Trump demands Ethics Office end probe into Lobbyists working for him

[BmorePat87]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/us/politics/trump-white-house-government-ethics-lobbyists.html?_r=0

Quote: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. Shaub, 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.”

Marilyn L. Glynn, who served as general counsel and acting director of the agency during the George W. Bush administration, called the move by the Trump White House “unprecedented and extremely troubling.”

“It challenges the very authority of the director of the agency and his ability to carry out the functions of the office,” she said.

The White House says it's just politics and that they're committed to being highly ethical, despite the fact that, as early as January, lobbyists were being hired to work on the very issues they lobbied for. Trump has the authority to issue waivers on his own directive to prevent this very scenario, making it more lip service than commitment to end the revolving door of lobbyists working in the government. They just want more time to deal to challenge legality of this request to find how many lobbyists are working for Trump. I'm sure there's nothing to hide based on their response...

[Dill]

(05-22-2017, 06:29 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/us/politics/trump-white-house-government-ethics-lobbyists.html?_r=0

The White House says it's just politics and that they're committed to being highly ethical, despite the fact that, as early as January, lobbyists were being hired to work on the very issues they lobbied for. Trump has the authority to issue waivers on his own directive to prevent this very scenario, making it more lip service than commitment to end the revolving door of lobbyists working in the government. They just want more time to deal to challenge legality of this request to find how many lobbyists are working for Trump. I'm sure there's nothing to hide based on their response...

Is anyone on the Trump team concerned about timing, optics--appearances??

[SunsetBengal]

Since the Office of Government Ethics falls under the Executive Branch, Trump has every right to demand they stop. In fact, he could even fire Shaub, as POTUS has ultimate power over every office of the Executive Branch.

[NATI BENGALS]

(05-22-2017, 07:33 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Since the Office of Government Ethics falls under the Executive Branch, Trump has every right to demand they stop.  In fact, he could even fire Shaub, as POTUS has ultimate power over every office of the Executive Branch.

Hell yea!

Screw ethics. Lord Trump dictates this shit now. 







For real though... Is there anything this guy will do that you guys won't defend?
Ridiculous. 
Just because he knows how to pluck your heart strings and wears a make America Great Again hat doesn't mean the dude who settled a lawsuit for ripping off college kids seeking an education days before being sworn in really cares about you. 

I had so much more faith in the American populous before the orange bag of smashed assholes proved to me my faith was very much misplaced. 

[SunsetBengal]

(05-22-2017, 07:51 PM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: Hell yea!

Screw ethics. Lord Trump dictates this shit now. 







For real though... Is there anything this guy will do that you guys won't defend?
Ridiculous. 
Just because he knows how to pluck your heart strings and wears a make America Great Again hat doesn't mean the dude who settled a lawsuit for ripping off college kids seeking an education days before being sworn in really cares about you. 

I had so much more faith in the American populous before the orange bag of smashed assholes proved to me my faith was very much misplaced. 

Give it a rest.  Shaub is an Obama appointee, in 2013.  I would think it safe to say that he feels little or no loyalty to his current boss, the President.

[NATI BENGALS]

(05-22-2017, 08:10 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Give it a rest.  Shaub is an Obama appointee, in 2013.  I would think it safe to say that he feels little or no loyalty to his current boss, the President.

Vision – To achieve a high level of public confidence in the integrity of 
executive branch programs and operations.

Mission – Provide overall leadership and oversight of the executive branch 
ethics program designed to prevent and resolve conflicts of interest.

https://oge.gov/Web/OGE.nsf/Mission%20and%20Responsibilities

And he shouldn't. His job isn't to be loyal to anyone. 

Trump hiring industry lawyers and lobbyists isn't draining the swamp. It his helping the massive corporations who are pumping stupid money into the top 1% tighten their grip around the throat of middle class America. 

[SunsetBengal]

(05-22-2017, 08:24 PM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: Vision – To achieve a high level of public confidence in the integrity of 
executive branch programs and operations.

Mission – Provide overall leadership and oversight of the executive branch 
ethics program designed to prevent and resolve conflicts of interest.

https://oge.gov/Web/OGE.nsf/Mission%20and%20Responsibilities

And he shouldn't. His job isn't to be loyal to anyone. 

Trump hiring industry lawyers and lobbyists isn't draining the swamp. It his helping the massive corporations who are pumping stupid money into the top 1% tighten their grip around the throat of middle class America. 

This guy seems to have made it clear that he was not Pro Trump, prior to Trump even taking office.

From Shaub's Wikipedea page:

Quote:Shaub has been outspoken with concerns about the Trump administration during the transition period before he takes office. He delivered a long statement on January 11, 2017 regarding concerns with the president-elect's plans to move his assets into a trust managed by his sons.[3] Shaub was also the author of a series of tweets published on the Office of Government Ethics Twitter account, which gained media attention for breaking from the account's typically serious tone to mimick Donald Trump's tweeting style and congratulate him on his announcement that he would divest himself of his business assets.[4][3][5]

[NATI BENGALS]

(05-22-2017, 08:31 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: This guy seems to have made it clear that he was not Pro Trump, prior to Trump even taking office.

From Shaub's Wikipedea page:

So you would prefer a pro Trump ethics watchdog that lets you guy do whatever he wants. 

[SunsetBengal]

(05-22-2017, 08:36 PM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: So you would prefer a pro Trump ethics watchdog that lets you guy do whatever he wants. 

Not exactly.  However, I don't find it beyond the realm of possibility that this guy is biased. 

[NATI BENGALS]

(05-22-2017, 08:41 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Not exactly.  However, I don't find it beyond the realm of possibility that this guy is biased. 

Do you find it in the realm of possibility any ethics watchdog charged with overseeing the executive branch who actually takes their job seriously would have a problem with some of the things this administration has done?

Or is this guy just doing his job because he has it out for Trump?

[SunsetBengal]

(05-22-2017, 08:44 PM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: Do you find it in the realm of possibility any ethics watchdog charged with overseeing the executive branch who actually takes their job seriously would have a problem with some of the things this administration has done?

Or is this guy just doing his job because he has it out for Trump?

Given his behavior during the transitional period, I'd say a little of both.  Honestly, I get the feeling like maybe Shaub thought maybe he would be given the axe, as soon as Trump took over.  However, from what I have observed, leaving previous appointees at their positions may have been one of Trump's worst mistakes. 

[hollodero]

(05-22-2017, 08:50 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: However, from what I have observed, leaving previous appointees at their positions may have been one of Trump's worst mistakes. 

From waht I have observed, this one barely makes the top 100. You think leaving this Shaub guy was a worse mistake than everything around Flynn or begging to stop the investigation against him or blurting out secrets to Russia or slamming Nordstrom or the Taiwan blunder or handing Merkel a bill with interest for their alleged underspending German military or dealing with the Korea crisis in public or admitting he fired Comey thinking about Russia or confirming that to Russians or letting only Russian media in the oval office or hiring Paul Manafort or pushing for a health care reform that is the opposite of what he's promised or proposing a wall with no idea how to pay for it whatsoever or risking a trade war with Canada or talking about tapes or calling Obama a sick guy based on a bogus claim or rolling out travel bans that don't pass the judiciary or then talking down to "so-called judges" or calling Kim a smart cookie or being silent about turkish officials beating up Americans on American soil or everything I just forgot right now? 

Whoa this Mr Shaub must be awful.

[Benton]

(05-22-2017, 07:33 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Since the Office of Government Ethics falls under the Executive Branch, Trump has every right to demand they stop. In fact, he could even fire Shaub, as POTUS has ultimate power over every office of the Executive Branch.

He's already fired the guy investigating alleged connections to Russia. Firing the guy looking into the buffet of lobbyists influencing policy isn't going to improve the image that he's covering things up.

[BmorePat87]

(05-22-2017, 07:33 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Since the Office of Government Ethics falls under the Executive Branch, Trump has every right to demand they stop.  In fact, he could even fire Shaub, as POTUS has ultimate power over every office of the Executive Branch.

There's a lot of things he CAN do, like share Israeli intelligence with Russia. It's a matter of SHOULD he do it. 

If he's going to say no lobbyists and claim he's ethical, he should at least not hire lobbyists and put his businesses in a blind trust. And stop going to his resorts every weekend. And not obstruct justice.

[Griever]

(05-23-2017, 08:26 AM)BmorePat87 Wrote: There's a lot of things he CAN do, like share Israeli intelligence with Russia. It's a matter of SHOULD he do it. 

If he's going to say no lobbyists and claim he's ethical, he should at least not hire lobbyists and put his businesses in a blind trust. And stop going to his resorts every weekend. And not obstruct justice.

thats asking a lot of baby hands there

asking him to honor his campaign promises is like asking him to pay his contractors properly

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

(05-22-2017, 07:33 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Since the Office of Government Ethics falls under the Executive Branch, Trump has every right to demand they stop. In fact, he could even fire Shaub, as POTUS has ultimate power over every office of the Executive Branch.

If the Office of Government Ethics stops investigations potential ethics violations when asked, what's the point of having the office?

Kinda like if Internal Affairs is investigating the Chief of Police for wrongdoing, but stops investigating him when he asks them to stop.