Donald Trump Joe Raedle | AFP | Getty Images

Dear President-elect Trump: The potential conflicts of interest between your huge business empire and your future job have been well documented. The possibility that corporate interests or foreign countries could try to bribe you, as president, in both large and small ways is substantial. Consider this small example: Over the weekend, the chief executive of one of the largest companies in the nation — who was a Hillary Clinton supporter — told me he planned to have his staff stay at your new Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue as an "easy way" to ingratiate himself with your new administration. As far as I have seen, so far you appear unfazed by the headlines about kleptocracy. "Prior to the election, it was well known that I have interests in properties all over the world," you wrote on Twitter. "Only the crooked media makes this a big deal!" You have said that you have no plans to sell your companies or put them into a blind trust — which wouldn't be effective anyway, since it's impossible to blindly hold real estate assets that have your name affixed to them. In the meantime, there are reports that you may lease multiple floors of Trump Tower to the Secret Service for millions of dollars, which you would pocket.

The entire situation is — how else to put it? — untenable. You understand the conundrum. "In theory, I don't have to do anything" to distance yourself from your business holdings, you told journalists at The New York Times last week, "but I would like to do something — I would like to try and formalize something." So, in the spirit of offering a constructive solution rather than demagogy, let me offer you an idea: Voluntarily agree to hire what is known as a "corporate monitor," an independent overseer with unfettered access to your organizations who will provide regular reports to the public about any possible instances of conflicts. Many well-known companies have done this under regulatory and legal duress, but you could do it voluntarily and pay for it yourself, offering a jolt of trust to those who fear you could engage in self-dealing. I even have a suggestion for someone to take this role — someone who told me on the phone Monday that he would be happy to do so. (More on that later.) More from the NYT: Combative, Populist Steve Bannon Found His Man in Donald Trump

A Guide to White House North

PotentialConflicts Around the Globe for Trump, the BusinessmanPresident There is a clear benefit to you, Mr. Trump. You'll be able to accomplish a lot more. If voters and the members of Congress perceive that your legislative proposals are meant to enrich you, your family or your business partners — even if that is not the case — you run the risk of undermining whatever progress you hope to make. Let me flesh out the idea. First, it would be preferable for you to sell your empire — which, by the way, you could do without having to pay taxes on any profits. Rules designed to entice the wealthy into public service, which allow executive branch employees to dispose of their assets in certain defined ways to avoid conflicts of interest, would be a good option for you. Henry Paulson used this option in 2006 when he left Goldman Sachs to become Treasury secretary. The next-best option would be the arm's-length one, which was advocated in a recent article in The Economist. Mr. Trump, the magazine said, "must ring-fence his private interests and put them under independent supervision. It is the only fix that is both principled and practical." But whatever you do, the most critical piece is the corporate monitor, someone with an impeccable reputation.