Trump family offers access as perk of charity donations
Politics
Trump family offers access as perk of charity donations
Donald Trump’s children may see his move to the White House as a way to raise money for their favorite causes. Two recent fundraising pitches featuring the incoming first family were meant to benefit charities, but they also raised questions among ethics experts that the Trumps might be inappropriately selling access. Last week, Eric Trump tried auctioning a coffee date with his sister Ivanka to raise money for a children’s hospital. Now Eric and Donald Trump Jr. have been named as part of a nonprofit venture that offered the chance to rub elbows with their father during inauguration weekend and go hunting or fishing with the sons in exchange for $1 million donations that would go to conservation charities. These events are dissolving as quickly as they become public, suggesting the family is learning on the fly what’s acceptable. The two previous presidents expressly forbade immediate family members from such fundraising activities to avoid the appearance of selling access.
We kept it simple. We did not allow the first family to be auctioned off, which is what is happening here.
Norman Eisen, who served as White House chief ethics counselor when Obama took office in 2009
Meanwhile, one of the Middle East’s richest kingdoms said Tuesday it would host its annual Washington party at Trump’s new hotel, underscoring the president-elect’s unusual status as the owner of a major venue for events in the U.S. capital. Salem Al-Sabah, Kuwait’s ambassador to the U.S., said the gala would take place Feb. 25, adding that he hopes guests like the “new hotel in town.” He said no one pressed him to move the event from its regular venue at the Four Seasons. Nevertheless, the move to Trump’s $200 million renovation of the Old Post Office Pavilion could reinforce questions about his possible conflicts of interest. House Democrats already have warned that they’ll make the splashy hotel a headache for Trump if he doesn’t dump his ownership stake before taking office Jan. 20. Trump has a six-decade lease on the property. Al-Sabah ridiculed the notion that he chose the D.C. hotel to curry favor with the next administration.
We have very deep economic, military and cultural ties; we’ve had tens of thousands of American troops in our country. You think a two-hour reception in a ballroom does that?
Al-Sabah
