WASHINGTON — Donald Trump is postponing a news conference designed to announce plans on how to handle his business interests amid concerns that they pose conflict of interest problems for his presidency, Trump transition officials said Monday.

While Trump had said he would speak to the matter on Thursday, aides said he will now wait until January to outline how he would pass control of his company to others.

"The announcement has been rescheduled for next month," transition spokesman Hope Hicks said.

Transition spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump has been focused on putting together his Cabinet and staff,

"With so many iconic properties and successful entities, moving the announcement to January, ensures the legal team has ample time to ensure the proper protocols are put in place so his sole focus will remain on the country and achieving his ambitious agenda with the help of the world-class cabinet he has built," Spicer said in a statement.

Over the weekend, Trump said he would hand over his business interests to executive and family members.

"My executives will run it with my children," Trump said on Fox News Sunday. "It's a big company, it's a great company. But I'm going to have nothing to do with management."

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Hours after the postponement, Trump tweeted that he would leave his businesses before Jan. 20, leaving them to his sons, Eric and Donald Jr., and executives. He claimed no new business deals would go through during his term.

Ethics watchdogs have repeatedly called on Trump to divest his interests in his far-flung real-estate and branding empire to avoid potential conflicts with his presidency.

“Let's hope he takes the additional time to do the right thing, follow every president for the past four decades, and divest into a blind trust or the equivalent,” said Norm Eisen, who served as President Obama’s top ethics lawyer and has been among the leading voices calling for Trump to divest.

Eisen has argued repeatedly that Trump’s web of companies with interests from Turkey to India could ensnare the Trump administration in scandal.

Last week, he and 28 other organizations and individuals, including several Republicans, issued an open letter to the incoming president, renewing calls for him to stash his assets in a blind trust.

Meredith McGehee, an ethics watchdog at the non-profit group Issue One, said she viewed Trump’s delay as a “hopeful sign.”

“If he wanted to simply announce that ‘my kids are taking over,’ that doesn’t require a lot of time and effort,” said McGehee, whose organization has called on Trump to divest his holdings and allow an independent trustee to manage his assets.

“I would hope that this would indicate that he’s going to actually work through this in a meaningful way,” McGehee said. “It’s a pretty complicated process.”

Watchdogs push Trump to divest businesses, promise oversight