On January 11, Donald Trump held his first press conference since his electoral win to address the subject of his business interests and conflicts, which had become—along with the questions about Russian involvement in the election—a primary controversy for Trump. The briefing was held in the lobby of Manhattan’s Trump Tower. Royal-blue drapes covered the marble wall behind the podium, the presidential hue forming a striking backdrop for a row of gold-tasseled American flags. Trump, wearing a navy wool suit, crisp white shirt, and red silk tie, with an American flag pinned to his lapel, stood to one side of the podium, flanked by his three oldest children, Donald junior, 39, Ivanka, 35, and Eric, 33. At the podium, Sheri Dillon, a tax attorney, explained the changes that would be made to the Trump Organization. Next to her, a table covered in black cloth was piled with stacks of manila folders—hilariously spoofed that week on Saturday Night Live as a portable pile of plastic prop folders. They were said to contain thousands of documents involved in re-arranging Trump’s “business empire,” which Dillon described as “massive.”

She likened Trump’s wealth and stature to those of Nelson Rockefeller, a former vice president and scion of one of the nation’s wealthiest and most prominent families. The comparison to Rockefeller was deft, but off the mark. In response to the outcry over his wealth, Rockefeller in 1974 not only released his tax returns to Congress but also offered to put his holdings in a blind trust—neither of which Trump, as it turned out, has been willing to do. Trump’s plan, as Dillon explained, was to put the Trump Organization into a trust to be managed by his sons and one of his longtime executives. There would be no new foreign deals; an ethics adviser would be appointed; and Trump himself would have no involvement in the business. His company would continue to make domestic deals. Trump was not going to sell his business or put it in a blind trust. And he was definitely not going to release his tax returns. “You know the only one that cares about my tax returns are the reporters, O.K.?,” Trump said. This despite a recent ABC News poll indicating that 74 percent of Americans say he should release his tax records.

As Trump seemed to see it, he was being magnanimous in making any changes at all. “I have a no-conflict situation because I’m president,” he told the gathering. “I could actually run my business and run government at the same time.”

The loud applause that punctuated Trump’s remarks to the press notwithstanding—which, according to reporters, came from Trump employees—the reaction to his comments was negative and swift. Within hours, ethics experts and advisers to former presidents, including George W. Bush, slammed Trump’s conflict-of-interest plan. Walter Shaub, the top government ethics official, called it “meaningless.”

Among the wealthiest presidents—by his own measure—in the history of the United States, Trump is possibly the most conflicted and indebted. He is also the only president in modern times to resist separating himself from his business interests—and the potential for corruption and self-enrichment—in a way that meets the barest ethics standards. Given the risks to the legitimacy of his presidency, why won’t he?

VIDEO: Donald Trump’s Conflicts of Interest

When asked about his taxes, Trump has repeatedly told people seeking information about his finances to look instead at the financial-disclosure forms which he has been required to file with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. People who have done that, Trump has said, “have learned a lot about my company, and now they realize my company is much bigger, much more powerful, than they ever thought.” And, on paper at least, that’s true. Trump’s latest disclosure form, which was filed in May of 2016, lists 564 companies operating under the umbrella of the Trump Organization. The list goes on for pages, entities with names like DB Pace Acquisition, LLC; DT APP Warrant Holding; and Scotland Acquisitions, LLC. Many are limited-liability companies that may be simply legal envelopes for a bank account or for agreements to license his name, although it is impossible to know for certain. These entities, which also include family trusts set up by Trump’s father for his children, are all private, and there is virtually no way to know from the disclosure forms exactly what they are worth or what they do.