CAMPAIGN/CONFLICT OF INTERESTS/ETHICS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s record $106.7 million inauguration fundraising haul drew heavily from U.S. companies with policy issues in front of the new Republican administration, according to documents released Wednesday [4-19-17]…
Other Trump inauguration corporate donors — named in an exhaustive 510-page Federal Election Commission report — are among those who have been directly criticized by Trump himself. General Motors supplied nearly a half-million dollars to the president’s inauguration, including “in-kind” donations of vehicle services, even as it fends off his criticism for making Chevy Cruze models in Mexico. Defense contractor Boeing gave $1 million despite Trump’s complaints about its new Air Force One contract…
White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Wednesday brushed aside questions about the ethical implications of taking money from donors with pending policy issues in front of Trump’s government, calling it “nonpartisan activity” in which other administrations also participated.
‘This is a time-honored tradition,’ Spicer said. ‘I think a lot of Americans and companies and entities are proud to support the inaugural, and I think that you’ve seen that over time. There are a lot of people who really take pride in helping us show the world a peaceful transformation of power.’ “
-Darren Samuelson and Madeline Conway, “Companies with issues before government wrote big checks for Trump’s inauguration,” The Politico, April 19, 2017 2:34pm