Donald Trump insisted Thursday that if elected president he would sever ties with his businesses, although he also repeated his plan to put his adult children in charge of his organization.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is pushing back on fresh scrutiny of the Trump Organization following a Newsweek article Wednesday that suggested its foreign business ties could “upend” U.S. national security if Trump becomes president.
{mosads}”Well, I will sever connections, and I’ll have my children and my executives run the company,” Trump said Thursday during a phone interview on “Fox and Friends,” articulating a position he’s made in the past.
The controversy comes as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton faces pressure to cut ties with her family’s foundation.
In both cases, journalists and other observers have questioned how Clinton or Trump could really cut ties while leaving children in positions of authority.
Trump took on that argument by suggesting he’d keep his businesses at arm’s length.
“And I won’t discuss it with them. I wouldn’t,” Trump said of businesses run by his children. “It’s just so unimportant compared to what we’re doing about making America great again.
“I guess you can say there’s a conflict, because as the … country gets stronger, that’s good for all companies, right? But I wouldn’t care. It’s so unimportant compared to what I’m doing right now,” he said.
“I would absolutely sever — I would have nothing to do with my company,” he insisted later, downplaying the Newsweek article, saying he didn’t read it.
“I heard the article made me out to be extremely successful, but very complicated company,” Trump stated on Fox. “I actually have a very simple company.”
The Newsweek article described Trump’s organization as “an enterprise with deep ties to global financiers, foreign politicians and even criminals, although there is no evidence the Trump Organization has engaged in any illegal activities.” It also said it has “a web of contractual entanglements that could not be just canceled.
“If Donald Trump is elected president, will he and his family permanently sever all connections to the Trump Organization, a sprawling business empire that has spread a secretive financial web across the world? Or will Trump instead choose to be the most conflicted president in American history, one whose business interests will constantly jeopardize the security of the United States?” the author, Kurt Eichenwald, wrote.
Asked if he would hesitate on sanctions for a country that would end up hurting his organization or hotels, Trump told Fox, “Oh, I would absolutely get out in some form.
“I would get out of those countries. I wouldn’t want to be involved and then nobody else is able to,” Trump said. “But I don’t think we have too many of those companies, frankly,” Trump added with a chuckle.
“It’s a very interesting question,” he said.
Trump has maintained
since before he launched his 2016 White House bid that his children and executives would run his organization if he were elected president.
The new attacks come as he and his surrogates criticize Clinton over her family’s foundation.
Trump has relied on his children Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Eric throughout his campaign for advice, with the younger Trumps often appearing on their father’s behalf at campaign events or media appearances to defend the businessman.
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