A lawyer advising Donald Trump on ethics issues said Wednesday he will give hotel profits generated by foreign government payments to the U.S. Treasury as part of a plan to avoid possible conflicts of interest.
But the attorney says he will not divest his business or create a true blind trust, as ethics organizations have called for him to do.
Sheri Dillon, a tax attorney at Morgan Lewis, announced the action at Trump's news conference in New York, along with a plan for the president-elect to hand over his business to his two eldest sons and a Trump Organization executive.
It is not entirely clear how much money Trump's hotels would make from foreign governments or who would ensure that Trump donates those profits.
Trump has faced questions about reports of foreign officials staying at his Washington hotel in order to curry favor. Critics have said that could violate a constitutional clause barring accepting gifts from foreign governments.
Dillon argued that the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution did not apply to the hotel stays, though some experts have disagreed with that assertion.
Many ethics experts urged Trump to completely divest or set up a blind trust for his assets. Dillon said Trump decided not to do that because it was not realistic, adding that divesting may have created more possible conflicts.
Trump attorney says no new foreign deals during presidency
