Ethics issue 'nonsense', says official who cleared Trump Hotel

Washington

SHORTLY after Donald Trump won the presidential election, the US official who oversees the lease of his signature Washington hotel offered Mr Trump's company an assessment of a report about its potential conflict of interest: "Nonsense."

Four months later, the same official cleared Mr Trump's company to keep its lease for the Trump International Hotel Washington DC throughout the president's time in office - a decision that may have saved Mr Trump millions of dollars, based on a statement his lawyers made in a court filing in May.