President-elect Trump can't put his billions into a blind trust because that would leave Ivanka, Eric, and Don Jr. 'out of work,' top advisor says

  • Senior Trump advisory Rudy Giuliani was asked Sunday about whether Donald Trump would put his business into a 'blind trust' to avoid potential conflicts
  • He said the prospect would be unfair to the Trump children who would otherwise run the business
  • Noted they can't work in government because of anti-nepotism rules 
  • 'He would basically put his children out of work'
  • Ethics experts want Trump to set up a 'blind trust' that would run business dealings without his knowledge of how money was invested 

By Geoff Earle, Deputy U.s. Political Editor For Dailymail.com

Published: 10:57 EST, 13 November 2016 | Updated: 14:37 EST, 13 November 2016

A key advisor to President-elect Donald Trump offered a new reason why the mogul can't put his sprawling real estate business into a blind trust while he runs the country – it would put his kids out of a job.

'He’s in a very unusual situation. He would basically put his children out of work,' senior Trump advisor former Mayor Rudy Giuliani told CNN's 'State of the Union' on Sunday.

'They’d have to go start a whole new business, that would set up the whole set of new problems,' Giuliani continued. 

It would be 'kind of unrealistic to say you would take the business away from the three people who are running it and give it to some independent person,' Giuliani said.

Not letting the kids run their father's company would be doubly unfair because they are prohibited from taking political jobs by anti-nepotism statues, Giuliani argued.

Ivanka Trump is set to help run the Trump organization along with two of her siblings when her father takes office. She also is a vice president of her father's transition team

Family affair: The Trump children (Tiffany, back left, Donald Jr. back center, Eric, back right and Ivanka, front right) will be in charge of their father's business now 

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani said Sunday it would put Donald Trump's 'children out of work' if he were to put his business into a blind trust

Eric Trump heads up to his father's offices and offers the president-elect's trademark thumbs up sign. He also would run the firm, and serves on the transition

Stalwart: Donald Trump Jr, seen on the campaign trail before his father's victory, is another vice-president of the transition, and would run the business in his stead. But his dad can't appoint him to a government post under ethics laws

'And remember they can’t work in the government because of the government rule against nepotism, so you’d be putting them out of work,' Giuliani said.

Trump has said he would remove himself from his business and put it in a 'blind trust' that would be run by his children. 

Ethics experts have warned that such a situation could leave Trump open to myriad potential ethics conflicts, as his decisions as president could have all sorts of impacts on his business, which has hotel and golf properties around the world.

The Trump camp announced Friday that children Ivanka, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump would have roles running Trump's transition team, which hires key decision-makers and sets policy before Trump takes office. 

Those roles have particular sway in the incoming administration. Trump avoided getting involved in transition planning because he considered it to be bad luck, said New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who headed up the transition until he got pushed aside on Friday. 

The candidate also made numerous contradictory policy statements on the campaign trail that could be subject to interpretation by those who fashion formal policy in the coming weeks. 

Giuliani acknowledged concerns about the family business arrangement, but argued that a blind trust would lead to a different set of problems. 

Seat of power: The midtown Manhattan tower is now the de factor center of American political power

'So it would seem to me that if he set up a situation in which the children were running it, there was a legal or clear document that meant he would not be involved, he would have no interest in it, he would have no input into it, he would just have a passive interest, that would be the kind of thing that would work here,' Giuliani said.

'For him to call this a blind trust is ridiculous,' Craig Holman of ethics watchdog Public Citizen told DailyMail.com.

Holman noted that a blind trust is 'defined as having an executor who is not a business colleague or a family member or a friend but an actually independent person who isn’t going to tell the owner of the business what’s going on.' 

 

 

 

 

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