Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) reports that, according to Donald Trump's 2018 financial disclosures, the President of the United States of America was paid $61,045 by the Trump Organization for "consulting fees." It's the only such record of this kind of income on his financial disclosure forms while in office so far.
Before he assumed office, Trump assured the public that he would not be involved with the Trump Organization's operations while serving as president, despite maintaining an ownership interest in the company. While there is plenty of evidence that Trump has picked away at the so-called firewall between the presidency and the Trump Organization, it would be remarkable if, as the consulting fees suggest, Trump was paid for services he performed for the company while he was president.
The financial disclosure, which covers 2018, is the only one he has filed since becoming president that reveals income from consulting fees. It was paid to him through an entity called 4T Holdings Two LLC. According to the disclosure, the LLC owns two entities, one of which appears to relate to a plan for the Trump Organization to build a development with Kushner Companies on the Jersey Shore that was scrapped in June 2018. The other is linked to a management deal between the Trump Organization and another hotel brand to develop a hotel in Mississippi. A note in the financial disclosure filed by Ivanka Trump affirms that connection. The Trump Organization abandoned its plans to develop the hotel, the first of its budget "Scion" line, in February 2019.
The New York Times had previously reported that Ivanka Trump had claimed income from consulting fees that curiously matched perfectly with consulting expenses accrued by the Trump Organization. It's not impossible that Donald Trump's consulting income from 2018 was part of a similar scheme to lower the company's tax burden and rig the financial records. Even if that's not the case, there's still something deeply concerning about the President of the United States offering paid consulting services as a side gig, even if it is to an organization that he also owns.
This also makes me think: I consult myself all the time for work I'm doing. Maybe I need to start to a new, separate LLC for consulting, that outsource my usual workload to another LLC, which is also me, and in turn my outsourced me company pays me for consulting services, which I provide to myself. And then I can just write it all off as business expenses, so that I'm not technically making any personal income, and thus, cannot be taxed; meanwhile, both my outsource work LLC and my consulting LLC both fail to turn a profit, because all their income is invested right back into their work, which is me. I think that's how it works, right?
The Mystery of President Trump's Consulting Fee Income [Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)]
Image: Public Domain via Perlinator / pixabay.com
