self-dealing

Whilst the US president is only bound by tradition and the Emoluments Clause, being unable to receive gifts from foreign powers nor himself being able to grant grace and favour appointments that would otherwise amount to bestowing title of nobility, the presidential cabinet of advisors and other appointees are subject to quite specific laws to stave off conflicts of interest and ulterior motives.
Aside from the other potential baggage that the presumptive Secretary of State, Top Diplomat, the head of a petroleum concern and decorated with Russia’s Order of Friendship—a high civilian honour, the appointee will also come into the office with stocks in his own company worth a quarter of a billion dollars.  Because of regulations in place (some might argue that the incumbent Secretary of State was given a pass since he receives ketchup royalties through his wife of a nickel every time so one uses it) the appointee will have to resign from the company and he will have to divest himself of all those pesky, burdensome ties to his former career tax free. We here at PfRC are not here to question anyone’s civic-mindedness and view public service as a noble calling which could well benefit from an infusion of experience from the private sector (no matter how corporate welfare might have supported his rise in the industry) but it seems to me that having several hundred million or billions even exempt from taxation would be motivation enough to take a turn in serving the public and one would not even bother invoking anything else.