largest amount the RNC has spent there. thedailybeast.com (See also Corruption, Unprecedented Actions, Unpresidential Behavior)
2018.04.24Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, faces nearly a dozen federal inquiries into his travel expenses, security practices and other issues. nytimes.com (See also Scott Pruitt, Environmental Protection Agency, Corruption)
2018.04.26Donald Trump hinted that he may get more deeply involved in the management of his Justice Department — which is overseeing a special counsel probe into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election — in a freewheeling and defiant phone interview with Fox and Friends. washingtonpost.com (See also Department of Justice, Legal Activity, Corruption, Russian Meddling in Election)
2018.04.30The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has granted a financial hardship waiver to an oil refinery owned by billionaire Carl Icahn, a former adviser to Donald Trump, exempting the Oklahoma facility from requirements under a federal biofuels law, according to two industry sources briefed on the matter, so they can avoid tens of millions of dollars in costs. reuters.com (See also Corruption, Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt)
2018.04.30The intercession of a well-connected Florida doctor, as a member of Mar-a-Lago has infuriated those overseeing the $16B contract Department of Veterans Affairs project. politico.com (See also Corruption, Department of Veterans Affairs, David Shulkin)
2018.05.01A trip to Morocco by Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt last December was partly arranged by a longtime friend and lobbyist, who then won a $40,000/month contract with the Moroccan government. washingtonpost.com (See also Scott Pruitt, Environmental Protection Agency, Corruption)
2018.05.03As a state senator in Oklahoma 15 years ago, Mr. Pruitt bought a home in the state capital with a registered lobbyist who was pushing for changes to the state’s workers’ compensation rules — changes that Mr. Pruitt championed in the legislature, while Mr. Pruitt never publicly disclosed his financial relationship with the lobbyist, who, like Mr. Pruitt, lived in the home when in Oklahoma City on business. nytimes.com (See also Scott Pruitt, Environmental Protection Agency, Corruption)
2018.05.13Members of a special team at the Education Department that had been investigating widespread abuses by for-profit colleges have been marginalized, reassigned or instructed to focus on other matters, effectively killing investigations into possibly fraudulent activities at several large for-profit colleges where top hires of Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, had previously worked. nytimes.com (See also Corruption, Betsy DeVos, Department of Education)
2018.05.14Donald Trump personally will profit from a new Trump Indonesian resort project that will get $500 million in Chinese loans in a deal sealed just days before before his tweet ordering help for Chinese government owned cellphone maker ZTE. huffingtonpost.com (See also China, Trump Business, Reversals, Corruption)
2018.05.17The company controlled by the family of the White House adviser Jared Kushner is close to receiving a bailout of its troubled flagship building by a company with financial ties to the government of Qatar. nytimes.com (See also Jared Kushner, Corruption)
The deal is likely to raise further concerns about Jared Kushner’s dual role as a White House point person on the Middle East and a continuing stakeholder in the family’s company. Mr. Kushner in February lost his top-secret security clearance amid concerns that foreign governments could attempt to gain influence with the White House by doing business with his firm. In January, The Times reported that his firm last year received a $30 million investment from Menora Mivtachim, a large Israeli insurer, just a few days before Mr. Kushner flew to Israel for his first diplomatic trip to the region.
2018.05.18President Trump has personally pushed U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan to double the rate the Postal Service charges Amazon.com and other firms to ship packages. washingtonpost.com (See also Unpresidential Behavior, Fascism)
Brennan has so far resisted Trump’s demand, explaining in multiple conversations occurring this year and last that these arrangements are bound by contracts and must be reviewed by a regulatory commission. She has told the president that the Amazon relationship is beneficial for the Postal Service and gave him a set of slides that showed the variety of companies, in addition to Amazon, that also partner for deliveries.
2018.05.21Donald Trump went beyond his usual tactics of suggesting wrongdoing and political bias by those investigating him, and crossed over into applying overt presidential pressure on the Justice Department to do his bidding. nytimes.com (See also Fascism, Legal Issues, Department of Justice)
Legal experts said President Trump’s promise of intervention had little precedent, and could force a clash between the sitting president and his Justice Department.

Further research

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