Donald Trump lied about surrendering control of his businesses to his sons. He didn’t give an alternative fact, nor did he misspeak, terms his chief adviser Kellyanne Conway has used to excuse her own lies and those of Donald Trump and Sean Spicer.

According to ABC News:

‘New documents confirm that Donald Trump retains a direct tie to his business interests through a revocable trust now being overseen by one of his adult sons and a longtime executive of the Trump Organization.’

ABC News further reports that Donald Trump “Is the sole beneficiary of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, which is tied to his Social Security number as the taxpayer identification number, according to documents published online by the investigative nonprofit ProPublica.”

The new information regarding the trust was in a letter dated 27 Jan 17, addressed to the Washington Liquor Board. Trump’s trust has a liquor license for one of its hotels that opened last year in a building owned by the federal government. Nothing about any of that sounds ethical.

Further skewing the lines between the potential for abuse of power and gaining financially because of that abuse of power, ABC asserts:

‘The trust contains a mix of cash from Trump’s sales of stock investments over the summer and his physical and intellectual properties, such as Trump Tower in New York, Mar-a-Lago in Florida and branding rights.’

Per Trump’s tweets regarding the operation of his businesses:

Even though I am not mandated by law to do so, I will be leaving my busineses before January 20th so that I can focus full time on the…… — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2016

Presidency. Two of my children, Don and Eric, plus executives, will manage them. No new deals will be done during my term(s) in office. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2016

While Trump seemed intentional about tweeting the caveat about not being “mandated by law” to sign-over his businesses, countless political and legal experts have made it clear that his dual roles are an ethical nightmare. Although ABC confirms that the new information regarding Trump’s businesses “align with what Trump and attorney Sheri Dillon outlined,” it proves that Dillon and Trump played semantics and framed their information in what will sound/feel to many as a lie of omission.

A lie of omission is still a lie. Whether those who voted for Trump knew he was a billionaire businessperson before they elected him or not, the American people deserve to be represented by someone whose decisions will be based on the needs of the country’s citizens, not their person pocketbook. No matter how Trump spins this, he lied about what the structure of his businesses will look like and who will benefit from their earnings while he is in office.

To review the footage from the presser at which Trump cleverly played with words to announce the “transfer” of his holdings to his sons, watch the clip below, via YouTube:

Featured Image via Getty/Chip Somodevilla/Staff.