Links can be drawn between more than half of President Trump’s administration nominees and the industry they are seeking to regulate, according to a report.
One hundred and seventy-nine of the 341 nominations Trump has proposed for Senate confirmation have “some notable conflict of interest,” per The Daily Beast, though not all have been successfully appointed to their prospective position.
One such conflict of interest is that 105 nominees worked in the industry they are hoping to oversee.
In addition, 63 represented their respective industry’s interests as a lobbyist or lawyer prior to their nomination.
Another 11 accepted campaign donations or some other form of payment from members of that industry before trying to get in front of senators for a confirmation hearing.
Of the 162 nominees without “an overt conflict,” 19 have given money or acted as a surrogate for Trump’s 2016 campaign.
White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters defended the administration’s nomination record, saying it had “put in place historically strong lobbying restrictions for current and former administration staff.”
“Under the Trump administration, expenditures on lobbying have decreased, as firms stop finding it as profitable to try to buy influence and rig the game in their favor,” Walters told the Daily Beast when presented with the data points.
