The Exasperating Difficulty of Trying to Understand Trump’s Finances
On December 6th, then-President-elect Donald Trump was angry at the airplane manufacturer Boeing. The company, he felt, was overcharging for its newest version of Air Force One, leading him to tweet, “Cancel order!” Some were quick to point out that the situation seemed to present a conflict of interest: According to the disclosure forms he filed with the Federal Election Commission in May 2016, Trump owned stock in Boeing and had a personal financial stake in the company’s performance (although why he would publicly disparage a company in which he owned stock was anybody’s guess). In response, Trump’s spokesman at the time, Jason Miller, informed reporters that Trump had sold not only his stock in Boeing but also all of his other stocks that June, although neither Trump nor Miller provided any proof.
On June 16, the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) Trump’s latest disclosure paperwork, offering the first glimpse into his finances since he took office—and the first this year, , the document’s “Other Assets” section lists his stock and bond holdings. Did this section perhaps provide an opportunity to verify Miller’s claim?
