White House Moves to Block Ethics Inquiry Into Ex-Lobbyists on Payroll
Source: New York Times
The Trump administration, in a significant escalation of its clash with the government's top ethics watchdog, has moved to block an effort to disclose the names of former lobbyists who have been granted waivers to work in the White House or federal agencies.
The latest conflict came in recent days when the White House, in a highly unusual move, sent a letter to Walter M. Shaub Jr., the head of the Office of Government Ethics, asking him to withdraw a request he had sent to every federal agency for copies of the waivers. In the letter, the administration challenged his legal authority to demand the information.
Dozens of former lobbyists and industry lawyers are working in the Trump administration, which has hired them at a much higher rate than the previous administration. Keeping the waivers confidential would make it impossible to know whether any such officials are violating federal ethics rules or have been given a pass to ignore them.
Mr. Schaub, who is in the final year of a five-year term after being appointed by President Barack Obama, said he had no intention of backing down. "It is an extraordinary thing," Mr. Shaub said of the White House request. "I have never seen anything like it."
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/us/politics/trump-white-house-government-ethics-lobbyists.html
Ligyron
(7,639 posts)That was one of his campaign promises as part of his "drain the swamp" stratigery.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,361 posts)but it still tears things outside apart.
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)bresue
(1,007 posts)Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)Remember that the very first thing the republicans did on Jan 1, 2017 after stealing control of Congress, was to try and shitcan the ethics office. FAIL. Thank gawd.
But as today's news makes clear, the stanky republican cadre of comrades & cronies has never given up their soul-twisted, anti-American WAR ON ETHICS AND MORALITY.
NYT story from Jan. 2, 2017:
With No Warning, House Republicans Vote
to Gut Independent Ethics Office
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/us/politics/with-no-warning-house-republicans-vote-to-hobble-independent-ethics-office.html
gordianot
(15,243 posts)You have no ethical standards.
dchill
(38,532 posts)tclambert
(11,087 posts)(Almost makes Trump sound like an environmentalist. But I would never accuse him of being any kind of mentalist.)
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,192 posts)and hired its slimiest creatures.
TomCADem
(17,390 posts)Remember Republicans in Congress are going to attack Shaub for doing his job as they did back in January.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/13/chaffetz-calls-on-ethics-head-to-testify-day-after-chief-criticized-trump.html
House Republicans, led by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, have summoned the head of the independent federal ethics office to answer questions about his agency and his public criticism of President-elect Donald Trump's plan to separate from his real estate empire.
Chaffetz, the chairman of the GOP-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he sent a letter Thursday to Walter Shaub Jr., director of the Office of Government Ethics, asking him to appear before lawmakers in a closed-door, transcribed interview.
Shaub is not being subpoenaed, but asked to respond to questions in a setting like a deposition, committee staff said.
"I want to talk about the whole department," Chaffetz said in an interview. "Mr. Shaub has taken a very aggressive stance on issues he's never looked at. He's raised a bunch of eyebrows."