Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), the chair of the House Oversight Committee, said Sunday that he won’t go on a “fishing expedition” into President-elect Donald Trump’s potential conflicts of interest.
In an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Chaffetz dismissed suggestions that Trump’s business dealings will present an immediate conflict when Trump takes office.
“That’s speculative,” Chaffetz said. “I mean, Donald Trump hasn’t even been sworn in yet.”
“I do believe that he has set up a plan where the revenue or the profits that are coming to the hotel will be given directly to the Treasury,” he added, apparently referring to Trump’s new Washington, D.C. hotel. “But I’m not going to go on this fishing expedition that they want me to, that the Democrats want me to.”
Chaffetz seemed unconcerned with the possibility that Trump may run afoul of the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states that “no person holding any office of profit or trust” may “accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever” from a foreign leader or government unless Congress gives its consent.
“The President has a duty and obligation to comply with the law, but again he’s exempt from almost all of these things,” Chaffetz said. “Now the Emoluments Clause, he’s going to have to look at, and we’ll see how that rolls out.”
Watch below via ABC:
.@jasoninthehouse on asking for documents on Trump businesses: “I’m not going on this fishing expedition…that the Democrats want me to” pic.twitter.com/KK6YlAcKMZ
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 15, 2017
