Trump says his business doesn't matter — but he's still leaving his kids in charge

CBS/60 Minutes

President-elect Donald Trump says he doesn't care what happens to his business in the wake of the election.

However, he's also refusing to completely detach from the Trump Organization by leaving his children — who are also holding positions on his presidential transition team — in charge of it going forward.

During a "60 Minutes" interview that aired Sunday, both Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump said it doesn't matter what happens to their hotel chains, fashion brands, and other businesses.

"I don’t think it matters," Ivanka said. "This is so much more important and more serious... so that’s the focus."

Her father then cut in, saying, "I think what Ivanka's trying to say is: who cares? Who cares? This is big league stuff. This is our country. Our country is going bad. We’re going to save our country. I don’t care about hotel occupancy. It's peanuts compared to what we’re doing — health care, making people better. It's unfair what's happened to the people of our country and we’re going to change it, it's as simple as that."

CBS/60 MinutesDespite his remarks, it remains unclear how involved Trump and his family will be in the future of his business.

The president-elect has said that he's going to put his business in a blind trust controlled by his three eldest children: Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric.

But critics say putting his children in charge defeats the entire purpose of a blind trust.

Blind trusts are typically run by an independent financial manager. They are often used by public officials to avoid potential conflicts of interest while in office.

Critics are blasting Trump's idea of blind trust, however, because the people in charge — his three children — are also holding positions on his presidential transition team, and will therefore have input in selections for key administration posts.

"If the children run the so-called blind trust and also serve in some governmental capacity, formally or informally, this would further exacerbate potential conflicts and ethical issues caused by not separating his business holdings from his governmental functions," Kenneth Gross, a political law expert at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, told the Washington Post. 

But Rudolph Giuliani, one of Trump’s top advisers, said Sunday it would be “unrealistic” to expect his kids to step away from their involvement in the Trump brands.

The Trump Organization did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

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