TRUMP PEOPLE/CONFLICT OF INTEREST: During the President Elect press conference on 1-11-17, his lawyer Sheri Dillon had this to say on the matter of conflict of interest, "[H]e [Trump] directed me and my colleagues at the law firm Morgan Lewis & Bockius to design a structure for his business empire that would completely isolate him from the management of the company. He further instructed that we build in protections that will assure the American people the decisions he makes and the actions he takes as president are for their benefit and not to support his financial interests. As he said, he’s voluntarily taking this on. The conflicts of interest laws simply do not apply to the president or the vice president. And they are not required to separate themselves from their financial assets. The primary conflicts of interest statute, since some have questioned this, is section 18, USC 208. It is simply inapplicable by its terms. This is not just our interpretation. It’s the congress itself, who made this clear in 1989 when it amended section 18 USC 202 to state that 'Except as otherwise provided, the terms *office* and *employee* in section 208 shall not include the president.' ”
– “Donald Trump’s Press Conference, Annotated,” NPR.org, Jan. 11, 2017, Sheri Dillion, Transcript, 1/11/2017