Ethics
Ethics
The conflicts of interest held by the various members of the Administration.
Wednesday 15 May 2019
In the president’s first year in office, formal complaints that staffers were violating an 80-year-old law prohibiting them from political activity jumped.
Trump lawyers are arguing he’s an emperor, above the law, even as he calls on the Department of Justice to prosecute his political enemies.
Tuesday 14 May 2019
White House Ignored 2018 Request That Sought to Determine Whether Whistleblowers Know Their Rights
Saturday 23 March 2019
The tape of a private meeting was made shortly after the lawyer for an influential industry group was tapped for a high-level post at the Department of the Interior.
Friday 22 March 2019
Sale of items branded 'bizarre and wrong' by government ethics expert
Wednesday 20 March 2019
The prospect has White House aides worried the visit could turn a feel-good photo op into an embarrassing media spectacle.
Monday 25 February 2019
Trump Organization attorney Alan Futerfas said the committee’s decision to hire Barry Berke as a legal consultant violates ethics rules because Berke’s firm has long represented the Trump Organization.
Tuesday 19 February 2019
Chao has met at least 10 times with politicians and business leaders from the state in response to requests from McConnell’s office.
Friday 15 February 2019
...lawyers representing both the White House and the Trump Organization repeatedly provided false information to ethics officials, including “evolving stories” about whether payments were made to Mr. Cohen and the purposes of those payments.
Thursday 14 February 2019
Tyler McGaughey’s work will “intersect” with the Russia investigation.
...his son-in-law joining the White House legal team was "concerning" as it " it raises further questions about Barr's independence."
A clip in which the congresswoman asks ethics experts about government corruption has been viewed 40 million times
Friday 8 February 2019
Soon after Trump broke ground at Bedminster in 2002 with a golden shovel, this village emerged as a wellspring of low-paid labor for the private club
Wednesday 23 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 33
Across the government, initiatives that don’t align with President Donald Trump’s agenda are flickering off faster than favored ones during the partial government shutdown
Thursday 17 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 27
But these workers may be breaking federal ethics laws with their online fundraising.
Wednesday 16 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 26
“We. . . found that [the agency] improperly ignored these Emoluments Clauses, even though the lease itself requires compliance with the laws of the United States, including the Constitution”
“Trump should have divested his business interests rather than ignoring the advice of ethics experts.”
Such visits raise questions about whether patronizing Trump’s private business is viewed as a way to influence public policy
Wednesday 2 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 12
...that could eliminate causes of major instability during the previous eight years of Republican rule in Congress.
Tuesday 1 January 2019
Government Shutdown Day 11
“It may be immoral for them not to support him because he’s got African American employment to record highs, Hispanic employment to record highs,”
Sunday 30 December 2018
Government Shutdown Day 9
She told the Times that managers at the club had taken steps to help her evade detection as an undocumented worker.
Wednesday 26 December 2018
Government Shutdown Day 5
Claim from Whitaker’s University of Iowa football days listed on résumé and government documents
Saturday 22 December 2018
Government Shutdown Day 1
–James Comey, former F.B.I. Director
Thursday 20 December 2018
The Justice Department has concluded that Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker had no reason to recuse
Tuesday 18 December 2018
...her investigation found “a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation — including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more.”
Friday 14 December 2018
Walker approved the measures over the vehement objections of the incoming governor and despite fierce protest in the State Capitol as Republican lawmakers rushed the bills through in a hastily-called session last week.
Thursday 13 December 2018
They are seeking to make Republicans a permanent minority by essentially writing gerrymandering into the State Constitution.
It also establishes a “fairness test” requiring district maps to reflect how major political parties perform in statewide elections for governor, senator and president.
Saturday 8 December 2018
Records reveal controversy-prone Pruitt networked and arranged friendly media interviews on personal account
Saturday 1 December 2018
after discovering what was alleged to be a coordinated effort by Republican Party staff to disenfranchise Democratic Party voters by intentionally destroying and altering their absentee ballots.
Wednesday 28 November 2018
Earlier, the network had said that “this is not standard practice whatsoever and the matter is being addressed internally with those involved.”
Tuesday 27 November 2018
In past interviews with President Trump’s favorite cable-news show, the then-EPA chief’s team chose the topics for interviews, and knew the questions in advance.
Tuesday 20 November 2018
...a nudge that comes after months of stalled talks on reconciling the House and Senate's approaches.
Thursday 15 November 2018
And perhaps more important, the new revelations suggest Whitaker’s previous denials were misleading, at best.
Wednesday 14 November 2018
Matthew Whitaker’s past allegedly involves a number of shady business ventures.
Monday 12 November 2018
“He’s obviously not going to recuse himself. He should recuse himself because he’s prejudged the issue”
Saturday 10 November 2018
Thursday 8 November 2018
...who added they do not believe he would approve any subpoena of President Trump as part of that investigation.
Monday 5 November 2018
The interior secretary continued to work on issues regarding his Montana land holdings in 2017 despite a one-year recusal.
Thursday 1 November 2018
On Thursday, the police were investigating if Mr. Banks broke the law while promoting Britain’s departure, known as Brexit.
Thursday 11 October 2018
Thursday 6 September 2018
...a move that comes after the lawmakers were indicted in separate cases within the past month.
Tuesday 4 September 2018
EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins said the agency had no formal threat-assessment process to determine what was actually warranted.
The president has finally stated it plainly: He believes the government should subjugate rule of law to his political needs.
Wednesday 29 August 2018
...and renewed questions about his continued work for foreign clients while representing the president.
Saturday 25 August 2018
The former counsel to Newt Gingrich has been in charge of the administration’s compliance with ethics and conflicts-of-interest rules.
He’ll join the steady exodus of top White House officials who have left the Trump administration recently
Wednesday 15 August 2018
Government ethics experts immediately sounded the alarm, suggesting it may have been a violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activity while on the job.
Tuesday 14 August 2018
West Virginia lawmakers completed the extraordinary move of impeaching all four state Supreme Court justices Monday night for spending issues, including a suspended justice facing a 23-count federal indictment.
Monday 13 August 2018
Ross may have violated three laws by delivering false statements and omissions about his holdings in congressional testimony and financial disclosures
Thursday 2 August 2018
“I am writing to request an Inspector General review of when and how individuals are provided tours of and access to Air Force One”
Friday 13 July 2018
Thursday 12 July 2018
How did the nominee for the Supreme Court spend $60,000 to $200,000 on Washington Nationals seats—and how did he pay it off so quickly?
Friday 6 July 2018
In little more than a year, most of them were gone, chased away by scandal or disillusionment over what they viewed as a loss of focus by a boss distracted by the trappings of power
Thursday 5 July 2018
Pruitt is resigning because the public is being mean to him.
Tuesday 3 July 2018
EPA staffers met routinely in Pruitt's office to "scrub," alter or remove from Pruitt's official calendar numerous records because they might "look bad"
Pruitt had no response and left the restaurant before she returned to her seat three tables away.
Monday 2 July 2018
“Since your letter in April, additional potential issues regarding Mr. Pruitt have come to my attention through sources within EPA and media reports”
Sunday 1 July 2018
Voters are more likely to call out a lie if they first discuss the importance of being honest.
Thursday 28 June 2018
Pruitt was livid over Hupp’s testimony ... And he personally reached out to allies in the conservative movement, including some at the influential legal group the Federalist Society, to insist that she had lied about, or at least misunderstood, the request for a used Trump mattress.
Wednesday 27 June 2018
Trump [...] stands to gain personally when groups pay his companies. Since 2015, campaign staff and government officials have spent millions at his properties. Use this interactive graphic to track the money we’ve tallied so far.
Friday 22 June 2018
Wednesday 20 June 2018
The profligate public spending is a far cry from Pruitt’s political rhetoric. Announcing his bid for lieutenant governor of Oklahoma in 2006, Pruitt asked supporters to join him to “reverse our course and embrace fiscal conservative principles.”
Tuesday 19 June 2018
Commerce Secretary Wilbur L. Ross Jr. shorted stock in a shipping firm — an investment tactic for profiting if share prices fall — days after learning that reporters were preparing a potentially negative story about his dealings with the Kremlin-linked company.
Thursday 14 June 2018
New York prosecutors have accused the president and his kids of “persistently illegal conduct” related to the Donald J. Trump Foundation.
Tuesday 12 June 2018
Rosenstein has butted heads with House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes for months over a subpoena for documents related to the Russia investigation, but the battle spilled out into public view Tuesday after Fox News reported staff on the committee felt "personally attacked" at a meeting with Rosenstein in January.
Monday 11 June 2018
The filings show how the couple are collecting immense sums from other enterprises while serving in the White House, an extraordinary income flow that ethics experts have warned could create potential conflicts of interests.
Wednesday 6 June 2018
The departures come as Mr. Pruitt faces fresh questions about his management decisions.
“Rather than saying, you know that was a mistake, I shouldn’t have done that, or, it was totally innocent or saying nothing, he tries to defend it by touting the excellence of Chick-fil-A as a franchise. It’s as if he just doesn’t care”
Tuesday 5 June 2018
On Tuesday, yet another story was published about ethically dubious actions by Scott Pruitt
Monday 4 June 2018
Hupp’s search for a discount “Trump Home Luxury Plush Euro Pillow Top” mattress, which she detailed in a recent interview with congressional investigators, was one of several unusual tasks she performed for the administrator.
Monday 28 May 2018
“Ivanka Trump’s refusal to divest from her business is especially troubling as the Ivanka brand continues to expand its business in foreign countries”
Wednesday 23 May 2018
Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, received a secret payment of at least $400,000 (£300,000) to fix talks between the Ukrainian president and President Trump
Mr Cohen denies the allegation.
Tuesday 22 May 2018
The Environmental Protection Agency is barring The Associated Press, CNN and the environmental-focused news organization E&E from a national summit on harmful water contaminants.
Monday 21 May 2018
Trump has a direct financial interest in a major real estate development project essentially underwritten by a state-owned Chinese bank. In a normal administration, this would be a weeks-long scandal dominating media coverage of the White House.
Wednesday 16 May 2018
The acknowledgments came amid increasing allegations of legal and ethical misconduct by Mr. Pruitt that have led some lawmakers, including in his own party, to call for his resignation.
Wednesday 9 May 2018
Sometimes the most convoluted question ... is the most basic: Who is paying whom? The follow-up, which can be even more troubling, is, And for what?
Tuesday 8 May 2018
A booklet put out by Mrs Trump bore a striking resemblance to one published under the Obama administration.
Tuesday 1 May 2018
The president's personal attorney represented multiple clients in New York who allegedly staged car crashes to cheat insurance companies
Pasquale “Nino” Perrotta ... led Pruitt’s 24-hour security detail, putting him at the center of several of the ethics and spending episodes under review by the EPA inspector general and congressional investigators.
Thursday 26 April 2018
“I have nothing to hide,” Mr. Pruitt said in his opening remarks
Wednesday 25 April 2018
“We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress” ... “If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you.”
Friday 20 April 2018
As Oklahoma’s attorney general, Scott Pruitt assigned investigations agents from his office to be his driver and bodyguard, at times taking them on his frequent trips out of state to speak to conservative political organizations
Wednesday 18 April 2018
...despite claims he needed to travel in first class at government expense because of security threats.
Monday 16 April 2018
The law prohibits an agency from obligating more than $5,000 in federal funds to furnish, redecorate or make improvements in the office of a presidential appointee without first notifying appropriations committees in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
Wednesday 11 April 2018
“We expect Director Pompeo to be able to explain exactly what financial entanglement he had with the Chinese government and why he failed to disclose it”
Friday 6 April 2018
Representative Blake Farenthold, the Texas Republican who used $84,000 in taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment case with his former communications director, abruptly resigned from Congress on Friday afternoon.
Thursday 5 April 2018
But two EPA officials and a White House official told The Post that the administrator instructed staff to award substantial pay boosts to both women, who had worked in different roles for him in Oklahoma.
At least five officials at the Environmental Protection Agency, four of them high-ranking, were reassigned or demoted, or requested new jobs in the past year after they raised concerns about the spending and management of the agency’s administrator, Scott Pruitt.
Tuesday 27 March 2018
The NRA acknowledged that it allows for the transfer of funds in between its various entities, making it difficult to track its funding entirely.
Monday 19 March 2018
The House bill as passed would require lawmakers to pay for both sexual harassment and discrimination settlements out of pocket. But Senate Democrats want to nix the discrimination provisions
Sunday 18 March 2018
The Kushner Cos. routinely filed false paperwork with the city declaring it had zero rent-regulated tenants in dozens of buildings it owned across the city when, in fact, it had hundreds.
Friday 16 March 2018
The report goes on to allege that Mnuchin has “abused” his “easy access to military and other non-commercial aircraft for both business travel and what, upon closer inspection, appears to sometimes include personal travel.”
Wednesday 14 March 2018
At least a half-dozen current or former Trump Cabinet officials have been mired in federal investigations over everything from high-end travel and spending on items such as a soundproof phone booth to the role of family members weighing in on official business.
Newly released emails cast doubt on claims by Secretary Ben Carson and his spokesman that he had little or no involvement in the purchase of a $31,000 furniture set for his Department of Housing and Urban Development dining room. Emails show Carson and his wife selected the furniture themselves.
Monday 12 March 2018
Ivanka Trump’s continued relationship with the businesses affiliated with the Trump Organization creates countless potential conflicts of interest prohibited by federal law and federal ethics standards as she works as a special assistant to the president.
Wednesday 7 March 2018
“There is the broader ethical issue that he’s been married three times and cheated on all three of his wives And he takes his oath of office to uphold the Constitution about as seriously as he has taken his marriage vows”
Tuesday 6 March 2018
Conway ... violated the federal law prohibiting some political activity by high-level officials with her comments in two television interviews about the special election for a Senate seat from Alabama
Monday 5 March 2018
The bank used by President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer to wire $130,000 to a former adult-film actress flagged the transaction as suspicious and reported it to the Treasury Department
Wednesday 28 February 2018
Apollo, the private equity firm, and Citigroup made large loans last year to the family real estate business of Jared Kushner, President Trump’s senior adviser.
Tuesday 27 February 2018
The purchase of the custom hardwood table, chairs and hutch came a month after a top agency staff member filed a whistle-blower complaint charging Mr. Carson’s wife, Candy Carson, with pressuring department officials to find money for the expensive redecoration of his offices, even if it meant circumventing the law.
She also pointedly and repeatedly declined to answer questions about the presidential transition or her time in the White House ... telling investigators that she had been asked by the White House to discuss only her time on the campaign.
Monday 26 February 2018
How much was donated? Which Trump properties were included in this accounting? Which foreign entities had paid money to Trump’s businesses?
“We have nothing further to share at this time,”
"Do you believe your father's accusers?" "I think it's a pretty inappropriate question to ask a daughter if she believes the accusers of her father when he's affirmatively stated there's no truth to it."
Any other adviser at such a senior level and with such perceived influence over the President would be expected to face just these sorts of questions.
Sunday 11 February 2018
"In the context of the President's then-precarious financial position, I believe that the Palm Beach property sale warrants further scrutiny"
Saturday 10 February 2018
If you look up "situational ethics" in the dictionary, this is it. When men who he likes or who agree with his political leaning are accused of this sort of behavior, Trump is quick to note their denials -- and to slough off the very real evidence many of these women have to back up their claims. When the man is a political opponent, Trump has no problem taking the word of the women.
Friday 2 February 2018
Wednesday 31 January 2018
Trump's top public health official resigned from her post Wednesday after mounting questions about financial conflicts of interest, HHS announced.
Tuesday 30 January 2018
Buying shares of tobacco companies raises even more flags than Fitzgerald’s trading in drug and food companies because it stands in such stark contrast to the CDC’s mission to persuade smokers to quit and keep children from becoming addicted.
Monday 29 January 2018
The House Intelligence Committee chair claimed he’d been completely cleared, but the panel probing his conduct never gained access to the intelligence he was accused of divulging.
Saturday 27 January 2018
Saturday 20 January 2018
Government Shutdown Day 1
A Republican congressman was removed from the House Ethics Committee on Saturday after it was reported that he used thousands of dollars in taxpayer money to settle a misconduct complaint by a former staffer.
Friday 12 January 2018
More than one-fifth of Donald Trump’s US condominiums have been purchased since the 1980s in secretive, all-cash transactions that enable buyers to avoid legal scrutiny by shielding their finances and identities
Wednesday 10 January 2018
Trump sold 41 luxury condo units in Las Vegas last year to people who used limited liability companies (LLCs), which allow them to hide their identities
Sunday 24 December 2017
Trump kicked off his holiday weekend at Mar-a-Lago Friday night at a dinner where he told friends, "You all just got a lot richer," referencing the sweeping tax overhaul he signed into law hours earlier.
Tuesday 19 December 2017
Members of Congress who under other circumstances might be constrained by shame, custom, or the will of their constituents have learned from Trump’s election that you can get away with more than we used to think.
Wednesday 29 November 2017
Conway is alleged to have violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits executive branch employees from using their government positions to campaign for or against political candidates
Monday 27 November 2017
Schultz insists his exit is unrelated to any of those myriad controversies, but simply triggered by a desire to get back to private law work and back to Philadelphia, where his family has remained.
Monday 13 November 2017
Mr. Talley ... is the fourth judicial nominee under Mr. Trump to receive a “not qualified” rating from the American Bar Association and the second to receive the rating unanimously.
Thursday 26 October 2017
The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general has launched an inquiry into the deal with Whitefish following calls by the press and lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Tuesday 24 October 2017
Whitefish Energy Holdings, which had a reported staff of only two full-time employees when Hurricane Maria touched down, appears ill-equipped to handle the daunting task of restoring electricity to Puerto Rico’s more than 3 million residents.
Thursday 12 October 2017
Collins may have broken House ethics rules by meeting with the National Institutes of Health and asking for help with the design of a clinical trial being set up by the company, Innate Immunotherapeutics. Mr. Collins ... is also the company’s largest shareholder
Thursday 5 October 2017
"The...search and review of records confirmed that there is no system for keeping track of Presidential visitors at Mar-a-Lago, as there is at the White House Complex"
Tuesday 3 October 2017
The newly disclosed opinions, issued to the administrations of Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan ... detail how Justice Department lawyers concluded for decades that such appointments of family members were illegal under an anti-nepotism law passed in 1967.
Thursday 28 September 2017
The overseas trips bring the total cost to taxpayers of Price’s travels to more than $1 million since May
The move came as House and Senate investigators are pressing Price, as well as other Cabinet members, to disclose the extent to which they have relied on noncommercial travel to travel across the United States and overseas.
Saturday 23 September 2017
Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt has met regularly with corporate executives from the automobile, mining and fossil fuel industries — in several instances shortly before making decisions favorable to those interest groups
Friday 22 September 2017
Price’s practice of using charter jets follows Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s decision to use a government plane to fly to Fort Knox with his wife, Louise Linton, and view the solar eclipse.
Sunday 17 September 2017
State freedom-of-information laws generally allow requesters who believe they are wrongly denied records to file lawsuits seeking to force their release. If they succeed, government agencies can be ordered to pay their legal fees and court costs. Suing the requesters flips the script: Even if agencies are ultimately required to make the records public, they typically will not have to pay the other side’s legal bills.
Friday 15 September 2017
The head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics said on Friday that the agency is sticking with its long-standing stance prohibiting anonymous donations to White House legal defense funds, despite recently putting forward language that appeared to undercut that position.
Wednesday 13 September 2017
The little-noticed change could help President Donald Trump’s aides raise the money they need to pay attorneys as the Russia probe expands — but raises the potential for hidden conflicts of interest or other ethics trouble.
Tuesday 12 September 2017
In a stunning move, the House of Representatives on Tuesday approved an amendment to the Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act that will roll back Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s expansion of asset forfeiture.
Monday 28 August 2017
DeSantis has put forward a provision that would halt funding for Mueller’s probe six months after the amendment’s passage. It also would prohibit Mueller from investigating matters that occurred before June 2015, when Trump launched his presidential campaign.
Sunday 27 August 2017
...the details of the deal ... provide evidence that Trump’s business was actively pursuing significant commercial interests in Russia at the same time he was campaigning to be president — and in a position to determine U.S.-Russia relations.
Trump on Twitter plugged a book by controversial Sheriff David Clarke in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Like Arpaio, Clarke is a polarizing figure. Both endorsed Trump in the presidential campaign and spoke at the Republican National Convention.
Saturday 26 August 2017
His effort to see if the case could be dropped showed a troubling disregard for the traditional wall between the White House and the Justice Department
Friday 25 August 2017
In other words, it's transparent Trump is doing controversial things he knows are controversial, and he and the White House would prefer the public and the media not focus on it.
"We're so used to Trump conflicts of interest and abuse of office, that when he promotes his vineyard and lies about it, it's just a blip."
Thursday 24 August 2017
The group filed a Freedom of Information Act request for “copies of all records concerning authorization for and the costs of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s use of a government plane to travel to Lexington, Kentucky on Monday, August 21, accompanied by his wife Louise Linton.”
...shortly after Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced a bill that would let Mueller appeal his firing in court, Trump called up Tillis, signaled he was “unhappy” with the bill and said he didn’t want it to pass.
Monday 21 August 2017
The spouses of recent Treasury chiefs rarely traveled on official business with their husbands
...the latest example of how GOP political committees are generating a steady income stream for President Trump’s private business
Thursday 17 August 2017
“At this highly divisive political moment, especially as many Trump decisions are likely soon to reach the court’s docket, one just days later, a healthy respect for public confidence in the court should have led Justice Gorsuch to demur”
Saturday 5 August 2017
Fox News Channel suspended longtime host Eric Bolling on Saturday, amid a report that he sent lewd texts to female co-workers at the network.
Conway said Friday the Justice Department might consider using lie detector tests to find out who has been leaking information to media
Friday 28 July 2017
What about Trump, exactly, reflects their values?
And the religious right, which intones “Judge Gorsuch, Judge Gorsuch!” when confronted with the series of Trump abominations, should do some soul-searching. Was this trashing of the White House, assault on civil language and conduct and contempt for the Constitution (the one the religious right thinks is so important that the new Supreme Court justice must protect it) worth it?
Wednesday 26 July 2017
“Our president has given signals that he is reviewing the Constitution and, in the process of reviewing it, it has been published that the review includes that possibility of his considering pardoning himself”
...an amendment introduced through Congress would require a two-thirds vote by both chambers. Then, it also would require ratification by three-quarters of all 50 states.
The disclosure highlights the extensive wealth Scaramucci has accumulated ... and also the challenge he faces in extracting himself from the potential conflicts his investments could pose.
Foreign governments are paying Trump; The Defamation lawsuit; The White House promotes Melania’s jewelry line; Kellyanne Conway endorses Ivanka’s clothing line; Wilbur Ross keeps investments that he affects as commerce secretary; Mar-a-Lago jacks up its rates; Trump’s campaign pays his businesses; The Kushners tout Jared’s White House connections to do business in China; Kushner fails to disclose key assets; Ivanka and Jared are still making a lot of money from their businesses; Trump’s products aren’t made in America; The government writes Trump a $15,000 check; The administration sidelines climate scientists
Saturday 22 July 2017
—Anthony Scaramucci, incoming White House communications director.
Thursday 20 July 2017
It is no surprise, but it is still a shock, to see how little President Trump understands about the independence of the Justice Department and the importance of the rule of law.
Wednesday 19 July 2017
“Some people are like, ‘This is bullshit, this is just an effort to undermine Trump,’ then some are like, ‘Trump needs to be removed from office.’ It’s all over the place.”
Friday 14 July 2017
Unfortunately for these voters and others who wrote in, the Trump administration did not redact any of their personal information from the emails before releasing them to the public. In some cases, the emails contain not only names, but email addresses, home addresses, phone numbers and places of employment of people worried about such information being made available to the public.
“DO NOT RELEASE ANY OF MY VOTER DATA PERIOD,” wrote one voter whose name and email address was published by the White House.
Thursday 13 July 2017
“Call me. Don’t be afraid, you piece of shit. Stand up. If you don’t call, you’re just afraid.” And later: “I already know where you live, I’m on you. You might as well call me. You will see me. I promise. Bro.”
Wednesday 12 July 2017
"We write with some concern that the two events may be connected — and that the Department may have settled the case at a loss for the United States in order to obscure the underlying facts."
Tuesday 11 July 2017
Some appointees are reviewing rules their previous employers sought to weaken or kill, and at least two may be positioned to profit if certain regulations are undone.
Thursday 6 July 2017
While this is the first time the administration has publicly declared its interest in using the Justice Department as a tool for stifling dissent, Trump has been encouraging Time Warner to discipline its news network for months now.
“There isn’t much more I could accomplish at the Office of Government Ethics, given the current situation”
Wednesday 5 July 2017
I think it's a legitimate story that the sort of people who post Trump-fluffing memes also post bigoted garbage — that this is the community that the White House looks to for inspiration.
Monday 3 July 2017
“Trying to hold companies to standards that our current administration is not living up to was creating a cognitive dissonance that I could not overcome”
Friday 30 June 2017
“We got a call that ‘hey the National Enquirer is going to run a negative story about you guys,’” Scarborough said. “And they said ‘if you call the president up and you apologize for your coverage then he would pick up the phone and basically spike this story.’”
Sunday 25 June 2017
The analysis found four times as many states with Republican-skewed state House or Assembly districts than Democratic ones.
Thursday 22 June 2017
By undoing that change, insurance companies would return to the same rules as other firms, and have a stronger incentive top offer big money to their top executives.
One could even argue that bog-standard Republicans, under the leadership of Ryan and McConnell, represent an bigger threat to our democracy than Trump, possessing as they do more competence and cunning than the TV-addled overgrown toddler in the White House.
Wednesday 21 June 2017
While there is no indication that Trump himself was involved in the decision, it is nonetheless a stark illustration of how his financial interests can directly rise or fall on the policies of his administration.
Tuesday 20 June 2017
The federal government’s leaders are hiding from public scrutiny — and their penchant for secrecy represents a stark departure from the campaign promises of Trump and his fellow Republicans to usher in newfound transparency.
Saturday 17 June 2017
Trump has thrown his weight firmly behind the two countries where he has business ties, raising new concerns about the appearance of a conflict between his public role and his financial incentives.
Sunday 11 June 2017
...he received a handful of "unusual" phone calls from Donald Trump after the November election that made him feel uncomfortable, and said he was fired after declining to take the third call.
Friday 9 June 2017
"Shutting down oversight requests doesn't drain the swamp, Mr. President. It floods the swamp," Grassley wrote
Wednesday 7 June 2017
January 6 Briefing: Creating written records immediately after one-on-one conversations with Mr. Trump was my practice from that point forward. This had not been my practice in the past.
January 27 Dinner: "A few moments later, the President said, “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.” I didn’t move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed. We simply looked at each other in silence."
February 14 Oval Office Meeting: He then said, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”
March 30 Phone Call: He described the Russia investigation as “a cloud” that was impairing his ability to act on behalf of the country. He said he had nothing to do with Russia, had not been involved with hookers in Russia, and had always assumed he was being recorded when in Russia. He asked what we could do to “lift the cloud.”
April 11 Phone Call: “Because I have been very loyal to you, very loyal; we had that thing you know.” I did not reply or ask him what he meant by “that thing.” ... That was the last time I spoke with President Trump.
Trump, by refusing to sell off his companies or place them in a blind trust, is in ongoing violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause — which prohibits the president from accepting gifts or payments from foreign governments
Tuesday 6 June 2017
U.S. Office of Government Ethics Director Walter Shaub told Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) that his office lacks jurisdiction to examine whether benefits Trump gets from federal government dealings with his private businesses run afoul of the domestic emoluments clause in the Constitution.
And while donors to the Eric Trump Foundation were told their money was going to help sick kids, more than $500,000 was re-donated to other charities, many of which were connected to Trump family members or interests
Monday 5 June 2017
...the Trump Organization announced plans for a new three-star hotel chain with a patriotic flair, echoing President Trump’s campaign slogan about putting America first
Saturday 3 June 2017
...arguing that the rules for such forms are so ambiguous that a lawsuit challenging the disclosure must be thrown out.
Trump's form appears to blend his personal debts with those of businesses he has interests in, effectively obscuring which creditors may have the greatest leverage over him.
Thursday 1 June 2017
“There is no such thing as a retroactive waiver,” Mr. Shaub said in an interview. “If you need a retroactive waiver, you have violated a rule.”
Wednesday 31 May 2017
The waivers exempt the appointees from certain portions of ethics rules aimed at barring potential conflicts of interest.
Saturday 27 May 2017
...by June 1, the administration will publicly post waivers given to appointees who have been exempted from aspects of federal ethics rules
Thursday 25 May 2017
...the Trump Organization wasn't willing to track the origin of the payments it receives because it would be "impractical" to ask people paying it money to state whether they were acting on behalf of a government, and doing so would "diminish the guest experience of our brand."
Wednesday 24 May 2017
Just before taking office, President Donald Trump promised to donate all profits earned from foreign governments back to the U.S. Treasury.
Monday 22 May 2017
...moved to block an effort to disclose any ethics waivers granted to former lobbyists who have work in the White House or federal agencies.
Tuesday 16 May 2017
A Manafort spokesperson said the $3.5 million loan, which was taken out through a shell company, was repaid in December
“I hope you can let this go,” the president told Mr. Comey
Sunday 14 May 2017
“Tell me how it can possibly be OK that you were championing positions on health care issues that have the effect of increasing your personal wealth?”
Thursday 11 May 2017
Throughout his career, Mr. Trump has made loyalty from the people who work for him a key priority, often discharging employees he considers insufficiently reliable.
Sunday 7 May 2017
...if they stumped up at least half a million dollars for the project they could become US residents under a controversial cash-for-residency program
Sunday 30 April 2017
Wednesday 26 April 2017
In sum, Gorka’s Ph.D is about as legitimate as if he had been awarded it by Trump University.
Sunday 23 April 2017
...the longest stretch Donald Trump has gone without visiting one of the properties that is part of his private business empire has been six days.
Wednesday 19 April 2017
And the dossier could not have been the bureau’s sole evidence for needing a warrant.
Tuesday 18 April 2017
Monday 17 April 2017
...doing so would discourage outsiders who require anonymity to offer frank advice to the president and his top advisers.
Saturday 15 April 2017
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.
Wednesday 12 April 2017
Mr. Manafort’s ties to Ukraine and Russia have come under scrutiny as federal officials investigate Russian meddling in the American presidential election.
Saturday 8 April 2017
For the 10th weekend in a row, President Trump is visiting a Trump-branded property — every weekend except the first two after his inauguration.
For the sixth weekend in a row, he’s golfing at one of those properties; he’s golfed on nine of those 10 weekends.
Thursday 6 April 2017
Homeland Security further asked that Twitter keep the very existence of the summons secret, and added that “failure to comply with this summons will render you liable to proceedings in a U.S. District Court”
Wednesday 5 April 2017
The fact that the resort has become a hotspot for meetings with foreign heads of state is a real commercial coup for Mar-a-Lago’s owner.
Tuesday 4 April 2017
“Each of the individual incidents constitutes a violation of academic ethics. I've never seen a college plagiarism code that this would not be in violation of”
Monday 3 April 2017
ProPublica ... did not appreciate Spicer calling it a “left-wing blog” during the Monday press briefing
There is a chance Trump will list his profits in his next federal financial disclosure, in May 2018, but the form doesn’t require it. The surest way to see what profits Trump is taking would be the release of his tax returns
Saturday 1 April 2017
Unlike Mr. Trump, who is exempt from conflict of interest laws, both Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump — who took a formal White House position this past week — are forbidden under federal criminal and civil law to take any action that might benefit their particular financial holdings.
But Flynn appears to have been doing exactly what he said he wasn’t doing.
Friday 31 March 2017
On the same day the stockbroker for then-Georgia Congressman Tom Price bought him up to $90,000 of stock in six pharmaceutical companies last year, Price arranged to call a top U.S. health official, seeking to scuttle a controversial rule that could have hurt the firms’ profits and driven down their share prices
“I want to reassure you that I will exercise greater caution to avoid any suggestion that I do not take these important rules seriously,” he wrote.
Thursday 30 March 2017
In what seemed like a moment of unintentional candor, Yoho said Nunes “works for” and “answers to” President Trump. MSNBC’s Craig Melvin shot back, “Does he? Or does he work for constituents?”
Wednesday 29 March 2017
"I will instead serve as an unpaid employee in the White House Office, subject to all of the same rules as other federal employees"
Tuesday 28 March 2017
Nunes said on Tuesday he will not divulge - even to other members of his panel - who gave him intelligence reports that indicated President Donald Trump and his associates may have been ensnared in incidental intelligence collection.
“If the Secret Service can’t keep track of who has access to the president outside the White House then that’s a national security concern”
“I’m not allowed to promote anything I’m involved in ... But you should send all your kids to ‘Lego Batman.’”
Mnuchin is credited as an executive producer on the movie, which was produced by a film company he founded
Monday 27 March 2017
Nunes’ meetings at the White House have increased suspicions among Democrats that the congressman’s decision to go public with his allegation was orchestrated by the Trump administration to take some heat off Trump
The Obama-era rule was intended to prevent the government from contracting with businesses responsible for wage theft or workplace safety violations at any point within the last three years.
Sunday 26 March 2017
Nunes canceled an open hearing that had been scheduled for Tuesday with former senior officials who have battled Trump.
Schiff ... said that he suspected the cancellation was driven by “very strong pushback from the White House.”
Friday 24 March 2017
Trump, who has a security clearance, is not a White House employee, which means she isn't subject to certain transparency and ethical provisions.
Thursday 23 March 2017
"I felt I had a duty and obligation to tell him because as you know he’s been taking a lot of heat in the news media."
...the information in hand suggests "people connected to the campaign were in contact and it appeared they were giving the thumbs up to release information when it was ready."
Apology or not, though, Nunes already has showed his hand: he is playing the role of White House defender rather than Congressional investigator
“At the end of the day, sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you don’t”
Since even Nunes admits that this surveillance was routine, why this revelation would “vindicate” Trump’s accusation that Obama wiretapped him remains a mystery.
Wednesday 22 March 2017
“And I can’t go into the particulars, but there is more than circumstantial evidence now.”
Monday 20 March 2017
“Russia probe that Comey confirmed was, as best we can tell, in effect before Nov. 8,” he wrote, referring to Election Day. “Fair to ask why he didn’t think voters deserved to know."
The first daughter will not, however, become a government employee, raising ethics questions.
Saturday 18 March 2017
They say they’re following the letter of an ethics arrangement that states they’re not to talk about the family business with their dad
Friday 17 March 2017
The Georgia lawmaker traded hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of shares in health-related companies, even as he voted on and sponsored legislation affecting the industry.
Wednesday 15 March 2017
To sum up: An influence-peddler who works with a princeling tied to Chinese military intelligence placed $15.8 million in the pockets of the president of the United States.
Monday 13 March 2017
Bharara was the closest thing New York—and, arguably, the country—had to a genuine corruption buster with a national profile.
Sunday 12 March 2017
Mr. Bharara, in response to the White House’s [anonymous] comments, said: “It was my understanding that the president himself has said anonymous sources are not to be believed.”
Last week, watchdog groups asked Bharara to investigate Trump regarding foreign business deals
Friday 10 March 2017
Thursday 9 March 2017
In normal circumstances, a “no comment” from the Justice Department on the status of any investigation would be standard practice.
"Not taking disciplinary action against a senior official under such circumstances risks undermining the ethics program"
Wednesday 8 March 2017
...a group of ethics watchdogs is turning to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara to look into whether President Trump's many business interests violate the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
...paving the way for President Donald Trump and his family to develop a host of branded businesses from hotels to insurance to bodyguard and escort services
Tuesday 7 March 2017
Page ... was told by Lewandowski that he could make the trip, but not as an official representative of the campaign
Saturday 4 March 2017
"This part of the letter is another salvo in Trump's war on ethics."
Thursday 2 March 2017
“Lo and behold, the documents Scott Pruitt wanted to keep hidden have confirmed our suspicion that he used his personal email address to conduct official state business”
“This is being presented as if it’s a national secret, as if it were a plot to invade another country.”
These false reports could have the effect of illegally increasing the amount Trump could accept from contributors for his 2020 reelection campaign.
...the newly-revealed communications further contradict months of repeated denials by Trump officials that his campaign had contact with officials representing the Russian government.
"It gives me some pause that he wasn't more clear about the meeting,"
Wednesday 1 March 2017
When Sessions spoke with Kislyak in July and September, the senator was a senior member of the influential Armed Services Committee as well as one of Trump’s top foreign policy advisers.
White House Deputy Counsel Stefan Passantino said he met with Conway after her comments and that she committed to follow the rules in the future.
Monday 27 February 2017
If one of the president’s chief advisers cannot freely speak her mind, even when it is full of nonsense, then who can?
"If Ms. Conway were not a lawyer and was “only” engaging in politics, there would be few limits on her conduct outside of the political process itself. She could say and do what she wished and still call herself a politician. But she is a lawyer. And her conduct, clearly intentionally violative of the rules that regulate her professional status, cries out for sanctioning by the DC Bar."
Spicer personally picked up the phone and connected outside officials with reporters ... then remained on the line for the brief conversations
Sunday 26 February 2017
"Having Jeff Sessions oversee such an investigation, it's really unfair to any foxes across America to say that would be the fox guarding the henhouse."
Friday 24 February 2017
The efforts of the White House to preempt the FBI investigation of contacts closely mirrors some of the conduct described in the Articles of Impeachment against Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal.
The most important element of that story is that it's against the rules for the White House to contact the FBI for matters like that
Thursday 23 February 2017
White House officials had sought the help of the bureau and other agencies investigating the Russia matter to say that the reports were wrong and that there had been no contacts
Wednesday 22 February 2017
Chaffetz (R-Utah) is zeroing in on the issue that really matters: a tweet from Utah's Bryce Canyon National Park.
Democrats are fuming that Republicans are trying to bury the panel vote by scheduling it on a busy news day.
Tuesday 21 February 2017
...one of his companies applied for trademark protection in the Philippines more than a month after the election
Monday 20 February 2017
...the Trump transition team instead ordered CEA staffers to predict sustained economic growth of 3 to 3.5 percent. The staffers were then directed to backfill all the other numbers in their models to produce these growth rates.
Saturday 18 February 2017
"I am now very confident Senate Intel Comm I serve on will conduct thorough bipartisan investigation of #Putin interference and influence."
Friday 17 February 2017
“China’s decision to award President Trump with a new trademark allowing him to profit from the use of his name is a clear conflict of interest and deeply troubling”
What makes the CNN-Time Warner situation so sticky is AT&T's pending $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner.
The Pentagon has a rule requiring retired officers to report income from foreign states.
In accordance with the “We the People” Open Government Initiative protocol, a petition would be reviewed and met with an official response if signed by 100,000 people in 30 days.
The Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, who has refused Democratic requests to investigate possible conflicts of interest involving President Donald Trump, is seeking criminal charges against a former State Department employee who helped set up Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
Thursday 16 February 2017
The Jan. 24 interview potentially puts Flynn in legal jeopardy. Lying to the FBI is a felony offense.
...resolutely resisting any investigation into President Trump’s breached hotel lease, his conflicts of interest, his ties with Russia and his recent receipt of a trademark from China — just after reaffirming the One China policy — which is indisputably an “emolument” from a foreign government.
Wednesday 15 February 2017
Chaffetz said the Oversight Committee won't probe the circumstances surrounding Flynn.
"I just don't think it's useful to be doing investigation after investigation, particularly of your own party. We'll never even get started with doing the things we need to do, like repealing Obamacare, if we're spending our whole time having Republicans investigate Republicans. I think it makes no sense."
The consensus among lawmakers came at a tense moment, when congressional Republicans were already finding it difficult to defend Trump as the tempestuous start to his term has stoked frustration, fatigue and fear on Capitol Hill.
Tuesday 14 February 2017
After suffering rejection after rejection in China's courts, he saw his prospects change dramatically after starting his presidential campaign.
“I recommend that the White House investigate Ms. Conway’s actions and consider taking disciplinary action against her”
Monday 13 February 2017
The move comes less than a month into the job, making him one of the shortest-serving senior presidential advisers in modern history.
Defying decades of precedent, Trump has refused to release his tax documents, which Democrats say could show whether his business empire poses any conflicts of interest
Top White House officials have been reviewing Flynn's contacts with the Russians and whether he discussed the possibility of lifting U.S. sanctions on Russia once Trump took office.
Saturday 11 February 2017
The White House has dismissed the dossier as fiction, and some of the facts and assertions it includes have indeed been proven wrong. Other allegations in the dossier, however, are still being investigated.
Friday 10 February 2017
In the Obama administration, someone like Burr would have been barred by ethics rules from taking a job at an agency that he had lobbied.
Reached for comment this afternoon, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said, "We continue to be disgusted by CNN's fake news reporting."
Trump told his staff that Spicer's comments made Conway look as if she was in trouble at the White House.
The talks were part of a series of contacts between Flynn and Kislyak that began before the Nov. 8 election and continued during the transition
Thursday 9 February 2017
“All of this demands investigation, and of course they’ve refused. This resolution will force them to confront the issue.”
Enforcement measures are largely left to the head of the federal agency — in Conway’s case, the White House.
The Trump family's tangle of global business interests has raised concern among ethics watchdogs for months.
Since Trump entered office, there has been far more back-and-forth between reporters and Press Secretary Sean Spicer on the inauguration crowd size, Trump's bathrobe, and Melissa McCarthy than the Russia scandal.
Wednesday 8 February 2017
"It is an example of why Donald Trump and his family needed to step away, needed to make a more definitive break"
Tuesday 7 February 2017
It cost her $115,000 in personal donations to sitting Republican senators; $950,000 more has flowed in from the DeVos family over the last three-and-a-half decades.
Military support for a president [...] requires close proximity to the commander in chief, which is why the Pentagon needs to rent a more expensive space closer to the penthouse where Trump resides when he's in New York.
The problem is that the $97,830 charge was for all intents and purposes a business expense, [...] it’s yet another reminder of the president’s refusal to divest from his businesses, a situation that continues to create a multitude of conflicts of interest.
...the unusual statement about her expected income drew swift condemnation from ethics watchdogs as inappropriate profiteering from her high-profile position, which is typically centered on public service.
Sunday 5 February 2017
"I think we have to have an investigation by the FBI into his financial, personal and political connections to Russia, and we want to see his tax returns, so we can have truth in the relationship between Putin, whom he admires, and Donald Trump."
Friday 3 February 2017
“I don’t see how this in the slightest bit avoids a conflict of interest”
A second directive would call on the Department of Labor to defer implementation of an Obama-era rule, known as the Fiduciary Rule, requiring financial advisers to act in the best interests of their clients in retirement planning.
Wednesday 1 February 2017
House GOP voted on Wednesday to kill an Obama-era regulation that would require publicly traded oil, gas, and mining companies to disclose any payments that they made to foreign governments, including taxes and royalties.
Tuesday 31 January 2017
It’s possible to celebrate a Nazi feeling discomfort while disagreeing with the idea that punching is good.
Monday 30 January 2017
He sees this as a deterioration of transparency and accountability.
Saturday 28 January 2017
Trump is now facing questions about whether he designed the new rules with his own business at least partly in mind.
Friday 27 January 2017
The emoluments clause, however, does not require direct proof of anything untoward, and that is essential to its effectiveness.
A dossier with unverified claims about President Donald Trump's ties to Russia...
Thursday 26 January 2017
It’s not like she made them a pot roast or taught their kids algebra, for heaven’s sake.
Wednesday 25 January 2017
Some ethics watchdogs were skeptical.
If the full identity of the new owners of the Rosneft stake is a mystery, so too is the complete source of the funds with which they bought it.
Seriously, it was just a few fields and a warehouse, and you idiots still appointed a special prosecutor and spent six months investigating it.
Sunday 22 January 2017
Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump's national security adviser, has been the subject of U.S. counterintelligence investigations over his past communications with Russia's ambassador to the U.S.