CONFLICT OF INTEREST/TRUMP FAMILY/JARED KUSHNER: “Potential conflicts of interest spring eternal in the Trump administration. There is the simple fact that the president never divested of his myriad business holdings nor did he release his tax returns. Foreign diplomats and officials continue to book banquets and hotel rooms at Trump-owned properties to court the president’s favor (the Trump Organization claims it is difficult track the foreign money, which critics say violates the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution). The Trump brand has been provisionally awarded trademark protections in China, raising concerns that the president’s licensing plays (as well as his daughter’s eponymous fashion brand) are receiving preferential treatment abroad. Nearly every weekend, the president visits one of his properties, effectively using his office to advertise his private businesses.
He is not the only one who can’t seem to untie himself from his financial entanglements. On Thursday [7-20-17] evening, CNN reported that Jared Kushner and his status as a senior adviser to his father-in-law are still being used to recruit Chinese investors to his family’s real-estate development project in New Jersey, months after Kushner Companies apologized for mentioning his role in a sales pitch this spring.”
-Emily Jane Fox, “JARED KUSHNER’S WHITE HOUSE ROLE IS STILL BEING USED TO LURE FOREIGN INVESTORS,” Vanity Fair, July 21, 2017 08:40am