While most family businesses would slow things down when their scion was in the White House, the Trump Organization is not most family businesses.
Amid a maelstrom of potential conflicts of interest and ethical questions, Donald, Jr. and Eric Trump will be launching a new line of mid-range hotels called Scion, according to the AP. This will be the first Trump hotel chain not to bear the family name.
"The hotels will feature modern, sleek interiors and communal areas, and offer rooms at $200 to $300 a night, about half what it costs at some hotels in Trump's luxury chain," the AP writes.
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Trump Hotels CEO Eric Danziger tells the AP that the organization has signed letters of intent with 20 developers, the final three being signed early this month.
"It's full steam ahead," Danziger told the AP. "It's in our DNA. It's in the Trump boys' DNA."
The developers will be the ones footing the bill for the construction of the chain, which is normal in the hotel world. Still, it raises a fairly obvious set of conflicts of interests. Like, will Donald Trump really turn down a meeting with a hotel developer that financed the construction of one of his newest line of hotels? Also, if you have evidence that Trump has actually divested from the Trump Organization, we have yet to see any.
Chief White House ethics lawyer to President George W. Bush panned the move to the AP.
"This is the new version of pay-to-play, 'Get in there and do business with the Trump Organization,'" Painter said.
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