Supreme Court ethics remain at center stage after hard-right rulings; The Washington Post; July 6, 2024

Justin Jouvenal, The Washington Post;  Supreme Court ethics remain at center stage after hard-right rulings

"Several experts said the court needs to fully embrace an ethics overhaul to help reassure the public."

Trump stunned ethics experts with his surprising, 'excellent choice' to lead the government office that's been a huge thorn in his side; Business Insider, February 8, 2018

Allan Smith, Business Insider; Trump stunned ethics experts with his surprising, 'excellent choice' to lead the government office that's been a huge thorn in his side

"Ethics experts were over the moon with President Donald Trump's selection to lead the Office of Government Ethics, Emory Rounds.

That includes two high-profile ethicists who have been among the most prominent critics of Trump: Walter Shaub, the former head of OGE who resigned before completing his term, and Richard Painter, top ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush who has repeatedly clashed with the White House."

Ethicists explain exactly why James Comey isn’t qualified for his new gig teaching ethics; Quartz, January 27, 2018

Olivia Goldhill, Quartz; Ethicists explain exactly why James Comey isn’t qualified for his new gig teaching ethics

"Former FBI director James Comey, who faced the moral quandary of how to appropriately investigate US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during her 2016 campaign and wound up upsetting all sides of the political spectrum, is due to become a professor in, of all subjects, ethical leadership. Comey has been invited to teach at his alma mater, the College of William & Mary in Virginia, which apparently decided the former G-man has the relevant ethical credentials

We wondered if professional ethicists agreed, and so asked four professors in the leadership and ethics to evaluate Comey’s behavior..."

We Asked Ethics Experts About Trump’s Worst Abuses During His First Year In Office : Here’s what they said.; Mother Jones, January 17, 2018

Andy Kroll, Mother Jones; We Asked Ethics Experts About Trump’s Worst Abuses During His First Year In Office : Here’s what they said.

"No president in modern history has run roughshod over the laws, guidelines, and norms of running an ethical and transparent administration like Donald Trump.

He’s refused to divest any of his business holdings or meaningfully separate himself from his company. He’s visited (and so promoted) his private properties and golf courses at a breathtaking clip: Of his first 362 days in office, Trump spent one-third of them—121 days—at a Trump property, according to NBC News. His business has cashed in on his presidency by hiking membership fees and peddling access.

His aides have promoted Trump family properties and products. A year in, it is fair to describe the Trump administration’s approach to clean, ethical government as, well, nonexistent.

Below, six experts in clean government, ethics, anti-corruption, and transparency who have tracked the administration describe what they see as Trump’s most egregious ethical failings from his first year in office."

Reminder: the Trump International Hotel is still an ethics disaster; Vox, August 11, 2017

Carly Stirin, Vox; Reminder: the Trump International Hotel is still an ethics disaster

"Who’s spending all that money at the hotel? Since visitation records are not made public, The Washington Post sent reporters to the hotel every day in May to try to identify people and organizations using the facilities.

What they found was a revolving door of powerful people holding galas in the hotel’s lavish ballrooms and meeting over expensive cocktails with White House staff at the bar.

They included Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), whom Politico recently called "Putin’s favorite congressman”; Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA), who chairs the General Services Administration, the Trump hotel's landlord; and nine other Republican Congress members who all hosted events at the hotel, according to campaign spending disclosures obtained by the Post. Additionally, foreign visitors such as business groups promoting Turkish-American relations and the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and his wife also rented out rooms.

Ethics experts — including the former top government ethics official who resigned last month — say this is exactly what they were worried about in a Trump presidency."

The investigation of Jared Kushner fits a very troubling pattern; Washington Post, May 25, 2017

Aaron Blake, Washington Post; The investigation of Jared Kushner fits a very troubling pattern

"Former Obama administration ethics counsel Norman L. Eisen was among those criticizing that move. And here's what Eisen said back in December, when Kushner's potential role in the Trump White House first made news:

The problem with it is it sends a message that if you want to have influence in the administration, do it through the kids. And there’s a tradition. This is not the first time this has happened. I’m just shocked it’s happened in the United States.

It's possible that Kushner's familial relationship with Trump is part of the reason he's been subjected to more scrutiny than any other White House adviser in this probe. And as emphasized above, we have no idea what will come of this.

But if scrutiny of Kushner becomes more intense and there appears to be some validity to it, it will reinforce a central reason why ethics experts say these kinds of arrangements are to be avoided in the first place.

House Fires at Ethics and Shoots Self; New York Times, 1/3/17

Editorial Board, New York Times; House Fires at Ethics and Shoots Self:

"The O.C.E. is the only House body that investigates allegations from the public, including anonymous tips. Its staff of independent, nonpartisan professionals must be private citizens, not elected officials; most are lawyers and ethics experts. The O.C.E. refers cases it finds substantial to the Ethics Committee with recommendations. The committee is notoriously weak, but at least the O.C.E., by making its work public, helps hold legislators accountable. No wonder swamp dwellers of both parties have tried to put the O.C.E. more completely under the thumb of Congress.

The public protests over the House move to weaken the office were heartening. Even the conservative group Judicial Watch paused in its pursuit of Hillary Clinton to decry the Goodlatte proposal as a “poor way to begin draining the swamp.” The O.C.E. proposal has now gone back to the House, which will likely take the rest of the session to “study” it. Americans will be watching to see whether Mr. Trump, Mr. Ryan and other lawmakers return to this rotten idea."

You Could Have Bought A Ticket To Donald Trump’s New Year’s Eve Party; Huffington Post, 12/30/16

Daniel Marans, Huffington Post; 

You Could Have Bought A Ticket To Donald Trump’s New Year’s Eve Party:

"Tickets were on sale for a lavish New Year’s Eve party that President-elect Donald Trump and his family are hosting at the Mar-a-Lago Club this weekend, which once again raises those thorny ethics question that have dogged Trump’s presidential transition.

Mar-a-Lago sold the tickets, the Trump transition team confirmed to Politico. They cost $525 each for members of the Mar-a-Lago Club and $575 for guests. Since Trump himself owns the Palm Beach, Florida, resort, those sales profit him personally. 

Simply buying a ticket could be seen as an effort to curry favor with the president-elect. Those seeking an in-person audience with him also had an incentive to buy since Trump will be there."

Trump gets to decide if his transition team will have a code of ethics; Washington Post, 11/16/16

Lisa Rein and Elise Viebeck, Washington Post; Trump gets to decide if his transition team will have a code of ethics:

"With questions swirling around potential conflicts of interest for lobbyists and family members on Donald Trump’s transition team, ethics experts say it’s crucial that the team building the new administration have a formal code of principles.

But here’s a little-understood fact about presidential transitions: They don’t have to follow a code of ethics unless they want to, and even if they do, they come up with the terms themselves. When Trump communications director Jason Miller was asked whether one existed Monday, he said he was not sure about the existence of an ethics code, but said he would get back to us."