Donald Trump reiterated that he would "absolutely sever" ties and would have "nothing to do with my company" as president. | Getty Trump vows to sever business ties as president

Donald Trump on Thursday vowed again to cut all ties to his businesses and, in the wake of a Newsweek report that questioned potential conflicts of interest with international dealings, pledged that his company "would absolutely get out in some form" if sanctions were imposed on countries where it conducts business.

"Well I will sever connections and I'll have my children and my executives run the company," Trump told "Fox & Friends" in the first segment of a two-part telephone interview. "And I won't discuss it with them. It's just so unimportant compared to what we're doing about making America great again. I just wouldn't care. I guess you can say there's a conflict because as the company – country – gets stronger, that's good for all companies, right? But I wouldn't care. It's so unimportant compared to what I'm doing right now."


Trump reiterated that he would "absolutely sever" ties and would have "nothing to do with my company" as president. The Republican nominee has previously indicated that he would place the businesses in a blind trust run by his children and executives.



Trump surrogate and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie dismissed the notion that it would be "too tempting" for Trump as president to consult with his children about the business in an interview Wednesday night on MSNBC's "The 11th Hour with Brian Williams."

"I think, listen, the father and the children have a lot of things to talk about other than the business," Christie said. "They have grandchildren, many of them. He's involved in every aspect of their life and they in his. And I think that these are professional smart people who will, as we we can see with his tax returns, follow the advice of their lawyers and their accountants."

Williams then cited business experts who have said that the trust would not necessarily be "blind," as "everybody would know everything that's in there and what's going on."

Christie referred to his own blind trust in New Jersey, saying that he does not "have any idea" of how his investments have performed over the last seven years since he took office.

"I know what it was like when I went in seven years ago but lots of things will change, and in a dynamic business like the Trump Organization, a lot of those assets will change over the course of the time he’s president. And if that wall is up and the trust is absolutely blind, he won't know how it's changed until he leaves the presidency and goes back to ask his kids what's happened over the past number of years," Christie said.

Co-host Brian Kilmeade followed up with Trump, "Knowing that you made these companies, if sanctions went on a country that would hurt your company or your hotels, would you hesitate?"

"Oh, I would absolutely get out in some form. I mean ... its ownership would have to sell. I will get out of those countries. I wouldn't be able to be involved and then nobody else is able to, but I don't think we have too many of those companies, quite frankly," Trump said. "It's a very interesting question. I would get out. I would get out of those countries."

The questions follow a Newsweek report published Wednesday detailing how the Trump Organization's foreign business could hamper U.S. national security if Trump is elected president. Hillary Clinton and Democrats have seized upon the report, with the Democratic nominee's Twitter account posing a list of questions raised about potential conflicts of interests mentioned in the article.

Trump himself remarked that he had heard the article "made me out to be extremely successful but very complicated company."

"Actually, I have a very simple company," Trump said. "I have, you know, deals all over the world and they are great deals and they are really – it's a very simple company from that standpoint structurally and I own my own company but it made me to be – I did hear, in fact, if you read the first paragraph, it says a lot – it's got me out to be very successful, which I am, very, very successful."