Rss@dailykos.com (joan Mccarter) · Wednesday, December 21, 2016, 12:19 pm
Is there such a thing as a "half-blind" trust? No. No, there is not. But that's what the Trump team is proposing so that the Trump family can milk as much as possible out of the presidenting gig.
Aides responsible for setting up ethics firewalls have held discussions with officials at the Office of Government Ethics about establishing what’s known as a “discretionary trust,” according to two sources briefed on the talks.
Such an arrangement could allow Trump or his family members to reap some of the legal benefits of a blind trust, but could also give them some insight into how the Trump businesses are faring while also allowing Trump and his family to continue to make money from those investments. […]
The discussions with the Office of Government Ethics about discretionary trusts suggest the Trump team is still weighing options that fall short of what ethics watchdogs have demanded, such as selling off assets that could pose a conflict of interest or parking wealth in classic blind trusts.
“It’s highly inappropriate,” said Richard Painter, a former ethics lawyer in President George W. Bush’s White House who recently joined watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “To have someone baby-sit your conflict-creating assets while you go around and do whatever you want, in my view that’s a violation of at least the spirit of the rules and that’s an abuse.” […]
“You don’t have to disclose it, since you don’t own it, Aunt Millie owns it,” Painter said. “And it cures your financial conflicts of interest under the criminal statute. ... If you really have a discretionary trust, you can participate in government decisions that affect those assets — if they let you get away with it.”
According to legal observers (whatever those is) Politico interviewed, they don't think this is going to pass muster with the OGE team. But this is the Trumps. Are they going to give a damn what the government ethics office says? For the Trumps, lawyers aren't for ethics, they're for suing people. They're going to heed what an "ethics" lawyer tells them?
And anyway, who's going to do anything about it? Paul Ryan? He's really going to move to impeach Trump over a measly grifting scheme? Not as long as Ryan is getting his Medicare destruction out of the deal.
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