Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who is exploring a 2020 run for president, has asked ethics lawyers to look into President Trump’s chief of staff.
In a letter sent Tuesday, Warren said acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who is also the director of the Office of Management and Budget, may have broken federal law when he reportedly spoke with senior officials at the University of South Carolina about becoming president of the school.
“Under the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge Act (STOCK), Mr. Mulvaney ‘may not directly negotiate or have any agreement of future employment’ with an outside entity unless he discloses the negotiations with the relevant agency’s ethics office,” Warren wrote in the letter Tuesday, addressed to Sonya White, designated agency ethics official at the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, and Mark Paoletta, general counsel and designated agency ethics official at the Office of Management and Budget.
“Mr. Mulvaney is one of the top officials in the Trump Administration,” Warren wrote. “His compliance with the STOCK Act is crucial to protecting American taxpayer and maintaining public confidence in the integrity of the federal government.”
Warren argued that the STOCK Act was particularly relevant given that a New York Times last week said Mulvaney engaged in discussions about becoming the University of South Carolina’s next president while he was still acting director of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and is still interested in the position. She noted that the OMB is involved with setting the president’s budget and that in fiscal 2018-2019, the University of South Carolina is receiving $200 million in federal contracts and grants.
Similarly, she noted that Mulvaney’s role at the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, a position that he held until December, “monitors financial products and credit card marketing agreements issued in conjunction with universities and alumni associations — including the University of South Carolina Alumni Association.”
Warren requested information on whether Mulvaney adhered to all requirements outlined in the STOCK Act during any negotiations, if the ethics officials were aware of the negotiations, and whether Mulvaney has recused himself from matters concerning the University of South Carolina.
Warren, who announced in December she was launching an exploratory committee for a 2020 presidential run, requested a response from the ethics officials by Jan. 29.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
White House spokesperson Hogan Gidley told the New York Times last week that Mulvaney was not interested in pursuing the position at the University of South Carolina anymore and is “focused on faithfully executing the job the president has asked him to do, and as such he is not interested in any other positions.”
Warren and Mulvaney previously clashed last year when the senator pressed him on whether he defied the Hatch Act by attending a “closed-door event in New York City” where Republican Party officials and donors gathered.
