Seeks amendment to ensure President Trump divests from Turkey to eliminate conflict of interest
WASHINGTON — Today , U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.) issued the following statement on his decision to vote against advancing S. 2641, a bill to impose U.S. sanctions on Turkey, which was reported out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier today:
“While sanctions certainly can be an important tool, they are not the only tool that we have at our disposal to conduct foreign policy – but too often we are relying on blunt instruments instead of engaging in real diplomacy. As Congress keeps considering more and more sanctions, foreign policy experts are telling us to slow down and take stock of the effectiveness of these efforts, and I believe we need a comprehensive reevaluation of this strategy. In this case we are rushing to consider a bill to impose sanctions on a long-time NATO ally without thorough analysis of how we got to this point, what these sanctions are intended to accomplish, and whether they are likely to succeed.
“If Congress is so concerned with U.S.-Turkish relations that we are resorting to sanctions, then we must also require that the president divest of his multi-million dollar per year licensing deal for Trump Towers in Istanbul. The president himself has admitted he has ‘ a little conflict of interest ’ when it comes to U.S.-Turkey relations and President Erdogan has threatened to retaliate against Trump Towers in Istanbul over past disagreements during the 2016 campaign. This is not a partisan issue: concerns about the president’s conflict of interest in Turkey have risen to the highest levels of his own administration. Former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s gave a private speech in which he stated his belief the president’s Turkey policy is driven by personal and financial interests. While I did not have the opportunity to receive an up or down vote on my amendment to require President Trump to divest from Turkey today, I will continue to pursue it if this legislation comes to the Senate floor.”
