Trump Organization Names Ethics Overseers

USA Today

Fredreka Schouten

January 25, 2017

Photo by John Minchillo, AP

The Trump Organization has tapped a Washington lawyer and a veteran Trump executive to oversee efforts to keep President Trump’s business interests separate from his White House responsibilities.

Bobby Burchfield, who was the top lawyer on President George H.W. Bush’s 1992 re-election campaign, will serve as the company’s independent ethics adviser. Trump Organization executive George Sorial has been named chief compliance counsel. Sorial has worked at the company since 2007 and served most recently as executive vice president and counsel.

In a statement, Burchfield, said he is “confident that everyone is committed to the continuing operation of the businesses independently of the president and in accord with the highest legal and ethical standards.”

The two new positions at Trump are part of the president’s plan to avoid potential conflicts of interests. Earlier this month, he announced plans to transfer management of the Trump Organization to his adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and to longtime executive Allen Weisselberg, who is the company’s chief financial officer.

But Trump has refused to relinquish his ownership of his far-flung real-estate and licensing empire, a move that has drawn sharp rebukes from independent ethics groups.