The General Services Administration ( GSA ) oversees the direction of federal property , including Washington DC ’s historic Post Office Pavilion . That edifice is currently being rent to Donald Trump for hisnew hotel . And as the Washington Post points out , it “ presents unprecedented and unbearable conflicts of interest . ” But the GSA take a firm stand that it does n’t have any report card on that potential dispute of interest . Which I bump surprising , to say the least .
Yesterday , I filed a Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA ) asking with the GSA asking for any reports they might have bring on this year about Donald Trump ’s potential conflicts of interest with the government agency . As president , Trump will soon be appoint the new headland of the GSA . And President Trump will have a direct fiscal stake in the determination made by the novel administrator of the federal agency , which has an annual budget of $ 26 billion .
astonishingly , I got a reception to my FOIA request today . I typically expect FOIA requests to take months or even years . But GSA sent me a response in record time , tell that it does n’t have any records about Trump ’s potential conflicts of involvement with the authority . I ’d do it to say that it ’s a will to efficiency in government , but I do n’t have a go at it how an enormous federal delegacy like the GSA could ’ve done a right search for single file in less than 24 hours .
As the Washington Post guide out , the 60 - twelvemonth letting between the GSA and the Trump Organization does n’t just present a problem about the missive of the jurisprudence . It ’s simply abhorrent in the most common sense version of public appearances . The Post reports :
Trump ’s lawyers defend the president - elect ’s right field to maintain the lease . Trump has suggested he would step down before taking office , turning the company over to his child , Donald , Jr. , Ivanka and Eric . But Trump ’s grownup children have been named to the president - elect ’s transition team , thus carry off any independence or “ walling off ” that might survive in other setting . And even if they do n’t end up in the administration , have the president ’s adult children negotiate with the stave of the president ’s appointee at GSA presents what any fairish soul would reckon as the appearance of a conflict of sake . ( This common - sense “ sane person ” test is oftentimes used to value conflicts of interest ) .
They also note that the president is nontaxable from many of the ethics rules that practice to other government activity employees . But the business organisation here is n’t about what the president may or may not do . It ’s about what ’s correct . By keeping the letting , Trump put his own employees in an untenable position guaranteed to undermine the integrity — and the perception — of the procurement process .
It ’s been reported that , when 100 foreign diplomats convene at the Trump International Hotel last week , they heard a sales pitch about stick in the hotel to groom favour with the unexampled president .
“ Why would n’t I detain at his hotel blocks from the White House , so I can tell the new president , ‘ I love your new hotel ! ’ Is n’t it rude to come to his city and say , ‘ I am rest at your competitor ? ’ ” the Washington Post quotes one Asian diplomatas enjoin .
The GSA ’s insistence that they do n’t have any records would ’ve been a tad more believable if the means had taken a couple of weeks to dig . I ’ve unfeignedly never received a “ no record ” answer in a exclusive daytime . I ’ll be appealing the decision and will let you have it away if I find anything , of course .
But it could be even sorry : The GSA may not have even addressed the possibility that the incoming administration has a conflict of involvement . I ’m not sure which is more horrifying .
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