The chairman of the House Oversight Committee is questioning the ethics of the Office of Government Ethics after its top official condemned Donald Trump’s plan to avoid conflicts of interest as president.
Speaking in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, OGE Chairman Walter Shaub said steps laid out by President-elect Trump to detach himself from his business interests were “meaningless” and failed to address “the perception that government leaders would use their official positions for personal profit.”
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, accused Shaub of acting “prematurely at best, without doing investigations or thorough looks.”
“He’s rendering opinions publicly that really cause you to scratch your head,” Chaffetz said in a Thursday interview with Politico. “We need the Office of Government Ethics to act ethically. Ironically, that’s not what they’re doing.”
The Wall Street Journal first reported Thursday that Shaub has been invited by the Oversight Committee to answer questions in a closed-door interview. Chaffetz told Politico he will subpoena the official if he refuses
The top Democrat on the oversight panel, Rep. Elijah Cummings, Md., said Chaffetz criticized Shuab prematurely and rather than conducting a private interview, the committee should ask the OGE chief questions in a public hearing so that the American people “could hear firsthand” what he has to say.
“The Oversight Committee has not held one hearing, conducted one interview, or obtained one document about President-elect Donald Trump’s massive global entanglements, yet it is now apparently rushing to launch an investigation of the key government official for warning against the risks caused by President-Elect Donald Trump’s current plan,” Cummings said in a statement.
The Maryland Democrat said it was his idea initially for a public hearing, but after he told Chaffetz, the chairman instead pushed for questioning behind closed-doors.
“Rather than acting as a cheerleader for Donald Trump and attacking or intimidating his critics, the committee should do its job under the Constitution and investigate his sprawling business deals around the world,” Cummings added.
The OGE chief recently said his agency has not yet completed ethics review processes for several of Trump’s Cabinet picks.
In a letter from Shaub to Democratic senators, made public over the weekend, he said that nominees being pushed through the Senate without being properly vetted is “of great concern to me.”
