Trump family’s roles pose ethics dilemma

Nov. 19--President-elect Donald Trump would be stepping into an unprecedented ethical minefield by involving his family members -- including daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner -- in key White House decisions, according to a former Republican White House adviser.

"They have to decide what the role of the kids would be," said Richard Painter, the chief ethics lawyer who served President George W. Bush.

"It's really giving people some concerns that it's not clear who's going to be doing the business, who's going to be doing the stuff in the administration. The kids can only do so much in the administration."

Trump told "60 Minutes" his children -- Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Eric -- would run the Trump Organization while he's president. At the same time, he has reportedly requested top-secret clearances for Kushner to join his Presidential Daily Briefings. Other reports -- which Trump has denied -- claimed he requested similar clearances for his children.

Painter told the Herald that Trump will have to do more than simply delegate operations to his children.

"Having the kids running the business isn't going to solve the conflict of interest that he owns the business," said Painter.

The Trump children are hardly the first family members to be considered for influential roles in the White House. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed an anti-nepotism law in 1967, essentially preventing a repeat of President John F. Kennedy's controversial decision to name his own brother, Robert F. Kennedy, as attorney general.

President Bill Clinton appointed his wife, first lady Hillary Clinton, to chair the Task Force on National Health Care Reform in 1993.

Painter said Trump could appoint his children or Kushner to similar advisory boards, but beyond that could be crossing a line.

Adding to the ethical mess, a photo emerged of Ivanka sitting in on a meeting with Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday -- a highly unusual arrangement that raised conflict of interest questions about Ivanka's access to high-level meetings if she's also going to help run the Trump business.

It's unclear what was discussed at the meeting because the press wasn't allowed in -- and the only images that came out were government-issued photos.

But it's that kind of blurring of the lines that worries good-government advocates about the incoming Trump administration.

"They may be able to gain information, if they're privy to briefings or communications from him, that would present an unlevel playing field," Scott Amey, of the Project on Government Oversight, said of the Trump children.

"That's one of the biggest problems with the Trump administration. Is he going to have to set up appropriate firewalls to separate what's going on with family business activities and his role as chief executive of the U.S. government?"

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