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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrumps Appointees Raise Potential Ethics Conflicts
WASHINGTON President Trump is populating the White House and federal agencies with former lobbyists, lawyers and consultants who in many cases are helping to craft new policies for the same industries in which they recently earned a paycheck.
The potential conflicts are arising across the executive branch, according to an analysis of recently released financial disclosures, lobbying records and interviews with current and former ethics officials by The New York Times in collaboration with ProPublica.
In at least two cases, the appointments may have already led to violations of the administrations own ethics rules. But evaluating if and when such violations have occurred has become almost impossible because the Trump administration is secretly issuing waivers to the rules.
One such case involves Michael Catanzaro, who serves as the top White House energy adviser. Until late last year, he was working as a lobbyist for major industry clients such as Devon Energy of Oklahoma, an oil and gas company, and Talen Energy of Pennsylvania, a coal-burning electric utility, as they fought Obama-era environmental regulations, including the landmark Clean Power Plan. Now, he is handling some of the same matters on behalf of the federal government.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump%e2%80%99s-appointees-raise-potential-ethics-conflicts/ar-BBzSf5k?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=edgsp
elleng
(131,025 posts)dchill
(38,511 posts)rethink EVERYTHING! Who could have even guessed? I guess I always thought that if Trumpy did it, it can't be unethical OR illegal.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,781 posts)FakeNoose
(32,680 posts)He drained out the alligators and filled it up with crocodiles.
(sigh) It's one more lie to add to the astonishingly long list.
Ccarmona
(1,180 posts)And the 35% still think Trump cares about them. They haven't realized or won't admit they've been duped.