WSJ’s Jason Riley: “The Press Needs To Get Used To” Trump’s Business-Related Conflicts Of Interest

Riley: “We Elected A Businessman” And “The Press Needs To Get Used To That”

From the December 11 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.’s Fox News Sunday:

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CHRIS WALLACE (HOST): Jason, I want to dig down into what he could do. I mean, presidents traditionally have stock, they have investments, and they put those in a blind trust, and that's pretty simple. Here's a guy who owns buildings that have Trump splashed all over them. And as he said in the interview, you can't sell a building in a day, or a week, or a month. I mean, that's a big deal. So what, reasonably, could he be expected to do to divest himself or separate himself from these buildings, these interests?

JASON RILEY: I think there are limits to what he can do. Transparency would help. But I'm worried more, Chris, about the pendulum swinging too far in the other direction. If we're going to require everyone running for elected office to divest, we're going to end up with professional politicians, like Obama and Clinton. And I don't know that that's healthy. We elected a businessman. And I think the press needs to get used to that. This is a non-politician who's in office who's had a past life building assets and so forth. And what we can ask of him is transparency. Yes, conflicts will arise from time to time. We can find independent agencies to deal with those on a case-by-case basis. I don't think this is as big a deal as the press is making [INAUDIBLE].

Previously:

News Networks Sidelined Trump's Conflicts Of Interest Until His Election

Even Karl Rove Is Decrying Trump’s Conflicts Of Interest

Too Little, Too Late: Weeks After Election, Media See Trump's Conflicts, Potential Self-Dealings, And Corruption