as well. the problem is democrats don t have any power at all in washington. zero power. subpoena power is in the hands of the republican-led senate and republican led house of representatives. it remains to be seen how they ll use that. in russia, republicans have decided to go forward and said they ll look into the election hacking and much to the chagrin of donald trump and his advisers but there will be pressure for them to stay on donald trump. emily, when ivanka sat in the meeting with her dad and shinzo abe which is the prime minister of japan after the election, i think some people said give him the benefit of the doubt, they re trying to figure this out. but sitting in on today s meeting one would wonder how long does that benefit of the doubt last? well, donald trump always gets the benefit of the doubt longer than anyone else would normally get the benefit of the doubt but the trump kids have
even after declaring that a president can t have a conflict of interest, president-elect donald trump is facing new questions about the role his family will play in his administration, and here s the latest example. it is a report from the wall street journal that his oldest son, donald jr., held private discussions with diplomats, businessmen and politicians in paris on how to cooperate with russia on the war in syria. and this report follows revelations that donald trump s eldest daughter ivanka sat in on the meeting with the japanese prime minister and also was on the phone with the president of argentina would called to congratulation her father. the trump team says no business was discussed but the trump organization is working on a $100 million project in buenos
every single thing he does, it plays into his hands. there are going to be so many intersections here and so much reporting about it that many people and especially supporters will tune it out and go, it s not that big of a deal. that s what we ve seen over and over again. the flip side of that is allowing him to normalize behavior that is outside of the boundaries we ve ever accepted from presidential candidates, much less a president-elect. all three of the examples you gave this week are deeply troubling to anyone who looks at ethics. what is the most troubling? ivanka was in the room with shinzo abe without security clearance? meeting with indian business partners with trump is troubling. if this happened with hillary clinton, we would see an eruption from chaffetz in the house and conservative media. all of this is resting on the foundation we know less than we know about any previous presidential candidate in recent times because he never released his tax returns.
luxury apartment complex in mumbai that obviously has his name on it. his daughter ivanka sat in the room when he met with the japanese prime minister, shinzo abe, this week. also, the washington post is reporting the d.c. hotel, trump s brand-new hotel, is marketing itself, to say the least, to the foreign diplomats. holding a party, inviting people over, saying you should stay here. this raises questions about potential conflicts of interest when he does become the president. here is how his chief of staff answered that this morning. look, donald trump has been very clear from the beginning, that his family is very important to him. i think while it is unique, it is certainly compliant with the law. obviously, we will comply with all of those laws and we will have our white house council review all these things. we ll have every i dotted and every t crossed. i can assure the american people that there wouldn t be any wrongdoing or any sort of undue
policymakers, critics say it is pr problematic. conflicts at every turn. trump said there will be a wall between his kids and his business interest and his public ambitions. there is no wall we re seeing right now. reporter: the trump transition team says it will make sure all rules and regulations are followed, and trump s business organization says this is how it plans to handle the ethical dilemma. it ll be placed into a blind trust. reporter: experts say your children are not what lawyers would call a blind trust. it is not credible to say it is a blind trust because in an actual blind trust, he d divest himself of all the interest he holds. he d sell off his properties that he owns, and he would put the proceeds into a trust that s run by an independent third party. reporter: trump himself has shown uncertainty. well, i don t know if it is a blind trust if ivanka, don and eric run it. is that? i don t know. reporter: one of trump s supporters offers this