White House wants to halt ethics office’s inquiry into ex-lobbyists in administration
BY Julie Bykowicz, Associated Press May 23, 2017 at 11:45 AM EDT WASHINGTON — The message from a senator to the government ethics office: Use your authority to force the president to reveal how many waivers he’s granted to ex-lobbyists in his new administration.
That was Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley’s demand to the Office of Government Ethics in June 2009. He was seeking information about some of President Barack Obama’s most controversial appointees, the people who used to make their living pressing the federal government for money and policies.
Eight years and a political flip later, Republicans in President Donald Trump’s administration say OGE lacks that authority, and they’ve asserted that there’s no need for them to publicly disclose any ethics waivers.
Trump’s budget director Mick Mulvaney is asking that ethics director Walter Shaub halt his inquiry into lobbyists-turned-Trump administration employees. “In particular, this data call appears to raise legal questions regarding the scope of OGE’s authorities,” Mulvaney wrote in a letter last week to Shaub.
Shaub fired back Monday that OGE’s request is well within bounds. He highlighted Grassley’s request years ago as evidence that lawmakers agree, even though Republicans so far have been silent on the Trump administration’s resistance to disclosure.
The ethics director says he expects to see the waiver information within 10 days.
“I want to assure you that a request from the Director of the Office of Management and Budget is not something that I decline lightly,” Shaub wrote to Mulvaney.
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http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/white-house-wants-halt-ethics-offices-inquiry-ex-lobbyists-administration/