Transition Spox Won’t Say Whether Trump Still Involved In His Businesses

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during a campaign rally Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016, in Selma, N.C. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

In a conference call with reporters Tuesday morning, a spokesman for Donald Trump’s transition avoided questions about whether the President-elect is still involved in running his business empire, directing reporters to Trump himself.

“Has the president-elect had any conversations with any foreign leaders about his business operations, and is he still involved in the business side of the Trump Organization?” Damian Paletta, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, asked.

“I think you’re probably specifically referring to the false news that came out yesterday on the Argentina front, which was batted down as being untrue from both sides,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said.

He pivoted to discuss the timing of Trump’s transition, and said that the President-elect’s team is working to prepare him for office.

“They’re continuing to work through the transition process and we’ll do our best to give you updates as that moves along,” Miller said. “We don’t have anything additional to add right at this time.”

Emily Stephenson, a reporter for Reuters, asked whether Trump would “be stepping back” from his involvement with his personal businesses. She cited a tweet posted by the President-elect on Monday night where he dismissed concerns about his business ties and said that voters knew about his real estate holdings around the world before the election.

“It sounded like he was saying there that he’s still involved on the business side,” Stephenson said.

Miller passed the responsibility for answering that question straight to Trump.

“I would go ahead and let the President-elect speak for that directly,” he said.

Allegations surfaced Monday that Trump asked Argentine President Mauricio Macri for help with permitting issues holding up a building project the President-elect licensed his name to in Buenos Aires.

Both Macri’s office and the Trump transition team denied reports that they discussed personal business during a call Macri made to Trump to congratulate the President-elect on his unexpected election victory.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for sjk sjk says:

    “I would go ahead and let the President-elect speak for that directly,”
    Except he isnt taking ANY QUESTIONS AT ALL!

  2. He will send a tweet at 3 a.m. tomorrow morning. Stand by!

  3. Of course he his… this line of questioning is rather stupid at this point. If there is one thing that we have learned over the course of the campaign it’s: whatever benefits Trump or his family will get prioritized over anything else. And the corollary: responding to any perceived slight will be prioritized over everything.

    And like the banana republicans before him, Trump will line his own pockets at the tax payers’ expense – but in the short term will trot out some sacrificial lambs to distract the masses. His cronies know this and are willing to take the risk of being put on the chopping block just to get their snouts in the trough.

  4. well midterms will be very interesting

  5. Don’t u just hate it when people ask questions they already know the answer to?

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

34 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for austin_dave Avatar for hoppy Avatar for imkmu3 Avatar for epicurus Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for squirreltown Avatar for sandyh Avatar for inversion Avatar for weatherservo9 Avatar for mike_in_houston Avatar for theghostofeustacetilley Avatar for geofu54 Avatar for sjk Avatar for clauscph Avatar for jacksonhts Avatar for coimmigrant Avatar for boulderdash Avatar for ncgirl741 Avatar for cpease Avatar for coprophagoussmile

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: