President-elect Donald Trump sold bonds issued by Carrier Corporation’s parent company, United Technologies, in January, according to Trump’s presidential transition team.
Hope Hicks, the spokeswoman for the transition team who informed The Huffington Post that Trump made the sale, did not address a request to provide documentation of it.
Barring additional information, it is impossible to verify the Trump transition team’s claim until the president-elect’s next financial disclosure in May 2017, which will show asset sales made in 2016.
Trump earned $2,501 to $5,000 in interest income from bonds issued by Carrier’s parent company, United Technologies Inc., according to Trump’s May financial disclosure. That disclosure only shows income and asset sales for the previous calendar year. The Indy Star first reported Trump’s stake in the company.
Had Trump not made the sale, he would have had a modest financial stake in the health of Carrier, the company with which he just negotiated a deal to keep 800 manufacturing jobs in the United States.
Although Trump treated Carrier as a whipping post during the campaign, now that he has finalized a deal he has spoken about the company favorably, generating it positive national media attention.
A Carrier spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter.
Trump is already drawing pressure from ethics experts and congressional Democrats who are calling on him to divest from his myriad global businesses, including the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., which foreign governments are already patronizing as a way to curry favor with the incoming administration. They argue that these holdings could inappropriately influence his presidential decision-making.
