Donald Trump has suggested that the American people waived objections to any conflicts of interest and that the "the President can't have a conflict of interest", presumably because the 1978 Ethics in Government Act does not apply to the President. If the statute does not require Trump to sell his hotels, etc. should that settle it?
On his business: “Oh, yeah, that’s very routine. ... You people are making that a big deal — ‘the business.’ ... It’s a much bigger business than anyone thought. It’s a great business. But I’m going to have nothing to do with it.” He reiterated the position that he is not legally required to step away from his role at the company but said he wants to in order to “focus on the country.” He added: “We’ll be having a press conference sometime in early January.” (DJT - quoted by Market Watch 12/30/16)U.S. Government Ethics Chief Was Behind Those Tweets About Donald Trump, Records Show : The Two-Way : NPR
In November, the typically straitlaced Office of Government Ethics surprised observers with a series of tweets mimicking Donald Trump's bombastic style, exclamation points and all: "Brilliant! Divestiture is good for you, good for America!"
The controversy was two-fold: (1) The OGE doesn't typically air its positions publicly, advising White House transition teams behind the scenes. (2) Trump hadn't promised the total divestitures of business interests implied by the tweets.
New records shared with NPR on Friday show that behind the curious tweets was the head of the OGE himself, Director Walter Shaub Jr.
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