Democratic members of Congress introduced legislation Monday in the Senate and House that would require the president and vice president to disclose and divest any potential financial conflicts of interest, and require presidential appointees to recuse themselves from matters related to those conflicts that come before their agencies.
The bill would also require the sitting president and presidential nominees of a major political party to make public federal income tax returns for the three most recent tax years.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a Senate co-sponsor of the proposed Presidential Conflicts of Interest Act of 2017, said in a joint statement: "The only way for President-elect Trump to truly eliminate conflicts of interest is to divest his financial interests by placing them in a blind trust. This has been the standard for previous presidents, and our bill makes clear the continuing expectation that President-elect Trump do the same."
In November, Democratic senators filed a resolution stating the Senate's expectation that President-elect Donald Trump “needs to decisively and transparently divest all of his business interests and holdings and completely sever his affiliation with the Trump Organization to avoid any actual or perceived conflicts with the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which prohibits the president from accepting gifts or benefits from foreign governmental actors,” the joint statement said.
