WEBVTT 00:02.033 --> 00:05.333 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: Donald Trump Jr. landed in India today to begin what will be a weeklong 00:05.333 --> 00:07.333 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% trip across the country. 00:07.333 --> 00:11.200 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Lisa Desjardins reports on some ethical questions raised by his visit. 00:11.200 --> 00:15.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: Judy, the president's son says this trip is strictly business. 00:15.400 --> 00:20.200 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% He says he's there to promote and sell condominium units at four different Trump-branded luxury 00:20.200 --> 00:24.000 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% properties, sales that the president would eventually profit from. 00:24.000 --> 00:29.000 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% But ethics experts say they're concerned that Donald Trump Jr. is also mixing business with 00:29.600 --> 00:31.600 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% state affairs. 00:31.600 --> 00:34.533 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% He is set to deliver a foreign policy speech - - and its title at least indicates it's a 00:34.533 --> 00:36.966 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% foreign policy speech -- at the end of this week. 00:36.966 --> 00:40.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% It's an event that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to attend. 00:40.966 --> 00:45.133 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Sumit Ganguly is a political science professor at Indiana University-Bloomington. 00:45.133 --> 00:46.333 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% And I want to start. 00:46.333 --> 00:48.933 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% You just returned from India. 00:48.933 --> 00:53.800 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Can you take us through the role of Trump business in India, where it fits, and then 00:53.800 --> 00:55.933 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% also the politics of a trip like this? 00:55.933 --> 00:57.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% SUMIT GANGULY, Political Science Professor, Indiana University-Bloomington: Right. 00:57.933 --> 01:02.533 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% To begin with, these are massive investments and extremely high-end investments in real 01:03.500 --> 01:05.500 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% estate. 01:05.500 --> 01:09.500 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Some of the largest Indian developers of real estate are working with Trump in developing 01:11.466 --> 01:15.866 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% these properties in four major metropolitan areas, including in the town where I grew 01:17.200 --> 01:20.933 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% up in, Calcutta, with a population of 14 million people. 01:20.933 --> 01:25.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And there is now a segment of India's population with a very substantial disposable income, 01:28.666 --> 01:33.666 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% which likes glitzy, luxurious high-end properties, which are also closed properties, where you're 01:38.033 --> 01:42.766 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% sort of spared from the squalor of India. 01:42.766 --> 01:46.500 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And they have these nice sequestered environments. 01:46.500 --> 01:51.500 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And what better than to have the name of the president of the United States emblazoned 01:52.266 --> 01:54.400 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% across that property? 01:54.400 --> 01:58.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: So these are high-profile, certainly very high-interest deals in India. 01:58.300 --> 02:02.333 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Also raising eyebrows, though, in a way that I think is raising questions are some ads 02:02.333 --> 02:07.233 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% that we saw, full-page ads this week in Indian newspapers, showing Donald Trump Jr., full 02:07.233 --> 02:11.500 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% page, and then this double entendre quote saying: "Trump is here. 02:11.500 --> 02:12.800 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% Are you invited?" 02:12.800 --> 02:15.233 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% Can you take us through the ethics here? 02:15.233 --> 02:19.366 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% They're selling condos, but there they're also advertising access. 02:19.366 --> 02:20.600 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% Are they selling access? 02:20.600 --> 02:22.700 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% Is that how this would be interpreted in India? 02:22.700 --> 02:27.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% SUMIT GANGULY: They're not selling access directly, but it raises a question, if the 02:30.066 --> 02:35.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% president's name is on this property, if his son is hawking these properties, and then 02:37.066 --> 02:40.466 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% giving a foreign policy address, it sort of commingles business and at the same time politics. 02:43.400 --> 02:48.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And, of course, the entire apparatus of the United States government that's present in 02:51.233 --> 02:55.000 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% India is going to be facilitating his visit. 02:55.000 --> 03:00.000 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% So, it sort of raises questions about certain lines being blurred, that where does sort 03:02.233 --> 03:07.233 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% of a simple property development end, and where do sort of the president's personal 03:08.933 --> 03:13.133 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% interests, particularly financial interests, become implicated? 03:13.133 --> 03:16.866 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% LISA DESJARDINS: Donald Trump Jr., though, is a private businessman. 03:16.866 --> 03:21.600 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% He says he's already voluntarily said no new deals as long as my father is president. 03:21.600 --> 03:26.600 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% But should he be forced to limit himself because his name, which he makes his money off of, 03:27.800 --> 03:29.266 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% is also the president's name, if you follow me? 03:29.266 --> 03:31.300 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% SUMIT GANGULY: Yes, I certainly do. 03:31.300 --> 03:36.166 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% But the issue is not simply a matter that these deals were already under way, but the 03:38.566 --> 03:43.566 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% fact is that why, as a private citizen, is he giving a foreign policy speech, where the 03:44.700 --> 03:47.100 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% prime minister of India may be present? 03:47.100 --> 03:52.100 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% And also when one of the developers happens to be a critical member of the Bharatiya Janata 03:55.033 --> 03:58.166 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% Party, which is the party currently in power. 03:58.166 --> 04:03.166 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% It is blurring certain lines which I think really should be kept quite separate. 04:05.166 --> 04:10.000 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: The title of that address, as advertised by the summit organization, 04:11.100 --> 04:12.500 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% is "Reshaping Indo-Pacific Ties." 04:12.500 --> 04:14.600 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% That's an active title, even muscular. 04:14.600 --> 04:18.200 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% We reached out to the Trump Organization to try and get information about what Donald 04:18.200 --> 04:19.200 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% Trump Jr. would say. 04:19.200 --> 04:20.700 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% They didn't get back to us. 04:20.700 --> 04:23.266 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% But something like that, is that usual for a businessman? 04:23.266 --> 04:27.433 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And would Indians, do you think, interpret what he says as representing U.S. policy? 04:27.433 --> 04:32.433 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% SUMIT GANGULY: They could certainly construe this as an endorsement of American policy 04:34.433 --> 04:38.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% or a statement of American policy, given that it's coming from the president's son, who, 04:41.500 --> 04:45.333 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% though he has no sort of formal role in government, has nevertheless been seen in sort of critical 04:50.366 --> 04:52.400 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% places in the White House. 04:52.400 --> 04:57.233 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And, consequently, again, we are talking about sort of failing to keep certain lines very, 05:01.000 --> 05:06.000 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% very clear, that one is a purely business enterprise, and another is reflecting American 05:08.566 --> 05:10.666 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% foreign policy interests. 05:10.666 --> 05:13.166 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: And the State Department has said that he's there as a private citizen. 05:13.166 --> 05:15.300 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% Sumit Ganguly, thank you so much for joining us. 05:15.300 --> 05:16.300 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% SUMIT GANGULY: My pleasure entirely. 05:16.300 --> 05:16.433 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% Thank you.