WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has submitted his annual financial disclosure to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, and it is expected to be released publicly in the coming days.
Trump’s disclosure, which includes all of 2017 and part of 2018, is being closely watched to see whether it will disclose the $130,000 paid to porn star Stormy Daniels on his behalf by his attorney Michael Cohen. Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said during a Fox News interview that the president had repaid Cohen.
Ethics experts say that if that money isn’t disclosed, Trump could be in violation of ethics laws for failing to disclose a reportable item, a violation for which others have been prosecuted.
The White House confirmed that Trump and Vice President Mike Pence filed their financial disclosures Tuesday, along with the reports of some 25,000 senior executive branch officials, but declined to comment further. The Office of Government Ethics said the president’s report is under review.
Trump’s disclosure will also be the first extended look at how his businesses have performed since he became president in January 2017. When Trump took office, he refused to fully divest from his global business, instead putting his assets in a trust controlled by his two sons and a senior executive. Still, Trump can take back control of the trust at any time and he’s allowed to withdraw cash from it as he pleases.
Trump’s previous report, covering January 2016 through the first few months of 2017, showed he had at least $1.4 billion in assets and at least $594 million in income.
