A few weeks ago on this podcast, we featured the first episodes of a new podcast from investigative journalists at WNYC Studios and ProPublica.

It's called Trump, Inc.

And every week, the team follows the breadcrumbs of the president's finances, looking for how the Trump family and administration are handling conflicts of interest between

this company and the White House.

We know that Trump has rejected the advice of ethics experts to divest himself of his private

enterprises.

Of course, he still declines to release his tax returns.

So, week by week, the podcast, Trump, Inc., looks for answers, sometimes with the help of the public.

We've enjoyed listening in, so we're dipping back into episode four,

in which the team fields listener questions, assisted by the Washington Post's David Farronthold.

This is Trump, Inc., from WNYC and ProPublica.

I'm I'm Ilya Maritz.

We're calling this podcast an open investigation.

What that means is we show you our work, we share what we know,

and you, dear listener, are sending us tips and suggestions.

We think it's a great way to work, and we're not the only ones doing things this way.

In 2016, when the Washington Post assigned a reporter to fact-check, then-candidate Donald Trump's claims that he gave a lot of money to charity,

that reporter, David Farenthold, kept a pen-in-ink notebook.

And in that notebook, he one-by-one followed up with hundreds of charities, tweeting out his progress as he went.

By the way, a lot of them said they never got a check from Trump.

And this method of sharing his progress led David Farenthold to some pretty bizarre stories.

Like the fact that in 2007, Donald Trump purchased a six-foot-tall portrait of himself

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