Trump says he will ‘leave business’ to focus on presidency

Donald Trump has announced he will be leaving his business “in total”

President-elect Donald Trump has announced he is to leave his business empire to focus on the presidency and avoid perceived conflicts of interest.

Mr Trump gave few details but said he would expand on his plans at a press conference next month.

He has previously dismissed concerns over potential conflicts between his businesses and the presidency.

Meanwhile, former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin confirmed he had been picked as treasury secretary.

Mr Mnuchin, who was Mr Trump’s former campaign finance director, also said billionaire investor Wilbur Ross had been chosen for commerce secretary.

Mr Trump and his transition team have yet to confirm the appointments.

Instead, Mr Trump chose to focus on his plans to distance himself from his business in a series of four tweets released over 20 minutes.

As Mr Trump noted there is no legal requirement to liquidate assets but past US presidents have set aside their business dealings.

Mr Trump’s rivals have raised repeated concerns this may cause problems in the coming months.

The property tycoon is said to be currently worth $3.7bn (£3bn) by Forbes magazine, with more than 500 different enterprises in his business empire.

Mr Trump, who takes office on 20 January, had previously indicated to the New York Times that he was considering separating his two areas of responsibility but was confident he could run both “perfectly”.

He has also previously suggested he could hand over his sprawling business interests to his three eldest children – Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr, who already hold roles within his empire.

However, Reince Priebus, Mr Trump’s incoming White House chief of staff, refused to say on MSNBC’s Morning Joe whether he was handing the business to his children or putting it into a blind trust, which would place the management of his assets in the hands of other experts.

“I’m not ready to reveal that really,” he said, adding Mr Trump had “got the best people in America working on it”.

BBC