It was a surprise to many that Donald J. Trump would become elected as the 45th President of the United States. President Trump’s grandfather, Frederick Christ Trump, was a German immigrant who came to the United States back in 1885 and settled in New York City. His grandfather later returned to Kallstadt, Germany and married Elisabeth Christ in 1902.
Fred Christ Trump, who bears a similar name to his father was born in 1905. He was the youngest of three siblings and became a carpenter and took classes on reading blueprints. Fred Trump went into business with his mother in construction and real estate development at the age of 15, forming the company Elizabeth Trump & Son. During the 1920s, the company built many single-family homes in Queens and helped pioneer the concept of supermarkets after standing up the Trump Market. Fred married Mary Ann MacLeod, in 1936 and soon after she gave birth to their first child Maryanne, followed by Fred Jr, Elizabeth, Donald, and Robert.
Fred Trump built barracks and apartments for the Navy during WWII, near major shipyards up and down the East Coast. In 1968, Donald joined Trump Management Company and soon became the company president in 1971 and later renamed the Trump Management Company to the Trump Organization in 1980. Trump received multiple one million dollar loans that exceeded $14 million, but when asked about the loans, he calls them a "very small loan," which allowed him to start the real estate business in Manhattan while his father concentrated on real estate developments in Brooklyn and Queens. Donald Trump believed that this set-up was good for him because he did not have to worry about competition and had Manhattan all to himself. During the 1980s, Fred Trump became close friends with Benjamin Netanyahu, who was at the time the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations in Manhattan, and later became the current Prime Minister of Israel.
Trump stated back in 1987-1988, that he was considering a run for the presidency, while concurrently juggling billions of dollars of debt stemming from his purchase of the Taj Mahal casino, located in Atlantic City, New Jersey. According to many news and business reports, Trump businesses has gone through and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy four times; in 1991, 1992, 2004 and the last and most recently he filed in 2009. After filing for bankruptcy, Trump could reorganize the company's debts according to a court-approved reorganization plan and make a financial comebacks after developing a refreshed budget. Bankers stepped in to assist and even put Trump on a monthly budget for a short period of time. Many people say and believe that Trump is an inspiration to businesses that are currently struggling with debt because of the economic recession. His bankruptcies indicate that even when a business is in debt, it can still become a success after reorganization. The goal of most people who stride to cheat on their taxes often do not try saving money on their corporation, but definitively try to avoid using their own investments to pay for their own personal expenses. The mindset tends to be, why pay for my own homes, food, golf rounds, cars or flights, or taxes, when my companies can cover all of my expenses? It is illegal and a federal offense not to report personal expenses charged to a company’s account. It is considered a form of compensation and failing to report taxable income is punishable by law.
Real estate tax evaders typically blur the lines between personal and professional expenses and is indicative of the kind of individuals who control whole construction firms, golf courses, and hotel crews, in an attempt to cover up and hide the work they ordered by not getting the proper 1099s and W-2s and disclosing the free benefits they obtained. Leona Helmsley, a prominent real estate billionaire from New York, was infamously known for her tax evasion techniques and in 1989 she was convicted for using her real estate company to pay for her personal home improvements, including a lavish new dance floor for her twenty-one room weekend home located in Connecticut. She accomplished all of this without having to pay taxes on the benefits and perks she obtained. Helmsley was infamous for saying, "We don't pay taxes. Only little guys pay taxes." (Gutman, 2016).
Focusing on the way Trump has responded to several examples of alleged evasive measures includes; his finances and taxes relating to his primary and any vacation homes, including upkeep, insurance covers and other incidentals; the sources of compensation used for and taxes on any benefits for food, activity fees, employment staff and additional incidentals at such homes, and the payment for and taxes on private car usage and air travel trips. These examples should show a pattern of behavior by which we should be able to determine Trump's financial ethics or lack of regard for doing the right thing. Notwithstanding, if Trump believes he does not have to comply and disclose his tax rate or produce all of his income tax returns, he must have understood that once he decided to run for public office, he gave up those rights to privacy and should comply with full disclosure. In doing so, he would be showing the nation that he has nothing to hide and is trustworthy. Anything less than that, shows his financial and personal integrity is at question. Trump has no valid excuse to disregard and ignore the request and precedent set before him and deny the production of this vital information which would be relatively simple and inexpensive to obtain.
An abundance of scrutiny should be placed on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago retreat in Palm Beach, Florida. He normally uses this oasis as a weekend or vacation getaway from the hustle and bustle of New York. Prior to Trump owning Mar-a-Lago, the estate belonged to Marjorie Merriweather Post, who was the owner of General Foods, Inc. and she had always attested to having it as second home in Palm Beach is a very expensive luxury.
Trump provides explanations of the financial status of Mar-a-Lago on the home page of the Mar-a-Largo website: "Since purchasing this landmark in 1985, I spend many weekends and holidays at this home away from home. When I made it a club in 1995, (126 rooms made it a very big house), I kept private quarters and designed the club to provide the best amenities possible for our members."
The pertinent questions are limited and should be relatively simple for Trump to answer and to prove. First, did Trump pay personally when he bought Mar-a-Largo in 1985? Second, during the time that the home was used as his own personal vacation residence during the years of 1985-1995, did his company deduct the acquisition costs, real estate taxes, insurance or utilities or any other incidentals as a business expense? Simply, did he and his family use and live in this vacation home for ten years while having the government and the taxpayers pay the bill for all or partially use as a business expense? Alternatively, if the corporation bought Mar-a-Lago and provided it as a corporate benefit, furthermore, did Trump pay taxes on the use of such a benefit?
For the past twenty years since Mar-a-Lago has functioned as a club, how much has Trump personally paid for his "private quarters," his "home away from home," any improvements or renovations, a
nd who has paid for the staff, food and activities in Palm Beach? Once again, were these amenities provided as a corporate benefit? If they were, did Trump pay the millions of dollars that would have been owed in taxes on this benefit?
Next, focusing on his primary residence at Trump Tower: Did Trump personally pay for his condominium, and does he pay for the residence and condominium fees, utilities, renovations, and incidental expenses? If he does not and if the company pays, does he report that benefit on his tax return?
Subsequently, citizens pay for the use of their own personal vehicles and must pay taxes on their privately owned vehicles and should pay taxes on the private use of a company car. A great example to illustrate this would be Tom Daschle, a respectable and honest man, withdrew himself from consideration as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, after a friend and client claimed that he had allowed Daschle temporary use of an extra car, and Daschle had not paid taxes on such benefit. Did Trump, like the rest of the hard-working taxpayers, pay for his personal travel expenses?
Along the lines of personal travel, we must consider, there is also extensive personal flight travel we know of. Trump travels often since he has his a private jet. However, is Trump's jet a personal or corporate jet? If it is personal, does he pay for the plane and for all of the expenses out of his own pocket? If it is corporately owned, has he reimbursed the company for personal travel or paid the taxes on this benefit? The flight and air travel records could be gathered in an hour or so. Given his history, we already know that Trump has the propensity to distort business and personal financing for example when Trump persuasively proclaimed that he donated large sums to charity. Later, after digging into his claims it was discovered that no such charitable contributions were made from his personal accounts, but he had taken credit for his corporate contributions.
The precedence has been set that every government official before being confirmed for any senior government position, or every presidential appointee has to provide and authorized access to all W-2, 1099, tax filings, mortgage payments, loan or investment documents, and all brokerage statement ever signed or received.
Past presidential candidates began releasing their returns consistently starting back in the early 1970's, and in 1978, all presidential and vice presidential candidates were required to release certain financial documents because of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, which mandates all candidates running for office of President of the United States to file a Public Financial Disclosure Report with the Federal Election Commission. In the Tax History Project, which compiles tax returns of presidents, vice presidents, and presidential candidates going back as far as Franklin D. Roosevelt even though his tax returns were later made available by his presidential library. During the Republican primaries, Trump stated his taxes were being audited and he would release them as soon as the audit was complete. He stood by that statement after he won the republican nomination and into the election despite other wealthy entrepreneurs such as Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a member of the television show Shark Tank, and Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest men. They both disclosed that Trump could release his return if he had nothing to hide and claim that being audited by the IRS does not affect the process. Trump profess the guidance given by his lawyers were not to release his returns and if he became president that he would divest the company and structures with the goal of transferring management control to three of President-elect Donald Trump's children and a team of executives. By allowing Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump and other executives take control of the Trump Organization's business portfolio, this would prevent a conflict of interest or any ethics violations. "This is a top priority at the organization and the structure that is ultimately selected will comply with all applicable rules and regulations," a spokesperson for the Trump Organization said in a statement (Thomson, 2016).
Trump has funded many politicians by making large campaign contributions to their lobby groups. This seems to be evidently true with Trump's $25,000 gift to Florida's attorney general is stirring a snowstorm of controversy. Trump made the payment to influence AG Pam Bondi's decision not to investigate the scandal for which plagued the non-accredited Trump University. The story of how a Bondi PAC received a big check from Trump Tower just days before the AG declined to probe Trump University, how the money arrived as an illegal gift from, of all sources, Trump's charitable foundation, and the remarkable string of coincidences the Trump camp claims led to an innocent error, forms one of the most intriguing, ongoing subplots of the presidential campaign (Tully, 2016). Trump and Pam Bondi have been friends for years and Trump has supported her during her 2014 re-election campaign by sponsoring a three thousand dollar a plate fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. Trump University is currently the defendant in three lawsuits — two class-action lawsuits filed in California, and one filed in New York by then-attorney general Eric Schneiderman who said "We started looking at Trump University and discovered that it was a classic bait-and-switch scheme which allegedly defrauding more than 5,000 customers of over $40 million they'd paid to attend real estate seminars that failed to deliver on their elaborate promises. It was a scam, starting with the fact that it was not a university" (Tuttle, 2016).
Trump will not fully divest from the company or put his assets in a blind trust, but he plans to resign from the Trump Organization, handing it over to his sons, and put his ownership stake in a trust, as the Office of Government Ethics has called on him to do. Dillon said selling all his assets would greatly diminish their value, and she argued it would create more potential conflicts of interest regarding the buyers and financiers of those deals. "He should not be expected to destroy the company he built," Dillon said. "This is a suitable alternative." As for the constitution's emoluments clause, which prohibits gifts from foreign governments and many have speculated he would violate unless he divests, Dillon argued that paying a hotel bill is not considered a gift.
Trump pledged to donate all profits from foreign governments and salary to the US Treasury. There was no mention of the Old Post Office hotel in Washington, DC, which experts believe will be in violation of its lease with the federal government when Trump takes office unless he sells his stake. While watching Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien this morning, she had a special guest, Deepak Gupta, who specializes in Supreme Court and appellate litigation on behalf of plaintiffs, with an emphasis on class actions, consumers' and workers' rights, and constitutional law. The question Soledad ask Mr. Gupta was "what is the Emoluments Clause," to which he stated it was a clause placed in Article I of the Constitution by our founding fathers because of the high fear of corruption with other countries and the office of the United States President. The Em
olument Clause states that, "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." (Fahrenthold, 2017). The logic is that the clause will prohibit Trump from taking any money at all from a foreign state. To them, the clause prohibits not just straightforward gifts but also payments for services rendered. So, it would prohibit a Trump-owned hotel from renting a ballroom to a foreign embassy and prohibit Trump Tower from renting out office space as it is already happening with a state-controlled Chinese bank in Trump Tower in Manhattan or the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC when a diplomatic guest stays there before meeting with Trump.
When President Donald Trump placed his businesses in a legal trust before he entered the White House as the newly appointed president, he put his sons in charge of the family business and stated he would distance himself from his vast business empire. Trump's lawyer explained that the president has completely isolated himself from his business interests. The circumstance has long been condemned as lacking, and anything short of the full disclosure that many ethics subject matter experts say is needed to avoid conflicts of interest. A small loophole hidden deep in a set of recently released letters between the Trump Organization and the government shows just how little distance there actually is and will be. Trump can withdraw money from any of this over 400 businesses, at any time he needs to, without divulging it. The previously unreported changes to a trust document, signed on Feb. 10, stipulates that it "shall distribute net income or principal to Donald J. Trump at his request" or whenever his son and longtime attorney "deem appropriate."(Kravitz, 2017). The article went on to discuss that it y may include everything from profits to the underlying assets, such as the businesses themselves. There are no regulations or statutes requiring Trump to disclose when he takes profits from the trust, which could go directly into his bank or brokerage accounts. That's because both the trust and Trump Organization are privately owned. The only people who know the details of the Trump trust's finances are its trustees, Trump's son, Donald Jr., and Allen Weisselberg, the company's chief financial officer. Trump's other son, Eric, has been listed as an adviser to the trust, according to this revised document. There is a chance Trump will list his profits in his next federal financial disclosure, in May 2018, but for tax purposes, it's as if the trust doesn't exist at all. (Kravitz, 2017).
In conclusion, given his history of being brash, obnoxious, and arrogant and prone to find ways around rules and regulations, I believe Trump is in violation of many federal statutes and ethics violations. This is troublesome due to his high level of government leadership and access to tax dollars. I hope Trump can and will put the need of the country before his own personal agenda.