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The Main Stream Media seem fixated on equating the Clinton Foundation to the Trump Foundation, perhaps because they share the word “foundation.” The appropriate point of comparison, however, is the potential for conflict of interest. Those concerned about the potential for President Hillary Clinton’s conflict of interest believed that contributions to the Clinton Foundation by foreign magnates or government officials could be exchanged for a favor, even though the Clintons had never received any salaries or money from the Clinton Foundation and the Foundation had typically disbursed 90 percent of its contributions.
Alternatively, those concerned about Donald Trump’s potential conflict of interest cite long-term contractual relationships between foreign entities and Trump’s businesses that result in millions of dollars of revenues. Kurt Eichenwald in his Newsweek story (9/14/2016) found that the South Korean Daewoo Group was paying the Trump Organization $8 million a year from 1999 until its bankruptcy in 2005. After Daewoo’s re-organization following the bankruptcy, the Trump Organization continued to maintain its financial relationship with Daewoo. It should be noted that the on-going relationships between Trump’s businesses and foreign entities are not exchanges of money for products, but rather on-going service contracts that would be affected by any number of Presidential actions. For example, Daewoo’s bankruptcy affected the flow of money to Trump and Trump’s call for South Korea to develop its own nuclear deterrent could lead to a financial windfall for Daewoo and presumably increase the flow of money to Trump.
Alternatively, those concerned about Donald Trump’s potential conflict of interest cite long-term contractual relationships between foreign entities and Trump’s businesses that result in millions of dollars of revenues. Kurt Eichenwald in his Newsweek story (9/14/2016) found that the South Korean Daewoo Group was paying the Trump Organization $8 million a year from 1999 until its bankruptcy in 2005. After Daewoo’s re-organization following the bankruptcy, the Trump Organization continued to maintain its financial relationship with Daewoo. It should be noted that the on-going relationships between Trump’s businesses and foreign entities are not exchanges of money for products, but rather on-going service contracts that would be affected by any number of Presidential actions. For example, Daewoo’s bankruptcy affected the flow of money to Trump and Trump’s call for South Korea to develop its own nuclear deterrent could lead to a financial windfall for Daewoo and presumably increase the flow of money to Trump.
Daewoo Trump World. Photo: Haeahn Architects
The long-term service contracts that Trump has with foreign magnates and government officials means that some kind of a “blind trust” would be totally ineffective in resolving Trump’s conflict of interest. Further, there is no way of shielding the Trump Organization from the largesse of foreign leaders seeking to win favor with the President or entangle the U.S. in the fate of their countries.