0:57
- ABC News
- Donald Trump
- April 27, 2017
Questions about Trump's businesses continue to grow
Trump's refusal to divest from his business continues to draw scrutiny.
0:57
President Trump has spent seven out of his 15 weekends as president at his exclusive estate Mar a Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, and visited a golf course a total of 19 times since taking office. He has also visited a Trump-owned property for 12 consecutive weekends. The president's repeat visits to these properties has no doubt raised their profile and along with it the incentive for members to find a way to cross paths with the president. Mar-a-Lago's own membership fee doubled to $200,000 following President Trump's victory.
As the administration has mostly denied press access to the properties, the lack of transparency led Democrats to introduce legislation dubbed the 'MAR-A-LAGO' (\"Making Access Records Available to Lead American Government Openness) Act, that would require the White House to make public the visitors logs to any properties where the president conducts official business.
The White House has responded to these complaints by insisting the president should be entitled to privacy and that it has been transparent in providing information and readouts of significant meetings the president has held.
But calling for the administration to directly address potential conflicts could be gaining bipartisan steam in Congress.
As lawmakers in recent months have faced town halls across the country, Trump's potential conflicts have been one of the several leading topics. In one town hall, a crowd shouted down House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz with chants of \"Do your job.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/AP-jason-chaffetz-town-hall-2c-jt-170211_4x3t_384.jpg\")
Just last week, Chaffetz and Democratic ranking member Rep. Cummings penned a letter to Sheri Dillon, the lawyer who initially announced President Trump's plan to separate from his businesses. Their principal request was evidence of the mechanisms being used by the Trump Organization to comply with its commitment to donate all money received from foreign governments to the Treasury Department.
\"Additional details of the plan to donate profits derived from foreign government payments, however, are still unclear,” the congressmen wrote. “Meanwhile, recent news accounts have reported that the Trump Organization may have received payments from foreign government sources since President Trump’s inauguration.”
The White House did not return a request for comment on this story. Administration officials say they are in compliance with the guidelines set out by Trump's lawyers previously.
","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/Politics/100-days-questions-answers-trumps-connection-businesses/story?id=47028991","legacySlug":"/news/story/100-days-questions-answers-trumps-connection-businesses-47028991","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"11:23","publishDate":"04-27-2017","updatedTime":"17:04","updatedDate":"04-27-2017","socialImage":{"alt":"President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka walk to board Marine One at the White House in Washington, Feb. 1, 2017, file photo.","credit":"Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Politics/GTY-donald-ivanka-trump-jef-170425_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"4/27/2017 11:23:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":47028991,"headline":"Questions about Trump's businesses continue to grow","mediaAssetTitle":"MALLIN_TRUMP_BUSINESS_100_DAYS_170426","description":"Trump's refusal to divest from his business continues to draw scrutiny. ","duration":"0:57","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2017/04/170427_gma_karl_0711_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["46334910","47050480","47051322"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"March 24, 2017","headline":"Trump Hotel in DC not in violation of government lease, GSA says","section":"news","slug":"/news/story/trump-hotel-dc-violation-government-lease-gsa-46334910","id":46334910,"image":{"alt":"Trump Hotel in DC not in violation of government lease, GSA says","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Politics/gty-trump-dc-er-161201_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"video","date":"April 27, 2017","headline":"Trump agrees to remain in NAFTA for now","section":"news","slug":"/video/47050480","id":47050480,"image":{"alt":"Trump agrees to remain in NAFTA for now","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/170427_gma_karl_0711_4x5_240.jpg","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"video","date":"April 27, 2017","headline":"Trump gives Pentagon authority to set troop levels in Syria and Iraq","section":"news","slug":"/video/47051322","id":47051322,"image":{"alt":"Trump gives Pentagon authority to set troop levels in Syria and Iraq","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Politics/170427_wnn_pentagon_syria_iraq_4x5_240.jpg","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"Questions about Trump's businesses continue to grow","description":"Trump's refusal to divest from his business continues to draw scrutiny. ","duration":"0:57","uploadDate":"04-27-2017","publication":"04-27-2017","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2017/04/170427_gma_karl_0711_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2017/04/170427_gma_karl_0711_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/100-days-questions-answers-trumps-connection-businesses-47028991"}},"playlist":[{"id":"132054443","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054798","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132033010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131912713","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131830583","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131834976","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554765","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554815","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131543053","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131432442","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131121474","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131247079","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131228784","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131178806","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131142257","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131046664","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131048076","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131033212","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"130999943","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"130971027","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:news:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"news","title":"Questions about Trump's businesses continue to grow","pubTime":"07:23","pubDate":"04-27-2017","modTime":"13:04","modDate":"04-27-2017","taxonomyTags":"none","id":47028991,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"Questions about Trump's businesses continue to grow","mediaAssetTitle":"MALLIN_TRUMP_BUSINESS_100_DAYS_170426","videoId":47028991,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/news/story/100-days-questions-answers-trumps-connection-businesses-47028991"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/47028991","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/47028991","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};