Donald Trump vows to leave his business 'in total'

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published 30 November 2016

In a series of tweets Wednesday morning, President-elect Donald Trump announced that "legal documents are being crafted" to take him "completely out of business operations" in his sprawling, multi-billion-dollar empire. Trump said he will hold a press conference with his children on Dec. 15 to address his decision to leave his "great business in total" to focus on the "far more important task" of being president. He noted he was not "mandated" by law to do this, but that he wanted to eliminate any perceived conflicts of interest.

Already, Trump has raised eyebrows for what appears to be a clash between his business empire and his presidential responsibilities. His hotel in Washington, D.C., for instance, is leased to him by the federal government’s General Services Administration, which strictly prohibits contracts with government employees. Reports also suggest Trump pushed in a post-election conversation to get Nigel Farage to oppose a British wind farm, which he previously said would mar the view from his Scottish golf course, and to get the president of Argentina to grant him a business favor (which Trump denied).