![]() And it takes everybody else a few - you know, a while to figure out what's going on because they're so used to people following it. He uses honor systems as a way - you know, he's violated the honor system. And one of the things that you and I talked about a couple years ago when we were talking about Trump's charitable enterprises is that he doesn't adhere to honor systems. One of the things that we have figured out in the Trump era is that the safeguards that kept the president from using the presidency to benefit themselves were mostly followed as kind of an honor system. GROSS: So is Pence staying at a Trump Hotel in Ireland - is that illegal? Is it an official violation of ethics? Is it murky territory?įAHRENTHOLD: The last one - it's murky. But the little bit that we know indicate that each one of those means tens of thousands of dollars of revenue to The Trump Organization. It's really, really hard to get details out of the government about how much those trips cost. He's obviously been to Mar-a-Lago a number of times. He was at his golf course in Turnberry the summer before. If you look back at Trump's travel, he stopped in Doonbeg this past summer. And so if the government is paying for them to stay there, it not only increases the number - the amount of money going into The Trump Organization, we the taxpayers are paying that money, right? Aren't we paying for them to stay at the Trump Hotel?įAHRENTHOLD: We are and not for the first time. ![]() But then you have the security and the aides traveling with him who are also staying at Trump's hotel in Doonbeg. It's not just Pence staying at the hotel. GROSS: And let's get an idea of how much money we're talking about. taxpayer dime that he put some of that taxpayer money into Trump's own pocket. ![]() He is suggesting to Mike Pence that when he travels on the U.S. What questions does that raise?įAHRENTHOLD: Well, you're looking at a president who is - I mean, he's not ordering the vice president, but does the president ever have to order the vice president to do anything? The president is suggesting to the vice president that when the vice president travels with his large - with his family and his retinue of aides and security people, why don't they stay at this resort that the president owns and in the process put money in the president's pocket? So, you know, the president is the vice president's boss. First of all, President Trump suggested that Pence stay at Trump's hotel. So that trip meant that Pence could spend two nights at his boss' resort. It also happens to be the location of Donald Trump's only property in Ireland, a big golf resort in Doonbeg. That's the ancestral Pence family homeland from decades and decades ago. So they were - he says they were visiting Doonbeg because Pence has a distant cousin who runs a pub in Doonbeg. So why was Pence and his family, and his entourage of security and aides, why were they staying in Doonbeg?ĭAVID FAHRENTHOLD: The two interesting questions are why and where they stayed. The meeting's scheduled for Dublin, but Pence stayed at a Trump Hotel in Doonbeg more than 150 miles away from Dublin. Vice President Mike Pence was flying to meet with Ireland's president. So let's start with one of the ethical questions from this week. Fahrenthold won a 2017 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting.ĭavid Fahrenthold, welcome back to FRESH AIR. Fahrenthold also broke one of the most talked about stories of the Trump campaign, the "Access Hollywood" video in which he bragged about grabbing women by their genitals. In response, Trump agreed to shut down the foundation. That reporting led New York's attorney general to sue the charity, Trump and his three oldest children, alleging persistent illegal conduct. His reporting on Donald Trump's personal charitable foundation revealed that Trump used the foundation for personal and political profit. ![]() We're going to talk about Trump family businesses and related questions of conflict of interest with Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold, who has been focusing on those issues. Vice President Mike Pence, Attorney General William Barr, Saudi lobbyists, foreign government officials are among the people who have booked rooms or ballrooms at Trump Hotels, raising serious ethical questions.
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