Chaffetz threatens to subpoena federal ethics watchdog over Trump criticism

[mystery-ak]

Chaffetz threatens to subpoena federal ethics watchdog over Trump criticism

By Darren Samuelsohn and Josh Gerstein

01/12/17 08:15 PM EST


House Republicans have found a subject for their opening review of conflicts of interest under Donald Trump: the federal official in charge of investigating conflicts of interest.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the head of the House Oversight Committee, criticized the director of the federal Office of Government Ethics on Thursday over his criticism of Donald Trump’s plan to address conflicts of interest. And he threatened to subpoena the official, Walter Shaub, if he refuses to participate in an official interview.

“He seems to be acting prematurely at best, without doing investigations or thorough looks,” Chaffetz said in an interview. “He’s rendering opinions publicly that really cause you to scratch your head. We need the Office of Government Ethics to act ethically. Ironically, that’s not what they’re doing.”

more
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/jason-chaffetz-federal-ethics-watchdog-trump-233575?lo=ap_b1

[skeeter]

Is this the "nonpartisan" ethics watchdog the GOP was talking about defunding a few days back?

[Wingnut]

Is this the "nonpartisan" ethics watchdog the GOP was talking about defunding a few days back?

No. 

[HonestJohn]

This is the action of a banana republic or an African dictatorship.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Out of curiosity, I ran the name of the Director of that Office - Walter Shaub -- through Open Secrets, and found out that he had donated money to Obama's campaign.  The GOP should just paint him as a partisan hack, and say that such donations destroy any credibility he might claim to being independent or nonpartisan.  Totally fair attack, IMHO.

[Wingnut]

Out of curiosity, I ran the name of the Director of that Office - Walter Shaub -- through Open Secrets, and found out that he had donated money to Obama's campaign.  The GOP should just paint him as a partisan hack, and say that such donations destroy any credibility he might claim to being independent or nonpartisan.  Totally fair attack, IMHO.

He was the demRat who penned the letter to the Dem Senators warning them Trump was moving to fast for proper vetting. He's a hack Obama appointee on a 5 year gig.  Trump can dump him in a few years.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

This is the action of a banana republic or an African dictatorship.

...


This doesn't look good IMO. And this could backfire on the GOP bigtime. Does a congressional subpoena mean testimony? Not sure about that one.

[Frank Cannon]

Out of curiosity, I ran the name of the Director of that Office - Walter Shaub -- through Open Secrets, and found out that he had donated money to Obama's campaign.  The GOP should just paint him as a partisan hack, and say that such donations destroy any credibility he might claim to being independent or nonpartisan.  Totally fair attack, IMHO.

You don't have to go that far. Walter Shaub was an Obama appointee in 2013. Also this agency was only set up by Carter in '77. It's not like it is a real thing.

[Cripplecreek]

This is the action of a banana republic or an African dictatorship.

The witch hunts aren't even about whether what the subject says is valid or not. They're about making sure that Orange Glorious can get away with anything he wants. Anyone who says they would be OK with Obama doing the same is an outright liar.

All Trump is doing is giving democrats the go ahead to do whatever they want when they take power and they WILL regain power.