Stormy Daniels is just one reason Donald Trump couldn't work in his own White House It is troubling that we have chosen a president who would fail the basic background tests that the thousands of people working for him must pass, and a Congress that won't play its watchdog role.

Richard Painter and Norman Eisen | Opinion contributors

Show Caption Hide Caption Stormy Daniels' lawyer: Porn star and Trump had a sexual relationship The attorney for Stormy Daniels alleged on the "TODAY Show" that his client’s relationship with President Trump was sexual.

As veterans of the Office of the White House Counsel under presidents of both parties, we have worked with hundreds of officials seeking ethics and security clearances in order to work in the federal government. Fourteen months into this presidency, it is increasingly obvious that there is a man in the White House now who would not be able to get such clearances if he were not the president.

Every day brings a new reason why President Trump cannot meet the standards expected of every single person who works for him (except for the vice president). Take recent reports about the payment Trump attorney Michael Cohen "facilitated" for porn actress Stormy Daniels to help Trump in the waning days of the 2016 campaign. Despite Cohen's carefully worded denials that he was not reimbursed by the Trump Organization or the Trump campaign, this week brought the news that he complained to friends that Trump had been slow to reimburse him, and that Trump was supposed to sign the settlement agreement under an assumed name.

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Those revelations would halt any normal security or ethics clearance in its tracks. They suggest that the payment may in fact have been a loan from Trump's attorney, and that Trump is the real beneficiary of the agreement and an associated LLC. Federal law requires Trump to report his liabilities and assets — yet no Stormy-related information appeared on his signed financial disclosure filings.

If Trump has an outstanding debt to Cohen for the $130,000 payment, or an interest in the LLC that holds the agreement, he should have disclosed them; our watchdog group has filed a complaint with the Office of Government Ethics asking them to get to the bottom of the matter. Such omissions — if any — would have been disqualifying in the White Houses in which we worked, and no clearances would have been forthcoming while any question remained open.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg. There are literally hundreds of other issues. Take Trump’s web of financial dealings that exposes him to influence by foreign governments, sovereign wealth funds and banks controlled by foreign governments. His extensive business activities in foreign countries including Canada, China, the Dominican Republic, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Mexico, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Scotland, St. Martin, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and Venezuela have already yielded conflicts or potential conflicts.

In every case, Trump’s personal financial interests give him an incentive that may conflict with the interests of the American people. And these are just the instances that we know of. The Trump Organization and its hundreds of corporate sub-entities owe hundreds of millions of dollars of debt to persons unknown — another form of leverage that foreign interests could have over the president.

One foreign adversary that stands out is Russia. A particular problem for security clearance purposes would be Trump’s behavior with respect to that country and its nationals. The day after he fired FBI Director James Comey, Trump met with Russian officials in the Oval Office and disclosed highly classified information obtained from a foreign ally, perhaps exposing the means by which that intelligence was gathered. And he has publicly advocated for Russian interference in an American election. That is all on top of his many financial ties to Russia, including those reportedly admitted by his family.

Trump’s actions before and after taking office also raise the prospect that he is personally being investigated for criminal acts — another clearance killer. This includes possible obstruction of justice for the pattern of conduct that includes pressuring his attorney general to not recuse himself from the Russia investigation, firing the FBI director leading that investigation, and nearly firing the special counsel appointed to carry on that investigation. And it is entirely possible that scrutiny of the Trump campaign and Trump’s business dealings will yield other potentially criminal conduct — as it has with his former campaign aides Paul Manafort, Rick Gates and Michael Flynn.

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And then there are the multiple allegations of personal misconduct that also suggest Trump could pose a security risk — and an ethics one. Twenty-two women have accused him of sexual misconduct between the 1970s and 2013. Trump is the subject of multiple allegations of sexual assault, and he joked about and seemingly admitted to sexual assault on an audio recording. We cannot help but wonder what other concerning incidents of this kind may not yet have come to light. If we were presented with such a job applicant when we were working in the White House, we would have been forced to consider that person’s susceptibility to blackmail.

Of course, neither our laws nor our Constitution require that the president pass a background check for ethics or security purposes. Our elections are supposed to serve that vetting purpose — though here much of his information only emerged after the contest, and is still coming out daily. And regardless of whether he could be hired for a government job, Trump is still the president. But it is troubling that we have chosen a president who would fail the basic background tests that the thousands of people working for him must pass.

It is equally disturbing that the Republican leadership in Congress, which has the power to oversee the executive branch, and if necessary to impeach and remove the president, is not doing its job as a watchdog. Republican leadership (with a few notable exceptions, including the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee) has been largely supine. Instead of accepting unlimited presidential power, Congress needs to exercise its own powers to make sure that this presidency is conducted in accordance with the Constitution, the laws and the national security interests of the United States.

Richard Painter is vice chair and Norman Eisen is chair of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The authors were chief White House ethics lawyers in the Bush and Obama administrations, respectively. Follow them on Twitter: @RWPUSA and @NormEisen