{"id":11176,"date":"2017-04-03T16:53:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-04T00:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/change-to-president-trumps-trust-lets-him-tap-business-profits\/"},"modified":"2017-04-03T16:53:00","modified_gmt":"2017-04-04T00:53:00","slug":"change-to-president-trumps-trust-lets-him-tap-business-profits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/change-to-president-trumps-trust-lets-him-tap-business-profits\/","title":{"rendered":"Change To President Trump's Trust Lets Him Tap Business Profits"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Peter Overby<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n At a Jan. 11 news conference at Trump Tower on in New York City, President-elect Trump gestures at a stack of folders that he said contained documentation separating him from his businesses. That revocable trust was modified about a month later to let Trump withdraw from it at any time, ProPublica reports.<\/p>\n

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Spencer Platt\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Spencer Platt\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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With an oversized check for $78,333, written to the National Park Service, White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday took the first step in fulfilling President Trump’s pledge to give away his presidential salary.<\/p>\n

Spicer said that the sum equaled Trump’s salary for the first quarter of 2017, and that similar charitable contributions will be made each quarter.<\/p>\n

But a five-figure check is pocket change compared to the wealth of Trump’s business empire \u2014 businesses now held by the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, and a newly released document opens new holes in the ethics wall between the president and that wealth.<\/p>\n

Trump lawyer Sheri Dillon said, at a January press conference, that the revocable trust would prevent conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n

“President Trump wants there to be no doubt in the minds of the American public that he is completely isolating himself from his business interests,” she said.<\/p>\n

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This afternoon, however, after Spicer brought out the big check, he had to fend off questions as to just how isolated from the Trump empire the president is.<\/p>\n

He said he didn’t know of any changes in the trust since January. “I’m not aware there was any change,” he said. “Just because a left-wing blog makes the point of something changing doesn’t mean it actually happened.”<\/p>\n

It wasn’t a left-wing blog, but rather Pro Publica<\/a> \u2014 a nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative journalism outfit \u2014 that first reported the change. A document dated Feb. 17 lets Trump draw out profits and principal from his businesses.<\/p>\n

It says the trustees “shall distribute” funds to Trump at his request. It also requires them to send him money when appropriate and for “his maintenance, support or uninsured medical expenses.”<\/p>\n