Tuesday on CNN’s “Situation Room,” the Democratic ranking member of the House Oversight Committee Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) disagreed with President-elect Trump saying today the president can’t have a conflict of interest, but instead Cummings said Trump’s business dealings in several countries is a ” minefield of conflicts.”
Cummings said, “It is problematic, because clearly, I don’t think Mr. Trump realizes how significant the minefield is in this area. Keep in mind, Wolf, that during the campaign, he said one of his top priorities would be to bring honesty to government. He also talked about draining the swamp. And he used a lot of terms basically saying that he was going to clean up government and he was going on make sure that there would be transparency. When you have, when you’re dealing in so many businesses, in so many countries, it is a minefield of conflicts. And to say that you are the president, that the law does not apply to you, it is not so much just the law, it is the appearance of the conflict.”
“And so you know, one of the things the American people are saying to us, they want to us act on their behalf,” he continued. “They don’t necessarily want to see elected officials benefiting financially, and their families, benefiting from their actions. They want to see government that is transparent, honest. And I think basically, what Mr. Trump needs to do, president-elect needs to do, is to do what he said he would do during the campaign. And by the way, keep in mind, he almost said, every other rally, he was talking about Hillary Clinton and talking about the elites taking advantage of government, enriching themselves. I don’t think he wants to be viewed in that light. And I’ve said many times, I think our part in the Congress, government reform and oversight, is to look at these issues. It has come squarely under our purview and I think we’re doing him a favor by asking these questions now before he steps on some of these mines.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.