It has been apparent that Donald Trump will have many conflicts of interests when he becomes the President of the United States next month. He has a number of lawsuits pending against him from business dealings, and he said on Fox News that he will not give up ownership of his company or other investments that he currently has as a business owner.

The problem with Trump falls on the fact that he has many foreign investments and interests that will come in direct violation of Article 1, Section 9 of the United States Constitution.

“When I ran, everybody knew that I was a very big owner of real estate all over the world,” Trump said in an attempt to explain away the conflict of interest concerns surrounding his impending presidency. “I’m not going to have anything to do with the management of the company.”

But that arrangement would put Trump in violation of Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution, which bars office holders from accepting “any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.”

The fact that he will be making money off of foreign powers, specifically Russia, is a huge problem for the incoming President. The Founding Fathers wrote this into the Constitution for a very specific reason. They did not want foreign influence in our government for it might undermine the integrity of the Republic. If our President is held on by a foreign entity it gives way to the very freedom and liberty that we fought for in 1776.

Foreign governments know that they can yield a tremendous amount of power within our country because they have the ear and money of the President. Instead of cutting all ties from his business investments, like every other President has done in the past, Trump will be the first that will have an active job outside of being President.