At a GOP fundraiser in Dallas over the weekend, Donald Trump Jr. revealed that he and his brother Eric Trump no longer are in communication with their father. Since assuming control of the Trump Organization in the wake of President Donald Trump's electoral victory, the two sons were supposed to avoid contact with their father in order to assuage concerns about potential conflicts of interest.
"I basically have zero contact with him at this point," Trump Jr. said in a speech on Saturday, seemingly forgetting the time he attended his father's press conference announcing Judge Neil Gorsuch's Supreme Court nomination.
In January the president announced at a press conference that he was transferring control of his company to his sons. Government ethics officials were quick to condemn Trump's plan as wholly inadequate. Norman Eisen, a former White House ethics czar under President Barack Obama, then argued that this would not resolve potential conflicts of interest.
To withstand scandal and corruption, Trump's plan required a "Chinese wall" be built to prevent any and all contact between the president and the Trump Organization. It also necessitated that Trump's sons exit the politics game.
"I thought I was out of politics after Election Day and [would] get back to my regular life and my family," Trump Jr. said on Saturday. "But I couldn't."
"Deals are still exciting," he added. "But when you're the sort of guy out there every day, 24/7, fighting in this thing — it's like a great fight."
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