Dear Editor,

In response to Larry Podolsky’s June 17 “Conflict of Interest,” Letter to the Editor.

Larry cited several financial transactions, initiated by President Trump, suggesting they were infractions of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause. He went on to say, “Regardless of political affiliation, Americans should expect presidents to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest. I have to wonder: How would republicans react if a Democratic president had committed even one of these infractions?

Examples of appearance of conflict of interests:

The Clinton Foundation, established by Bill, in 2001, annually raised hundreds of millions of dollars, but sharply dropped off to $20 million in 2016, the same year Hillary lost her presidential bid. Over this course of time Hillary was a US Senator, Secretary of State and presidential candidate. Donations, from all over the world, were generally routed through intermediary law firms and/or financial institutions, rather than being directly deposited. This raised eyebrows and wrought suspicion about pay-to-play allegations concerning access to Hillary Clinton.

Joe Biden was vice president when he, son Hunter and BHR business partner Devon Archer, flew to China on Air Force 2. Together, Hunter and Devon, made a deal with CEFC China Energy and left town with 4.8 million dollars. This is the incident in which Joe Biden earned the nickname, “The Big Guy”, and had to answer questions about his alleged 10 % take in the transaction.

Joe Biden was president when his son, Hunter, went from unknown artist to famous artist. Overnight, his art went from thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. We don’t know who purchased his pieces. What we do know is the value of Hunter’s works fell like a rock when Joe’s bid for re-election ended. Smells like pay-to-play and looks like another, “appearance of conflict of interest.”

Dare I mention Nancy and Paul Pelosi’s accumulation of 250 million dollars?

Ron Keeler