The big takeaway here is that Trump is setting up a “trust” which will hold all his assets. But those assets will still remain part of the Trump Organization. The Trump Organization will be run by Don, Eric and a Trump Organization executive. There will also be an ethics advisor who is part of an executive committee. The Trump Organization will not make any new foreign “deals”; it will make domestic deals. The key issue here is that Trump is not divesting himself of any of his assets. And they will be managed by his family. Fundamentally, all the incentives to curry favor with Trump’s companies still exist. Also, no new foreign ‘deals’ is a meaningless term.
At the end of the day, this amounts to Trump will keep his business; his adult sons will run it. That’s the whole thing. Here is a key quote: “In sum, I and the president-elect’s other advisors at Morgan Lewis have determined the approach we outlined today will avoid potential conflicts of interest or concerns regarding exploitation of the office of the presidency without imposing unnecessary and unreasonable losses on the president-elect and his family.”
