Trump met with Indian business partners after winning election

Pictures that emerged of three Indian businessmen mugging for the cameras with Trump during a visit to Trump Tower in NY last week raised additional concerns about the president-elect’s ability to separate his own business interests from his new role.

The Delaware incorporation documents reveal so little that it is unclear to the outside world whether any of Trump’s companies have foreign partners who also might gain from the decisions he will be making, or have leverage against him when he makes foreign policy decisions.

But wealthy residents enticed into buying at another one of Lodha’s recent properties – the Bellissimo, which was not Trump-branded – thought they were getting similar amenities but wound up clashing with the developer over luxuries that failed to arrive, according to former residents. It’s that recall value.

When asked whether the meeting included talks of Trump’s businesses in India, Trump’s spokespeople declined to comment. The visit drew criticism after a photo was distributed showing Ivanka, who is a Trump Organization executive, sitting in on the meeting.

After the country’s president, Ilham Aliyev, called the president-elect last week, Trump was said to thank him for his attention and “noted that he heard very good words” about Aliyev, according to the country’s state-run news agency.

Sagar Chordia did not respond to a request for a telephone interview.

A CNN review of Trump’s most recent financial disclosures show the president-elect has about 150 companies that have had dealings in at least 25 countries outside of the USA, including Turkey, China, Saudi Arabia, and Azerbaijan. While Title 18 Section 208 of the USA penal code forbids federal executive branch employees from having a hand in government matters that they or their immediate family may have a financial interest in, the president is exempt from the law. And it will certainly create this appearance.

Congress in ethics cases. And while some glass-half-full Democratic representatives are already hoping a backlash against Trump lifts their fortunes in these districts in 2018, others fear that the party’s move toward urban and suburban voters will eventually shut Democrats out of former white working-class strongholds, where many districts were redrawn after 2010 to be tougher for Democrats and have only gotten more forbidding since.

The Trump Organization said it was just “an exchange of hellos”, but Indian media clearly thought it was more, saying “Donald Trump meets Indian partners”.

If the episode with the Indian businessmen reveals how assuming the presidency could benefit his family business, the opposite is true as well: pursuing a business relationship with Trump could be the easiest way to reap diplomatic benefits. Apartments in Pune’s Trump Towers are said to be between Rs 23,000 to Rs 25,000 per square feet.

However, Kalpesh Mehta told India’s Economic Times that during the meeting, Donald Trump Jr. expressed interest in expanding the family’s penetration of the Indian market. Trump does not invest in these projects but allows developers to use his name for an undisclosed amount. Though each agreement is structured differently, in many cases the brand receives a percentage of sales, meaning Trump stands to benefit directly from increased revenues.

He has, however, paid $25 million to settle lawsuits related to Trump University, described as a “scam” by New York’s attorney general. “There is no skin in the game. And you will generate some free publicity”. Over the past decade, many unscrupulous developers here allowed projects to stall midway for lack of ready capital and used homebuyers’ deposits to begin work on the next project, leaving families stripped of their savings to protest helplessly. The company’s stock price rose by 20 per cent after Mr. Trump’s victory. So Trump is really – and this is the issue.

Trump Towers Pune is the first building with Trump’s name on it in the country. And the question becomes: “Are we going in out of our national interest or because there’s a Trump casino around?”

The Chordias were listed among India’s 100 richest people by Forbes magazine in 2014.

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump vowed to take pay-to-play politics out of Washington. Two weeks ago, Modi took the extraordinary step of outlawing 86 percent of banknotes in circulation to clean up illicit money flows. President-elect Trump must end the licensing of the Trump name.