Once again, a member of President Donald Trump’s administration is in hot water over potentially unethical conduct.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent a letter to the director of the Office of Government Ethics alleging that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin may have violated an ethics agreement that prohibits him from promoting his own business interests.
Wyden said the alleged violation came during an interview with Mike Allen, a co-founder of the start-up news website Axios, when Mnuchin plugged The Lego Batman Movie. The movie is being produced by Mnuchin’s company, Ratpac-Dune Entertainment.
“I’m not allowed to promote anything that I’m involved in,” Mnuchin said during a live interview with Allen on Friday, according to the letter. “So I just want to have the legal disclosure, you’ve asked me the question and I am not promoting any product. But you should all send your kids to Lego Batman.”Read more (3/27/17 4:21 PM)
The U.S. Office of Government Ethics, an independent executive branch ethics watchdog, recommended Tuesday that the White House discipline Trump’s counselor Kellyanne Conway for promoting Ivanka Trump’s clothing and accessory line during a recent press conference.
In a letter to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings and OGE director Walter M. Shaub, Jr. recommended the White House take action before the matter escalates further. Read more (2/14/17 3:20 PM)
White House adviser Kellyanne Conway will not face disciplinary action for promoting Ivanka Trump’s clothing and accessory line during a television appearance.
The White House determined that Conway acted “without nefarious motive,” CNN reported Wednesday.
“Upon completion of our inquiry, we concluded that Ms. Conway acted inadvertently and is highly unlikely to do so again,” Stefan C. Passantino, a White House deputy counsel for compliance and ethics, wrote in a letter to the Office of Government Ethics. Read more (3/1/17 1:21 PM)
On Friday, Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski reported that in a phone interview, Donald Trump said:
“Let it be an arms race; we will outmatch them at every pass.”
In response to Trump’s comments about nuclear weapons, Putin said, “As for [comments by] the newly elected president of the U.S., there is nothing new.“ Explaining that this is what Trump said during the campaign. Read more
Trump tweeted early Wednesday morning that he was in the process of crafting legal documents to leave the Trump Organization completely
The Dec. 15 date falls less than a week before the Electoral College will meet to choose the president.
As critics have pointed out, even if Trump does “leave” the company, there’s still a big conflict if his children run his business in his stead.
It’s particularly thorny if they remain active in his presidency — as they have so far, with positions on his transition team.
But even if they step away from his government, that would not solve the fundamental ethical problem.
As the Washington Post’s Anne Applebaum pointed out on Twitter, leaving his company would have to be only the first of many steps toward meaningful divestment. Read more
