Trump announces plans to dissolve his family's foundation
President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday afternoon that he plans to dissolve his family’s foundation in the wake of questions regarding possible conflicts of interest once he takes office.
Mr. Trump issued the decision in a press release, which said the Donald J. Trump Foundation has contributed millions of dollars to groups that support veterans, law enforcement officers and children.
“However, to avoid even the appearance of any conflict with my role as President I have decided to continue to pursue my strong interest in philanthropy in other ways,” he said in the statement.
The announcement said the president-elect has directed his counsel to take the necessary steps to dissolve the foundation. The foundation, however, cannot formally shut down until after the New York state attorney general’s office completes its investigation of the foundation.
“The Trump Foundation is still under investigation by this office and cannot legally dissolve until that investigation is complete,” the office’s spokeswoman, Amy Spitalnick, told The Washington Post in an email Saturday.
“I am very proud of the money that has been raised for many organizations in need, and I am also very proud of the fact that the Foundation has operated at essentially no cost for decades, with 100% of the money going to charity, but because I will be devoting so much time and energy to the Presidency and solving the many problems facing our country and the world, I don’t want to allow good work to be associated with a possible conflict of interest,” he added.
This comes after Mr. Trump said that he would not be subject to conflict of interest laws as president and after he said that his children would be taking over his businesses.
“The law’s totally on my side, the president can’t have a conflict of interest,” Mr. Trump told The New York Times in a meeting last month. “In theory I could run my business perfectly and then run the country perfectly. There’s never been a case like this.”
Earlier this month, he postponed a planned announcement regarding how he would separate from his business empire. Soon after, he tweeted that he would be leaving his businesses before his inauguration next month, that his two sons would manage them while he serves in the White House and that there will be “no new deals” during that time.