It appears that the papers President-elect Donald Trump paraded in front of reporters during his press conference Wednesday, supposedly containing documentation of Trump putting his business assets into a trust, actually appeared completely blank.
The pages are blank. pic.twitter.com/agLqnBTjrg
— Mikey Neumann (@mikeyface) January 12, 2017
Both Trump and his lawyer Sheri Dillon repeatedly referenced these documents. They claimed it was evidence of the president-elect severing his ties to the Trump business. Supposedly, these papers would put Donald’s assets into a trust, as well as hand over the management of his many businesses to his sons.
Papers Hidden From Reporters
Reporters were not allowed to look at any of these documents. All of the papers were stashed in blank folders, devoid of any markings or sticky notes that are commonplace on legal documents. Furthermore, the papers themselves appear to have been the wrong size, printed on A4 paper rather than legal size sheets.
In retrospect, it honestly just looks like Trump had some intern grab a few stacks of printer paper and shove them into blank manila folders. Reporters were actually barred from seeing the contents of the folders. This led to the general feeling that the papers didn’t include any information at all.
The President-elect pointed multiple times at this stack of unmarked folders and blank sheets of paper. He argued that this was proof of him cutting ties to his businesses. In reality, he was only gesturing to a heap of A4 printer paper.
The room also appeared to have been filled with Trump staff members, whose dispositions showed in stark contrast to the reporters. The staffers laughed and applauded throughout the press conference, while most reporters looked disgusted and appalled.
Trump Will Still Have Conflicts Of Interest
Even if the papers contained the necessary information to hand Trump’s businesses over to his family (they didn’t) this still wouldn’t be enough of a separation between the president-elect and his businesses.
As Daniel Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight explains:
“Trump’s plan doesn’t prevent his business interests from benefiting him or his family while he’s in office or interfering with his presidential duties.”
Best case scenario is that these folders simply contained a plan for Trump to maintain business interests within his family. This would allow his bank account to benefit from his political actions while in office.
Yeah… That’s the best case.
Watch the video below to learn more about Trump’s conflicts of interest:
Featured image credit: Screengrab from CNN’s Twitter.
