House Dems urge government IGs to step up Trump probes

House Democrats are calling on a host of independent government investigators to probe President-elect Donald Trump’s potential conflicts of interests.

In a letter sent to the inspectors general at eight different agencies and departments, a group of six senior lawmakers called on those watchdogs to keep a close eye on Trump’s appointees, and any signs of improper activity on Trump’s behalf.

“President-elect Trump’s questionable ethical principles may influence who he appoints to lead our federal agencies and, ultimately, influence the culture within these federal agencies,” they wrote. “In light of these unprecedented circumstances, we ask that you take immediate and proactive steps to ensure that any new political appointees at your respective agencies are held to the highest possible ethical standards and that you commit to diligently and constantly monitoring the actions of such appointees and mitigating conflicts of interest when they inevitably arise.”

The letter, sent by the top Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee, marks the latest in an ongoing debate in Washington about how Trump plans to handle his work as president while still the titular head of a global business empire.

Trump so far has rejected calls to liquidate his assets and place them in a blind trust, as past presidents have done. Instead, he said he plans to hand over his business operations to his children at a future date — an arrangement the Democrats argued was effectively worthless.

“Donald Trump’s blind trust would be neither blind nor trustworthy,” they wrote, noting that Trump’s children already occupy official positions on his presidential transition team, casting doubt on their ability to operate the business independently and without their father’s knowledge.

Trump himself, meanwhile, has continued to engage in business activity since being elected president. Multiple reports have indicated that Trump has discussed business matters at the same time he is meeting with foreign officials as the nation’s next president.

And Trump dismissed talk of problematic conflicts Tuesday, saying in a meeting with New York Times reporters and editors that the president legally cannot have a conflict of interest.

In this new letter, Democrats in particular expressed concern about Trump’s relationship with Deutsche Bank, which is currently in the midst of massive settlement talks with the Department of Justice.

Trump has repeatedly used the German bank to finance several real estate projects going back decades, and his businesses owe the bank hundreds of millions of dollars, currently.

At the same time, Deutsche Bank has paid billions of dollars to settle government probes into wrongdoing stemming from the financial crisis and elsewhere. Currently, the bank is talking with the Justice Department over a potential $14 billion settlement for activities tied to the financial crisis, an amount so lofty it has led some to worry about the health of the bank going forward.

The lawmakers noted that difficulties by the bank could in turn make it difficult for it to finance more Trump-tied projects, while at the same time Trump has already announced plans to nominate Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) as his Attorney General.

“President-elect Donald Trump will begin his term with more potential conflicts of interest and less transparency about his personal finances than any president in recent history,” the lawmakers wrote.

With all this in mind, the Democrats are urging the inspectors general, who oversee various government agencies and operate independently, to ramp up operations in anticipation of potential problems on the horizon.

“The work that you perform will become especially integral to upholding the ethical standards of the Executive branch,” they wrote.