Trump OK'd partner with alleged Iran laundering family ties

Six months before he launched his presidential campaign, Donald Trump announced a new real estate project in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The partner was Anar Mammadov, the son of a government minister suspected by US diplomats of laundering money for Iran's military and described as "notoriously corrupt."
Eighteen months later, and only weeks after daughter Ivanka Trump released a publicity video of the nearly finished project, references to the Baku project have disappeared from Trump's website. Trump's general counsel, Alan Garten, told The Associated Press that it was on hold for economic reasons.
Trump often talks of hiring the best people and surrounding himself with people he can trust.

In practice, however, he and his executives have at times appeared to overlook details about the background of people he has chosen as business partners, such as whether they had dubious associations, had been convicted of crimes, faced extradition or inflated their resumes.
The Trump camp's vetting skills are important as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee turns to selecting a running mate. They would become even more crucial if he won the White House.

As president, Trump would have to name more than 3,600 political appointees to senior government jobs, including critical positions overseeing the national security and the economy.

In the Azerbaijani case, Garten said the Trump Organization had performed meticulous due diligence on the company's partners, and had hired a third-party firm that specializes in background intelligence and searching global sanctions, warrant and watch lists at home and abroad.
But Trump had not researched the allegations against the Baku partner's father because the father was not a party to the deal, Garten said.