CONTACT: Jordan Libowitz
202-408-5565 | [email protected]

Washington —At least 19 policies and actions taken by the Trump administration may benefit the Trump family and Trump Organization, according to a new report released today by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

The 19 policies and official actions span the government and demonstrate how routine government actions often place government officials in the position of making consequential decisions that could personally benefit President Trump. Trump’s failure to divest from his businesses prior to taking office leaves the public to question over and over whether the Trump administration is acting in the best interest of the American people or the best interest of Trump’s bank account. 

“President Trump’s official actions are in one instance after another inseparable from his own personal financial interests,” said CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder. “The president’s repeated actions to demonstrably help his own bottom line expose this administration’s willingness to turn a blind eye to his conflicts of interest, and they show the lengths the president will go to to further enrich himself and those around him at the expense of the American people.” 

The Trump administration policies and actions that benefit his own interests include removing environmental regulations that impact Trump’s golf courses and increasing specific visas to allow his businesses to hire cheaper seasonal workers. Last spring, the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security nearly doubled the number of H-2B temporary worker visas they planned to grant that year for foreign workers to legally enter the United States to work at businesses that regularly employ seasonal workers. This included securing visas for employees at the hotels and resorts that make up a large portion of President Trump’s financial portfolio. The Trump Organization requested 1,692 foreign work visas between 2001 and 2018 for a number of his businesses, including Mar-a-Lago, the Trump National Golf Club in New York, and Trump Vineyard Estates.

“It is abundantly clear that President Trump is  using the presidency as a means to protect his private businesses and personal profit,” said Bookbinder. “This is one more serious misuse of power and an abuse of the trust of the American people.”