Langley: Trump not planning to divest himself from his businesses
Washington (CNN)President-elect Donald Trump is not planning to divest from his businesses but will also not be involved with his companies when he enters the White House, the Wall Street Journal’s Monica Langley told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Thursday night.
Speaking on “Anderson Cooper 360,” Langley said that even though Trump’s adult sons, Eric and Donald Jr., are involved in transition meetings right now, once Trump enters the White House, they’ll focus on the businesses.
But, she predicted, Trump’s family is not going to sell any of the properties or real estate in their businesses.
“He’s not going to divest them,” she said. “He is going to lay out how he will not be involved at all. But he’s going to still plan to own it and the reason they’re not going to sell it … is at first everyone thought, ‘Well if they sold it, it’ll be a fire sale.'”
She added that if the properties went on the market all at once, many potential suitors might want to buy a Trump property, especially in foreign countries.
Trump has been facing questions about his potential conflicts of interest when he enters the White House. A CNN poll released last month found that 6 in 10 Americans believe the President-elect is not doing enough to address his potential conflicts of interest.
Trump owns or has a position in more than 500 companies, according to a CNN analysis. That includes about 150 that have done business in at least 25 foreign countries, including Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Trump was supposed to hold a news conference on Thursday to announce how he was distancing himself from his business as he took office, but that event was postponed until January.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/15/politics/donald-trump-businesses-white-house/index.html