JUDY WOODRUFF: Donald Trump
Jr. landed in India today to
begin what will be a weeklong

trip across the country.

Lisa Desjardins reports
on some ethical questions
raised by his visit.

LISA DESJARDINS: Judy, the
president's son says this
trip is strictly business.

He says he's there to
promote and sell condominium
units at four different
Trump-branded luxury

properties, sales that
the president would
eventually profit from.

But ethics experts say they're
concerned that Donald Trump Jr.
is also mixing business with

state affairs.

He is set to deliver a foreign
policy speech - - and its
title at least indicates it's a

foreign policy speech --
at the end of this week.

It's an event that Indian
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi is likely to attend.

Sumit Ganguly is a political
science professor at Indiana
University-Bloomington.

And I want to start.

You just returned from India.

Can you take us through the
role of Trump business in
India, where it fits, and then

also the politics
of a trip like this?

SUMIT GANGULY, Political
Science Professor, Indiana
University-Bloomington: Right.

To begin with, these are massive
investments and extremely
high-end investments in real

estate.

Some of the largest Indian
developers of real estate are
working with Trump in developing

these properties in four major
metropolitan areas, including
in the town where I grew

up in, Calcutta, with a
population of 14 million people.

And there is now a segment of
India's population with a very
substantial disposable income,

which likes glitzy, luxurious
high-end properties,
which are also closed
properties, where you're

sort of spared from
the squalor of India.

And they have these nice
sequestered environments.

And what better than to have
the name of the president of
the United States emblazoned

across that property?

LISA DESJARDINS: So these are
high-profile, certainly very
high-interest deals in India.

Also raising eyebrows, though,
in a way that I think is
raising questions are some ads

that we saw, full-page ads
this week in Indian newspapers,
showing Donald Trump Jr., full

page, and then this
double entendre quote
saying: "Trump is here.

Are you invited?"

Can you take us through
the ethics here?

They're selling condos,
but there they're also
advertising access.

Are they selling access?

Is that how this would
be interpreted in India?

SUMIT GANGULY: They're not
selling access directly, but
it raises a question, if the

president's name is on this
property, if his son is hawking
these properties, and then

giving a foreign policy address,
it sort of commingles business
and at the same time politics.

And, of course, the entire
apparatus of the United States
government that's present in

India is going to be
facilitating his visit.

So, it sort of raises questions
about certain lines being
blurred, that where does sort

of a simple property development
end, and where do sort of
the president's personal

interests, particularly
financial interests,
become implicated?

LISA DESJARDINS: Donald
Trump Jr., though, is
a private businessman.

He says he's already voluntarily
said no new deals as long
as my father is president.

But should he be forced to
limit himself because his name,
which he makes his money off of,

is also the president's
name, if you follow me?

SUMIT GANGULY: Yes,
I certainly do.

But the issue is not simply a
matter that these deals were
already under way, but the

fact is that why, as a private
citizen, is he giving a foreign
policy speech, where the

prime minister of
India may be present?

And also when one of
the developers happens
to be a critical member
of the Bharatiya Janata

Party, which is the
party currently in power.

It is blurring certain lines
which I think really should
be kept quite separate.

LISA DESJARDINS: The title of
that address, as advertised
by the summit organization,

is "Reshaping
Indo-Pacific Ties."

That's an active
title, even muscular.

We reached out to the Trump
Organization to try and get
information about what Donald

Trump Jr. would say.

They didn't get back to us.

But something like that, is
that usual for a businessman?

And would Indians, do you
think, interpret what he says
as representing U.S. policy?

SUMIT GANGULY: They could
certainly construe this as an
endorsement of American policy

or a statement of American
policy, given that it's coming
from the president's son, who,

though he has no sort of
formal role in government,
has nevertheless been
seen in sort of critical

places in the White House.

And, consequently, again, we are
talking about sort of failing
to keep certain lines very,

very clear, that one is a
purely business enterprise, and
another is reflecting American

foreign policy interests.

LISA DESJARDINS: And the State
Department has said that he's
there as a private citizen.

Sumit Ganguly, thank you
so much for joining us.

SUMIT GANGULY: My
pleasure entirely.

Thank you.