Federal Government Policy and Business

Federal ethics chief blasts Trump’s plan to break from businesses, calling it ‘meaningless’

The Washington Post: The head of the federal Office of Government Ethics on Wednesday denounced President-elect Donald J.Trump’s plan to separate the presidency from his business empire as “wholly inadequate” and said it does not meet the standards met by the “best of his nominees.”

“The ethics program starts at the top,” Director Walter Shaub said at Brookings Institution forum in Washington. “We can’t risk creating the perception that government officials will use their positions for personal profit.”

The unusual and lengthy statement from the government’s top ethics lawyer came hours after Trump outlined plans to shift his assets into a trust managed by his sons and give up management of his private company. Shaub said that Trump should place all of his assets in a blind trust instead to avoid potential conflicts of interest in the White House, echoing arguments that ethics lawyers have made in recent weeks.

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