The Trump Organization has recently terminated three overseas deals in what the company’s attorney described to CNN on Thursday as “housecleaning.”
Alan Garten said the Trump Organization terminated its licensing deal for a Trump Hotel in Baku Azerbaijan.
In addition, the company has terminated its business licensing deals in Rio de Janeiro for both a hotel project and a five-building office complex that was part of the Marvelous Port Redevelopment plan.
“These deals are terminated under the applicable agreements” in which they were originally licensed under, Garten told CNN.
There have been growing questions about the potential conflicts of interest posed by Trump’s continued business interests with the Trump Organization. A CNN poll released last month found that 6 in 10 Americans believe the President-elect is not doing enough to address his potential conflicts of interest.
Trump owns or has a position in more than 500 companies, according to a CNN analysis. That includes about 150 that have done business in at least 25 foreign countries, including Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Trump was supposed to hold a news conference on Thursday to announce how he was distancing himself from his business as he took office, but that event was postponed earlier this week until January.
And rather than face reporters, Trump took to Twitter to reiterate that he’s planning to hand over his businesses to his children before he takes office next month.
“Even though I am not mandated by law to do so, I will be leaving my busineses (sic) before January 20th so that I can focus full time on the presidency,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
“Two of my children, Don and Eric, plus executives, will manage them,” he said, referring to his adult sons. “No new deals will be done during my term(s) in office.”
Trump didn’t mention his daughter Ivanka Trump, who is expected to take on a prominent role in the White House although titles for her and her husband have not been decided.
