Trump aide: ‘Very confident’ he’s not breaking laws

Kellyanne Conway, a top aide to Donald Trump, defended the president-elect’s business practices on Monday, asserting she’s “very confident” he hasn’t done anything illegal during the presidential transition process.

{mosads}Taking questions in the lobby of Trump Tower, a reporter asked Conway if it is “an appropriate use of [Trump’s] time” to work on his business and the transition effort simultaneously.

The question follows a report that the president-elect used a congratulatory call from the Argentine president to push for a stalled building project in the country, though a spokesman for President Mauricio Macri denied there was any discussion of the project.

“I’m very confident he’s not breaking any laws,” Kellyanne Conway told reporters Monday afternoon in New York City. 

“He has many lawyers accountants and advisers who tell him what he must do and what he can’t do, and he’s businessman and he’s also working in transition,” she continued.

When asked how long Trump would continue to run his businesses while dealing with the transition, Conway chastised the reporter, saying his question suggested Trump is engaged in illegal activity.

“Are you suggesting that he’s doing something illegal?” Conway said. “I already said he’s not.”

“The presumption is that he is, so if you operate from a presumption of negativity and illegality it’s going to be a tougher way to answer the question because it sounds like you’re operating from the presumption he’s doing something wrong.”

Trump has faced fresh scrutiny in the past week over the handling of his business empire as he gets ready to assume office in late January.

His advisers have said his adult children will run the business in a “blind trust” separate from Trump, but the fact they are part of his transition team raises questions about that setup. 

And last week, Ivanka Trump was photographed sitting in on a meeting between her father and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The news about his call with Argentina’s president wasn’t the only recent headline questioning how Trump is handling his business dealings. Over the weekend, Trump and his children reportedly met with three Indian business partners at Trump Tower about a new Trump-branded luxury apartment south of Mumbai.