Donald Trump's conflicts of interest span the globe - YouTube

Donald Trump has business dealings all over the world.

With Trump in as president, leaders in at least 18 countries have more than political

interest in the United States.

They will also have potential business leverage to curry favor with President Trump.

Take China.

China is home to the country’s largest state-owned commercial bank, the Industrial and Commercial

Bank of China.

But it has an office in Trump Tower in New York City.

Which means that a foreign government, China, will be paying its landlord, who also happens

to the President of the United States, nearly $2 million a year in rent.

Trump has expressed pride in this arrangement.

"People think I don't like China -- I love China.

The largest bank in the world is a tenet of mine in Trump Tower.”

But it could get him in trouble

A section of the Constitution called the Emoluments Clause says Presidents can’t accept payments

or gifts from foreign governments.

The Founders added it during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 because they were worried

about foreign governments using money to influence American politicians.

But it’s never really been tested by a President.

Ronald Reagan, George H.W.

Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush all had business ventures before entering the

Oval Office, but they entrusted their businesses and investments to outsiders who they didn’t

communicate with while in office.

This arrangement is called a blind trust-- which is also what Donald Trump calls his

plan to put his children in charge of his business.

But as long as his children can talk to him about the business, this won’t exempt him

from conflicts of interest.

You can see why if you look at Japan.

When Trump met the country’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, a few days after the election,

Ivanka Trump was also there.

At the time, Ivanka was working to close a business deal between her clothing line and

a Japanese company called Sanei International; a company whose largest shareholder happens

to be a state-owned bank controlled by the Japanese government.

Ivanka’s old company is still part of her father’s company.

So if Abe were to put pressure on the bank to finalize the Sanei deal, Trump would benefit

financially.

And even if Trump keeps Ivanka out of future meetings with heads of state, they’ll still

have her husband, Jared Kushner’s ear.

Trump’s son-in-law will serve as a senior advisor.

Vice President Mike Pence has tried to downplay Trump’s conflicts of interest.

“If his kids are running the business, and we’re talking about buildings here, if he

doesn't divest himself of the business, a lot of people are saying turn it into cash,

he’s going to know who the kids are doing business with.

In fact there was just a meeting in the last few days with some of his partners form India.

Doesn't that create a tremendous danger of a conflict of interest?”

“In a recent interview, after the election, Donald Trump summed up his view of his business

life with two words.

He said, who cares?"

But his actions indicate that that he does care.

After the election, Trump met with British politician Nigel Farage.

During their meeting, Trump complained about a proposed wind farm wrecking the view from

his golf course in Aberdeen Scotland.

Trump reportedly urged Farage to oppose the proposal, and though nothing has happened

so far, Trump’s willingness to mix private and political matters creates the impression

that he might be willing to trade political favors for personal profit.

In Turkey, that seems to have happened already.

After Trump called for an American ban on Muslims, Prime Minister Erdoğan demanded

that his name be removed from the Trump Towers in Istanbul.

But when a military coup threatened Erdoğan’s power, Trump expressed his support.

“That was a quick coup, I was actually surprised to see how well it was handled.”

Erdoğan backed down, and Trump’s name remains on the towers.

Since Trump refuses to disclose all of his business dealings, we can’t know how many

others might exist.

But the one that looms largest is Russia.

A leaked intelligence report indicates that Putin and the Russian government may have

compromising material on Trump.

But we don’t need unverified reports to know that the relationship between the two

is odd.

Trump and Putin launching a mutual admiration society of sorts.

Do you want to be complimented by that former KGB officer?

Because Trump has refused to release his tax returns, we don’t know if he owes money

to Russian oil billionaires close to Putin.

Molly McKew: “the discussion in intelligence circles is that his behavior looks like someone

who maybe compromised, who may be concerned about something, and nobody knows what that

is, if it’s financial ties or financial leverage, something more than that, I don’t

know” The only way for Trump to deal with all these

conflicts of interest is to sell his companies, And then put someone besides his children

in charge of the financial proceeds.

Senate Democrats have introduced a bill that would require Trump to do this

If this doesn’t happen, we’ll never really know whether Trump is putting the American

people first, or his business interests.