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pnwmom

(108,978 posts)
Wed Jan 11, 2017, 03:12 PM Jan 2017

In 1974, Nelson Rockefeller allowed Congress to "scour" his business dealings

and finances and offered to set up a blind trust.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-06-02/donald-trump-might-make-the-white-house-a-walmart

To allay such concerns, Trump could take a page from the late Nelson Rockefeller, who was an heir to a fortune and industrial empire far more substantial and consequential than anything Trump has ever overseen. In order to get confirmed as Gerald Ford's vice president in the wake of Richard Nixon's 1974 resignation, Rockefeller sat through congressional hearings in which strangers scoured his family's business dealings and finances.

“My sole purpose is to serve my country," Rockefeller told his Senate inquisitors at the time. "I would not be influenced by so-called interests.”

http://www.vox.com/2017/1/11/14238592/trump-nelson-rockefeller

It is simply not true that no one was so concerned. On the contrary, in a September 1974 article, Linda Charlton reported for the New York Times: “Rockefeller Vows Full Cooperation.”

Vice President‐designate Nelson A. Rockefeller, arriving for the start, tomorrow morning of his confirmation hearing, said again today that he would be “delighted” to do whatever Congress asked to resolve any potential conflict of interest—including placing his holdings in a blind trust.

SNIP

This is exactly what ethics experts say Trump should do. Create a real blind trust to hold his assets. That’s what previous wealthy presidents have done. It’s true that given the nature of Trump’s holdings getting this done would be logistically complicated and might entail financial losses for him. But that’s Trump’s problem, not ours.

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