'Extraordinary': Trump has generated 3,400 conflicts of interest since entering White House, report states
Report came as New York state continued its investigation into Trump organisation
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Your support makes all the difference.President Donald Trump has generated 3,400 conflicts of interest since entering the White House in 2017, according to a report by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) watchdog.
Some 400 of those conflicts have come since February, according to CREW, an organisation that monitors the influence of money in Capitol Hill, and has been keeping tabs on the Trump administration.
Mr Trump's business interests have repeatedly come under scrutiny since he entered office. Some critics have claimed the only reason he ran for the White House in the first place was to promote the Trump brand.
The CREW report came as New York state continued its investigation into the Trump organisation for improperly inflating the “value of Mr Trump's assets on financial statements in order to secure loans and obtain economic and tax benefits".
The president has made 503 visits to Trump property since entering the White House, the CREW report noted, with 74 of those coming this year alone.
According to Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold, the Secret Service has paid in the region of $1.1 million to the Trump Organisation, with the president making repeated trips to private properties and resorts throughout his time in office.
Government workers, foreign diplomats and members of Congress also frequently visited Trump properties. Government buildings are usually used to accommodate official business.
Some 231 events held by special interest groups, and another 88 events held by political groups – many of them associated with Mr Trump - at Trump properties, generted an estimated $23.2 million in revenue for the Trump organisation, the CREW report states.
Meanwhile, the president and other White House officials have used their government platforms to promote or mention Trump businesses 426 times, the report adds. Foreign governments granted the Trump Organisation 67 trademarks – some 46 coming from China.
“The extraordinary numbers in this report paint a picture of a president who is fixated on the personal financial benefits he might derive from his public service—and a whole ecosystem of officials, special interests and governments that exploit that fixation in order to curry favor and advance their own interests,” CREW executive director Noah Bookbinder said in a statement.
“From foreign governments and industries throwing lavish events at his properties to donors and customers buying their way to ambassadorships and top political offices, corruption surrounds this president literally every day.”
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