Trump sent out a series of early morning tweets saying he will hold a news conference in New York on Dec. 15 with his children on how he will separate himself “in total” from his worldwide business holdings.

Steve Mnuchin, a private equity investor, hedge fund manager and Hollywood financier, and billionaire Wilbur Ross, who heads a private equity firm, appeared on CNBC and confirmed their nominations to be Treasury secretary and Commerce secretary, respectively. The Trump transition team announced the nominations on Wednesday morning.

Transition sources also said Trump had chosen Chicago Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts as deputy commerce secretary.

Mnuchin and Ross laid out Trump’s economic objectives, including a tax reform plan that would, among other things, cut corporate tax rates to 15 percent.

“We think by cutting corporate taxes we’ll create huge economic growth and we’ll have huge personal income,” Mnuchin said on CNBC.

Mnuchin and Ross said lower tax rates would be offset by reductions in the number of income tax deductions.

They said trade reform would be a top agenda item. Both men criticized regional trade pacts, saying they favor bilateral agreements with trade partners.

“We’ve been doing a lot of dumb trade,” Ross said.

Mnuchin said the Treasury and Commerce departments have trade enforcement capabilities. With regard to China’s foreign exchange policy, he said, “If we determine we need to label them as a currency manipulator that’s something the Treasury would do.”

FOCUS NOW ON SECRETARY OF STATE

Trump also is working to fill out his foreign policy team, with a major focus this week on who his secretary of state should be.

He dined with a former rival, 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney, at a French restaurant near Central Park on Tuesday night. Romney, held in suspicion by Trump supporters because of his harsh criticism of Trump, made an impassioned statement in support of Trump after their meal.

Trump was to meet on Wednesday with another potential secretary of state pick, retired Marine General John Kelly. He also is considering former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, U.S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee and former CIA Director David Petraeus for the job.

Trump also had meetings planed with Linda McMahon, a former Senate candidate in Connecticut, former Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue and U.S. Senator Dan Coats of Indiana.

A variety of critics have raised questions about how Trump would avoid a conflict of interest between the presidency and a real estate empire with properties around the world.

“I will be holding a major news conference in New York City with my children on December 15 to discuss the fact that I will be leaving my great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country in order to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump said.

Trump said he is not required by law to alter his relationship with his business, but added: “I feel it is visually important, as president, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses.”

“Hence, legal documents are being crafted which take me completely out of business operations. The Presidency is a far more important task!”

Three days after Trump won the presidential election on Nov. 8 the Trump Organization said it was looking at business structures aimed at transferring management control to Trump’s three oldest children.

Clearly reluctant to give up a business that made him a brand name around the world, Trump also had previously argued that he had no need to separate himself from the Trump Organization.

But criticism has mounted. An analysis by the New York Times, published last Saturday, said Trump’s companies have business operations in at least 20 countries.

The Wall Street Journal said in a Nov. 17 editorial that Trump should liquidate his assets in order to avoid any appearance of a conflict.

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Source: Reuters

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In one of the extracts, Mrs Clinton told bankers that they were best-placed to help reform the US financial sector.

She also said she favoured “open trade and open borders”. Mrs Clinton’s main opponent, Donald Trump, has said he wants to renegotiate key trade deals.

Mrs Clinton had refused to publish the transcripts, from 2013 and 2014.

Her rival in the Democratic primaries, Bernie Sanders, had repeatedly called on her to release the text of her speeches, which are thought to have earned her about $26m (£21m).

‘Dream of a common market’

The excerpts include comments made at an event sponsored by Goldman Sachs in October 2013 in which Mrs Clinton spoke of the need to consult Wall Street over financial reform.

“The people that know the industry better than anybody are the people who work in the industry,” Mrs Clinton said.

At another speech presented to a Brazilian bank in 2013, she spoke of her “dream” for a common trade market.

“My dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders, some time in the future with energy that is as green and sustainable as we can get it, powering growth and opportunity for every person in the hemisphere,” Mrs Clinton said.

The leak comes after the US accused Russia of a cyber attack against political organisations intended to influence the presidential election.

Supporters of Donald Trump had been hopeful that Wikileaks would release an “October Surprise” this week to put an end to Mrs Clinton’s presidential hopes.

Campaign staff are believed to have been sent Mrs Clinton’s speeches to identify passages that could be potentially problematic if they became public, AP news agency reports.

Wikileaks posted thousands of emails, including exchanges with her campaign aide John Podesta. The release covers messages dating back years but also features some from as recently as last month.

Mr Podesta referred to the disclosures as a Russian hack, suggesting some of the documents may have been altered.

“I’m not happy about being hacked by the Russians in their quest to throw the election to Donald Trump,” Mr Podesta wrote. “Don’t have time to figure out which docs are real and which are faked.”

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Source: BBC

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