Donald Trump slams media for questioning business ties

On Sunday in Lima, Peru, Obama – while acknowledging the respect George W. Bush showed him, saying he “could not have been more gracious to me when I came in” – showed he’d learned very little from his predecessor. “Will President-elect Trump continue to meet with business partners during the transition or in the White House?”. About a week ago, Trump put Vice President-elect Mike Pence in control of the transition. To talk about this, we are joined by NPR’s Jim Zarroli. The U.S. president said last week he had warned Putin about consequences for cyber attacks attributed to Moscow that were seen as trying to influence the U.S. election.

“You know, his holdings are all over the world”, journalist Drew Harwell of The Washington Post told NPR.

Later that week, two businessmen from India who now own Trump-branded properties near Mumbai, India, met with him at Trump Tower. And then later these developers went on social media kind of bragging about seeing Trump.

Trump tweeted nine times this weekend, twice about his transition plans.

ZARROLI: Yeah. There was an example in The Washington Post. Do you agree with them? His last financial disclosure report pegged his assets in the neighborhood of $7 million; Trump’s net worth is as much as $10 billion.

He claimed his signature trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific, the TPP, was still alive despite Trump’s vows to kill it, and said he wanted to reach a deal on the Ukraine crisis before leaving office. He says he’s letting three of his grown children run them. That’s crucial given a president’s or key member of Congress’ role in legislation or world events that can affect stock prices, investments or business interests. For instance, actually today, there was a story.

“I told him that we would be happy to see him (Obama) in Russian Federation anytime if he wants, can and has desire”, Putin said.

He also reportedly asked the president of Argentina to expedite the permit process for an office building in Buenos Aires. Although a brochure promoting the property includes a photograph of Trump and quotes his praises of the hotel, his organization’s website discloses that developer Aetos SA owns the property and states it is not “developed or sold by Donald J. Trump”.

Yet Trump appears to be immune to criticism – or at least unfazed by it. As Trump prepares to move to the White House, commentators from the right and left are warning of potential conflicts of interest over Trump’s business empire. He did say, however, on ABC that some aspects of the Islamic faith were problematic.

MCEVERS: That’s NPR’s Jim Zarroli.