Blind Trust Us President

Presidents have placed their financial holdings in a blind trust that is managed by a trustee without any input from the president.

Blind trust us president.

It s generally acknowledged that the first american elected official to use a blind trust was president lyndon johnson who set one up when he assumed the presidency so that he and his wife lady. This stems from concerns about conflict of interest. In a blind trust the trustees fiduciaries or those who have been given power of attorney have full discretion over the assets. This arrangement is believed to help the president.

But nothing in the law says they have to turn over the reins to anyone. Last week common cause and a coalition of government transparency advocates sent a letter to president elect trump urging him to fully divest himself of any financial relationship with the trump organization and place all of his assets into a true blind trust. The question is larger than that. A blind trust is a trust in which the trust beneficiaries have no knowledge of the holdings of the trust and no right to intervene in their handling.

Federal law makes it illegal for public officials i. Traditionally presidents have turned over their day jobs to a blind trust once they become commander in chief. Such a trust would not eliminate the. Others have more or less answered the specific one asked but even those answers are not completely correct.

As a practical matter it s likely a complete non starter says leslie kiernan a partner at law firm akin gump and a former deputy white house counsel under president barack obama.