Tickets were on sale for a lavish New Year’s Eve party that President-elect Donald Trump and his family are hosting at the Mar-a-Lago Club this weekend, which once again raises those thorny ethics question that have dogged Trump’s presidential transition.
Simply buying a ticket could be seen as an effort to curry favor with the president-elect. Those seeking an in-person audience with him also had an incentive to buy since Trump will be there.
So it’s probably no surprise that the tickets sold out. Incoming White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer gave reporters the news on a Friday press call. He also noted that more than 800 guests are expected, including actor Sylvester Stallone and music producer Quincy Jones.
Trump has hosted similar star-studded New Year’s Eve parties at Mar-a-Lago many times in the past, including last year, when his presidential campaign was in full swing. But this year he’s about to assume the highest office in the land.
Norm Eisen, who served as ethics counselor to President Barack Obama, had a one-word response to the spectacle:
The Trump transition team did not respond to HuffPost queries about the cost of the tickets and whether the president-elect is concerned about any conflicts of interest the party could generate.
Trump has struggled to quiet criticism that his sprawling international business will create multiple conflicts of interest for his presidency. He announced this past Saturday that he would be closing his charitable foundation to avoid the perception of such problems, but he has not laid out any plan to divest from his company and place his assets in a blind trust, as ethics experts recommend.