Tag Archives: ethics

Public Citizen reports: When the new Congress convenes tomorrow, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are set to vote on a rules package that guts the Office of Congressional Ethics. The first provision is designed to remove the long-standing Democrats from the board. The second is to make it difficult for OCE to staff its office. These are measures …

The Associated Press reports: The House Oversight Committee says it is investigating whether Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao acted improperly to benefit herself or her family’s shipping company. Two Democratic leaders sent a letter Monday asking Chao to turn over documents related to the New York-based company, Foremost Group. Chao’s father and sisters own the company, which transports material to and …

Bloomberg Law reports: A Labor Department official who worked for a steel company in a lawsuit against a worker union after joining the Trump administration has stepped down from his post in the face of ethics questions. Associate Deputy Labor Secretary Michael Avakian resigned effective April 5, a Labor Department official told Bloomberg Law. The move comes less than one …

The Washington Post reports: The House on Friday approved a far-reaching elections and ethics bill — one that would change the way congressional elections are funded, impose new voter-access mandates on states, require “dark money” groups to publicize their donors and force disclosure of presidential candidates’ tax returns. Democrats dubbed the bill H.R. 1, a designation meant to signal its …

ABC News reports: A government watchdog group filed a new ethics complaint against House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes and majority committee staff on Thursday following a report that Senate investigators have determined House Republicans leaked private text messages related to the ongoing probe of Russian election interference. According to the New York Times, the leaders of the Senate Intelligence …

The Washington Examiner reports: Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., is stepping down from his role on the House Ethics Committee, citing a “challenging workload” as the reason for his departure. Gowdy informed House Speaker Paul Ryan of his decision in a letter on Jan. 10, the details of which were not made public until Saturday. The South Carolina Republican was tapped …

The Daily Beast reports: Roy Moore, the controversial Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Alabama, neglected to disclose as much as $150,000 in income to federal ethics officials, according to a Daily Beast review of public records. In filings with the Alabama Ethics Commission, Moore, the former chief justice of the state supreme court, listed between $50,000 and $150,000 in …

Politico reports: The U.S. Office of Government Ethics has quietly reversed its own internal policy prohibiting anonymous donations from lobbyists to White House staffers who have legal defense funds. 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 …

CNN reports: Watchdog groups are suing to get visitor logs from the White House and President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. An ethics group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and two open government groups, the National Security Archive and the Knight First Amendment Institute, filed suit against the government Monday in New York federal court. They also want …

CNN reports: The Office of Government Ethics isn’t happy with the White House’s decision not to punish top aide Kellyanne Conway for plugging Ivanka Trump’s products in a TV interview. OGE Director Walter Shaub told the White House in a letter Thursday that he remains concerned with Conway’s “misuse of position.” The ethics office recommended discipline because federal rules prohibit …

The Hill reports: President Trump’s transition team called off a plan for an ethics, leadership and management course for his senior White House staff and appointees, including Cabinet members, according to a new report. According to documents obtained by Politico, the Trump team opted not to have staffers go through the program, which would have covered confirmation hearings, complying with …

The Hill reports: The director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) says White House counselor Kellyanne Conway misused her official position by hawking Ivanka Trump’s product line on TV and recommends the White House punish her. “Under the present circumstances, there is strong reason to believe that Ms. Conway has violated the Standards of Conduct Act and that disciplinary …

Politico reports: House Republicans have found a subject for their opening review of conflicts of interest under Donald Trump: the federal official in charge of investigating conflicts of interest. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the head of the House Oversight Committee, criticized the director of the federal Office of Government Ethics on Thursday over his criticism of Donald Trump’s plan to address …

Politico reports: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Sunday rebuffed Democratic calls to slow down rapid confirmation of Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, even after a nonpartisan federal watchdog raised “great” concerns about moving ahead with hearings for nominees without their ethics reviews completed. Walter Shaub, the director of the independent Office of Government Ethics, laid out his warning in a …

So much for Kellyanne Conway’s “mandate.” CNN reports: House Republican leaders have pulled a proposal that would gut its independent ethics panel, amid widespread criticism of the plan, multiple lawmakers tell CNN. The decision comes less than two hours after President-elect Donald Trump criticized the timing of the vote, which was scheduled for the first day of the new congressional …

Politico reports: The move by Republicans in Congress to gut the independent Office of Congressional Ethics will cut down on “overzealousness,” incoming counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway said Tuesday morning, while leaving in place a “mechanism” with which to address ethical complaints. Although Conway stopped short of saying the GOP move came with the blessing of the president-elect, she …

But only the timing of the vote. CNN reports: Donald Trump called out House Republicans Tuesday for proposing a measure that would gut an independent ethics panel, although the President-elect suggested the ethics panel was “unfair.” “With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as …

The Hill reports: Amid blowback from Democrats, Rep. Marsha Blackburn on Tuesday defended a GOP-backed amendment that would weaken the House’s outside ethics watchdog. Blackburn said the amendment would provide more transparency in investigations. “What it will do is provide more transparency. Anytime you can provide more accountability and more transparency to any process that is in place, then you’re …

The Associated Press reports: House Republicans have voted to eviscerate the Office of Congressional Ethics, the independent body created in 2008 to investigate allegations of misconduct by lawmakers after several bribery and corruption scandals sent members to prison. The ethics change, which prompted an outcry from Democrats and government watchdog groups, is part of a rules package that the full …

Thanks in part to his own Instagram account, Rep. Aaron Schock is facing more questions about his spending on travel and personal expenses. Via the Chicago Tribune: Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock, a rising Republican star already facing an ethics inquiry, has spent taxpayer and campaign funds on flights aboard private planes owned by some of his key donors, The Associated …