Inquirer Editorial: Trump's solution to business conflicts problem is no solution at all

President-elect Donald Trump should heed the assessment of the head of the federal Office of Government Ethics that his efforts to resolve conflicts of interest associated with his vast business empire are "meaningless."

For starters, handing over control of his company to his two oldest sons is hardly a firewall. There are no guarantees that he and his sons won't continue to discuss business, albeit informally. Besides, even with that arrangement, Trump will know what he owns and who he owes, and as president he could make decisions that, directly or indirectly, benefit his company.

Since Trump has refused to release his tax returns, the public still has no idea the full extent of his businesses, making any moves difficult to monitor.

Richard Painter, chief ethics lawyer during the George W. Bush administration, says Trump "has all of the conflicts of interest that he had before" he announced relinquishing control to his sons.

Trump's company plans to hire an ethics officer and chief compliance counsel to guard against any special deals. But since the Trump Organization is a private company, the terms of its deals won't be public. And since the ethics and compliance officials will be employees reporting to Trump's sons, they won't be independent.

Trump said Wednesday that his sprawling company, with 500 entities and operations in at least 20 countries, would not make any new deals overseas while he is in the White House. But his existing overseas businesses still pose potential conflicts. Consider: the Philippine's new trade envoy to the United States is building the 57-story Trump Tower at Century City in the Philippines capital of Manila.

Painter questioned how Trump would react if there were an international crisis in a country where he has business interests, or if there were a terror attack at a hotel or resort with Trump's name on it.

Trump boasts he could run his company and the country at the same time if he wanted to; as if being president is not a full-time job. He also contends conflict-of-interest rules do not apply to the president, but some constitutional law experts disagree.

Every president must abide by the emoluments clause in the Constitution, which prohibits federal employees from taking anything of value "from any king, prince, or foreign state." To avoid such conflicts, Trump's company plans to donate any profits it may receive from foreign governments to the U.S. government. But some legal scholars point out that a building permit issued for a Trump project overseas could be considered an illegal benefit.

Despite the dog-and-pony show of trotting out a lawyer and piles of paper, Trump's plan falls far short of resolving the question of whether he will be working for taxpayers or further enriching himself.