The former ethics lawyer from the George W. Bush Administration Richard Painter on ABC News.

Former George W. Bush White House Chief Ethics lawyer Richard Painter has been saying this for weeks: Republican President-Elect Trump will be in violation of the U.S. Constitution the second he’s sworn into office.

In a December 13th Washington Post op-ed Painter co-wrote with former U.S. Ambassador Norman L. Eisen, he states:

“...Trump must follow the example set by the past four decades of presidents and construct a true blind trust or equivalent. Trump doesn’t just need to “leave” operations of his businesses in the hands of his sons. He also must sell his interests by transferring his ownership to an independent trustee, who will sell them and reinvest the assets elsewhere in places unbeknown to the president. Or he could sell and then transfer the proceeds to the trustee, or make some other similar arrangement.”

Unsurprisingly, Trump has done nothing of the sort and he’s slated to be in violation of the Constitution the minute he takes his inaugural vote on Friday. In an appearance on ABC News’ This Week over the weekend, Painter explains:

“...[I]f he does not make sure that all the foreign government payments — and this includes banks and other corporations owned by foreign governments and sovereign wealth funds —that all of that money is not out of the Trump organization by Friday when he takes the oath, he will be in violation of the Constitution. The founders knew that foreign governments would try to meddle in our elections, meddle in our politics. They did not want any foreign government money coming into anyone holding a position of trust in our government.”

Watch the clip below:

x Bush ethics attorney: Trump will be in violation of Constitution when he takes oath on Friday if foreign money not removed from organization pic.twitter.com/FSQ1qdcs6o — This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 15, 2017

This move by Trump isn’t just unprecedented, it’s very dangerous. In a longer op-ed by Painter published in the New York Times last week, he really puts this conflict into perspective: