Congress needs to hear the voice of those who have deep concerns about having a president who stands to profit at the expense of the public.  The only way President-elect Trump can take himself out of that category is to do what all of our presidents have done to be free of conflicts of interest – namely divest himself of his business and his investments through the means of a blind trust or its equivalent. 

Of particular concern are the potential conflicts of interest presented by Mr. Trump’s ownership of real estate in foreign nations and his loans from foreign banks. To assume that no foreign nation will offer a ‘favor’ to Mr. Trump in exchange for a U.S. policy that would enrich their nation – at the expense of ours – is an assumption that many believe is “laughable.” The Emoluments Clause of our Constitution forbids our leaders from accepting benefits, gifts, or fees from a foreign nation without the consent of Congress. This clause reflects our Founding Fathers’ determination to prevent foreign countries from influencing our nation’s policies.

The letter this petition is sending to Congress points out the potential damage to our nation and to our democracy inherent in Mr. Trump’s continuing to retain ownership of his business when he is in office. If you share the concerns expressed in this letter, then sign this petition and pass it along to others.

(For a thorough explanation of the Emoluments Clause and the inevitability of Mr. Trump breaching it, you can google Law Professor Richard Painter, who was chief ethics lawyer to President G.W. Bush. Or, you can google Ambassador (ret.) Norm Eisen, former chief ethics counsel to President Obama. These lawyers, along with the Office of Government Ethics, have urged Mr. Trump to divest himself of his business – for his own sake – as well as for the sake of the nation.)

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Dear Members of Congress:

We citizens of the United States of America who have signed this petition want President-elect Trump to divest himself of the Trump Organization before he is sworn into office. That divesture must be complete: he must place his business assets and investments into a genuine blind trust, which would entail the transfer of his assets to an independent trustee who will sell the assets and put the proceeds into investments which are not disclosed to Mr. Trump. Or, the President-elect must liquidate his business into cash that he puts into treasury bills and/or widely diversified mutual funds. 

We want the President-elect to make the above described complete divesture of his business for the following reasons:

1) It will provide the public with concrete assurance that the policies Mr. Trump will promote in office will be for the good of the public and not for his own personal profit.

2) Mr. Trump owns property in a great number of foreign countries. He also has substantial loans from banks in foreign countries. The vast extent of Mr. Trump’s foreign business entanglements – which include government owned entities - makes him highly vulnerable to accusations of having taken a payment or accepted a favor that is a breach of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. The resulting constitutional crisis or threats of impeachment would have an impact on the presidency and on our nation that would diminish the focus and energy needed to tackle the multitude of problems we currently have at home and abroad. 

In the drafting of our Constitution, our Founding Fathers took great pains to provide their new nation in a new world with a set of laws that would make it invulnerable to the debilitating diseases of corruption, conflicts of interest, and intrigue with foreign nations. While our history has not been without its crises, it is because our Constitution has been our guide that a fledgling country grew into a prosperous nation which ultimately became a superpower - and the leader of the free world.

In deference to our Constitution and its ethics, all past presidents, by whatever means were available at their time in history, separated themselves from their financial interests before taking office. It is true that Mr. Trump has a business which surpasses any previous president. It is true that those who voted for Mr. Trump were well aware of his empire. And the fact Mr. Trump built that empire was a key reason his supporters choose him to run this country. But, now that Mr. Trump has been elected, his empire presents a challenge to the Constitution which he must take the oath to uphold. And, because Mr. Trump’s empire has a presence in some twenty-five foreign nations, the challenge it presents to our Constitution is monumental.

The President-elect has announced that he will present a plan for his separation from the Trump Organization. If that plan falls short of a complete divesture of the President-elect’s business, this Congress will need to make a constitutional decision which no prior Congress has had to make. And, that decision will set a precedent which will impact future generations. This Congress shall have to choose between the decision which is certain to keep us on the course we have been on for the past 240 years, or the decision which will deviate from that course – and risk infecting this nation with the corruption, foreign intervention, and mayhem our Constitution has for so many generations kept at bay. If this Congress gives its consent to anything less than the complete divesture of the President-elect’s business, it may well be that future generations will look upon this Congress as the one which weakened the foundation that held up the greatest democracy in human history and caused it to tumble into a chaotic kleptocracy.