Welcome to President Trump’s (Un)Ethical World

On this week’s episode of The E.R., David Rothkopf, Julia Ioffe, Kori Schake, and new guest, Susan Hennessey, take a look at Donald Trump’s laundry list of conflicts of interest and question whether he is directly violating his obligations — and the law — in his new job as president of the United States.

As President Trump begins his first week as commander in chief, he faces a complex web of potential conflicts of interest and ethics battles. His children will be taking over the family business, and Trump claims that he has placed all of his business interests and assets in a blind trust. But is it really blind if the Trump heirs still have the ear of the president? And what about those pesky anti-nepotism laws? Or the emoluments clause? Do any of those matter to the new Trump administration? Or the American people?

Susan Hennessey is a fellow in national security in governance studies at the Brookings Institution. She is also managing editor of the Lawfare blog. Follow her on Twitter at: @Susan_Hennessey.

Julia Ioffe is a Voices columnist at FP and a contributing writer for Highline. She will also be joining The Atlantic in January. Follow her on Twitter at: @juliaioffe.

Kori Schake is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where she focuses on military history, and a former foreign-policy advisor to Sen. John McCain. Follow her on Twitter at: @KoriSchake.

David Rothkopf is the CEO and editor of the FP Group. Follow him on Twitter at: @djrothkopf.

Subscribe to FP’s The E.R. and Global Thinkers podcasts on iTunes.