The meeting of the Oval office gathered by President Trump gathered the most important leaders in the world of professional golf: Jay Monahan, the High Executive in PGA Tour, and, over the phone, Yasir al-Rumayyan, the chairman of Saudi Arabia supported the link known as Liv Golf.
The stated purpose was to discover a way to eliminate road barriers by preventing the planned union between the two rival groups.
But the meeting earlier this month said something even more important about the Trump administration itself. Mr. Trump was not simply using the power of his office to create a deal – something presidents have done for centuries. In this case, Mr. Trump was pushing a union related to his family’s financial interest.
The Trump family is a Liv Golf business partner. The family has repeatedly hosted Liv tournaments in its golf countries, including a scheduled in April at the Doral Trump national in Miami for the fourth year.
In other words, according to half a dozen former prosecutors of the Department of Justice and government ethics advocates, Mr. Trump’s participation in this discussion was a cheeky conflict of interest – one by a series that has played in recent weeks, with one Frequency differently Anydo Presidency in modern times, even in Trump’s first term.
Mr Trump has again entered the White House with a massive extensive portfolio of business interests, some of which require the approval or regulation of the government, others from which are publicly traded, and still others involving foreign agreements.
Presidents do not subject to conflict of interest laws that regulate the rest of the government, but recent actions underline how Mr. Trump feels in his second term. This shows his belief that the lines that share the different interests of Trump, and his desire to reward friends and punish perceived enemies, will not cause the supervision of Congress in a political ecosystem that he helped in change.
“None of this is very surprising unfortunately,” said Hui Chen, a former federal prosecutor and corporate lawyer who later became adviser to the Department of Justice on Fraud Issues. “All the strength and power of the United States Government is now part of the business support structure for the Trump family.”
Even some local issues involving the president’s businesses demand government approval. A crisis that was unveiled in the Department of Justice last week for a New York move has sparked concerns about the department’s independence and Mr. Trump’s numerous conflicts in issues involving the city.
Last week, Trump Department Trump addressed Federal Prosecutors in Manhattan to rest charges against President Eric Adams from New York. Mr. Trump has said he did not ask for dismissal, but Mr. Adams oversees a wide bureaucracy in the city where Mr. Trump’s private enterprise has a number of properties, and the mayor has made a coordinated effort to create a relationship with president.
‘He will not allow conflicts’
Mr. Trump, in comments, posts on social media and interviews, has rejected any suggestions that he is violating ethics standards and accused those who criticize his actions as political partisans. Mr. Trump and his advisers have described the country as in a state of existential fall as the president begins his second term.
“He who saves his country does not violate any law,” he wrote on Saturday on his social media site.
This assertion – a significant reburial of a quotation of unknown sources, but attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte – is contrary to the vision of founding fathers for a government based on control and balance between executive, legislative and judicial branches, in which No one also holds a lot of power.
The Democratic System in the United States never really predicted what is happening in the Trump administration, said Alan Rozenstein, a former national lawyer lawyer who is now a professor of justice at the University of Minnesota.
“The Presidency seeks virtue – requires a fundamental level of determination and loyalty to the country,” said Mr. Rozenjtein. “If you don’t have that kind of person, there are not many things they can do unfortunately at that point, especially if the Congress is on the shoulder.”
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Mr. Trump’s allies tell of the ethical quagmirs with which President Bill Clinton and President Joseph R. Biden Jr. They faced their time in office, including the beliefs of Mr. Biden’s son and eventual forgiveness by his father.
However, Mr. Trump’s business companies have created a climate for possible conflicts unlike any other US president. And the list of issues that cause controversy in Trump’s second administration is wide.
Not long before Mr. Trump took office, his family began to sell his Cryptocurrency’s sign – winning with its partners about $ 100m of transactions fees – just as Mr. Trump was preparing to sign an executive order which directed its administration to draft new Cryptocurrency regulations that facilitate industry supervision.
Mr Trump has tested Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, overseeing a structure by approving specific employment for agencies, although some of them are investigating Mr. Musk’s companies or paying cumulative those billions of dollars a year.
In Washington, Mr. Trump appointed lawyer Edward R. Martin Jr. to serve as a US interim lawyer for the Columbia district. Mr. Martin resigned from the representation of a criminal defendant before moving in his capacity as a federal prosecutor to dismiss the charges against his client.
Ethics complaints raised against Mr. Martin claimed that he violated the rules of the professional code of conduct for lawyers. Mr. Trump announced Monday that he would appoint Mr. Martin to take the post forever, saying he had a long history of public service – “always with the same purpose, to serve his community, and creation of a brighter future for everyone. “
In a statement, Caroline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said: “President Trump is the chief executive of the executive branch and reserves the right to fire anyone he wants.” About the concerns about Mr. Musk’s conflicts of interest, she said Mr. Trump “has stated that he will not allow conflicts, and Elon himself is committed to recovering himself from possible conflicts.” She did not address questions about agreements related to the Trump family.
However, each of these actions violates the traditional norms of ethics in the government, according to these former prosecutors and ethics advocates.
Dismantled safeguards
What makes the situation more worrying, these lawyers said is that so much from the system raised by the Watergate era to monitor and punish individuals involved in ethics violations has been rapidly dismantled since Mr. Trump’s inauguration.
“They are receiving a destructive ball for organizations across the executive branch that play a role in integrity, supervision and accountability,” said David Huithema, who was confirmed by the Senate as the new head of the Government Ethics Office for five – Mandate of the year, but then was fired by Mr. Trump this month.
Mr. Trump not only dismissed nearly 20 general inspectors investigating waste, fraud and abuse, he also fired the head of the Special Advisers Office who examine public corruption, and head of the government ethics office, which offers instructions for Agencies across the government for what is right and wrong. (Mr. Trump has asked the Supreme Court to confirm his ability to dismiss the office of special council director Hampton Dellinger.)
In the Department of Justice, which may receive criminal violations of ethics laws even without referrals by federal agencies, Mr. Trump has appointed members of his former criminal protection at the main posts, including Emil J. Bove III, US Deputy Acting Lawyer in Acting General who helped protect Mr. Trump against allegations in New York that he falsified business data.
The decision of the Supreme Court last July – concluding how President Mr. Trump has “supposed immunity from prosecution for all his official actions” – only increased his sense of impunity.
Main exception
Despite the exemption from the Criminal Law of Conflict of Interest that prohibits federal employees from taking any action that directly affects their family financial properties, presidents in general have sought to honor it as standard, said Richard Painter, who served as an ethics adviser of the White House during the term of office of George W. Bush.
One of the clearest conflicts of interest was the meeting of Mr. Trump’s oval office for professional golf, ethics advocates said.
Federal employees are allowed to attend decisions or meetings that can affect their family finances if it is a general policy, such as the level of income tax paying millions of Americans.
But if it is a “special issue” that includes specific parties related to a business agreement, their family is directly involved, it is a criminal offense for federal employees to participate in these discussions, especially when the result can bring financial benefits.
Mr. Al-Rumayyan, the leader of Liv Golf, is also the governor of the Sovereign Sovereign Property Fund, who has bankrupt Golf Liv, as well as the private capital fund set up by Mr Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Mr. Al-Rumayyan visited Mr. Trump in 2022 at the Golf Club in the Trump family Bedminster during one of the first Liv tours there and both have been in touch since the year, including joining Mr. Trump in November in a final war of the combat championship in the Madison Square garden.
The Trump family, for years, has wanted to host more professional golf tournaments in its 15 courses in the United States, Europe and the Middle East – an effort that suffered an obstacle following January 6, 2021, the riots in Capitol , when America’s PGA canceled a scheduled tour in Bedminster.
Mr. Adams, the Mayor of New York, also has an connection with the family golf efforts and Saudi Arabia.
It was Mr. Adams who resisted pressure from the New York City Council in 2022 to cancel a series of Saudi -supported Aramco team at Ferry Point, a city -owned golf course, rented to the Trump family, Eric Trump said , the middle son of the president who runs the Trump organization.
Mr. Adams’ relationship with Trump continued to grow, and he and a senior adviser joined Eric Trump and Mr. Trump for a meeting in Florida during the presidential transition.
Eric Trump told a radio host this month that he did not know much about the criminal case against Mr. Adams, but what he knew he saw as thin. He added that Mr. Adams was “always supportive” and had not tried to obstruct the Trump family business in New York City after he said Mr. Adams, Bill de Blasio, had constantly.
When Mr. Bove, in the Department of Justice, moved to dismiss the allegations against Mr. Adams he said he had been done, in part, to allow the mayor to do his job effectively, including assisting in the desired blow of the president’s migrants.
In recent days, numerous lawyers in the Department of Justice Department’s public integrity division, who pursue public corruption issues, have resigned as they refused to play a role in dismissal of the charges.
Jonathan Swan Contributed Reporting.