Former White House Ethics Lawyer Says Trump Can't Be President

In an interesting development, The Independent reports:

Donald Trump “could be in violation of the US Constitution the moment he takes the oath”, the White House’s former chief ethics lawyer said.

Norman Eisen, who served as Special Envoy for Ethics and Government Reform during Barack Obama's first term, said he could not see how Mr Trump could serve as President while he had such a large business empire with links to overseas regimes. 

Under the Article 1 of the US Constitution, members of the federal government are forbidden from accepting gifts from foreign governments unless allowed by Congress – but there is some debate about whether this applies to the president.

Last week, questions were raised by many over the potential conflict of interest Mr Trump’s election posed, with the Washington Post reporting his company concluded eight deals tied to a hotel project in Saudi Arabia – which is ruled by a theocratic monarchy – during the campaign.

It goes on to talk about issues with business dealings in Turkey, before stating:

“I don’t even know how he can take his oath when the payments are flowing to his hotels.

“It’s in his oath: ‘I’ll defend the constitution’ and as soon as he becomes president he will be undermining it.

Mr Eisen said the only way for Mr Trump to take office legally is to put his companies into a blind trust to be managed by an independent trustee who can buy and sell his assets without his knowledge or input....

During the campaign, Mr Trump suggested he would hand over control of his business empire to his three adult children but this was thrown into question last week when it emerged his daughter Ivanka had attended his first meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Curiouser and curiouser.