House Republicans take aim at ethics chief
House Republicans take aim at ethics chief:- The Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is taking aim at the federal government’s ethics czar, after the official publicly criticized President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to retain ownership of his businesses.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, charged that Office of Government Ethics Director Walter Shaub was “blurring the line between public relations and official ethics guidance” and summoned him to appear for an closed-door interview with the committee’s staff by month’s end.
In a letter issued Thursday, Chaffetz hinted his committee could open a congressional probe of the agency, citing his panel’s power “at any time investigate any matter.” Chaffetz noted that his panel has power to reauthorize the Office of Government Ethics, which would give it the power to shut it down.
Chaffetz’s move came a day after Shaub publicly rebuked Trump’s business arrangement as “wholly inadequate” to avoid conflicts of interest between his official duties and the sprawling real-estate and licensing empire he and his family control. “We can’t risk creating the perception that government leaders would use their official positions for profit,” Shaub said during a Wednesday news conference at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
This week, Trump and his lawyer Sheri Dillon said he would walk away from management of the Trump Organization and put his business interests in a trust to be overseen by his adult sons and a Trump executive. Executives will not pursue any new foreign deals during his presidency, Dillon said. An ethics adviser also will join the company’s management team to help avoid conflicts, she said.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Friday called Chaffetz’s move an “outrageous” attempt to “intimidate a senior executive branch official who is responsible for enforcing ethics rules.”
Chaffetz’s letter did not mention Shaub’s public comments at Brookings but referred to an unusual string of tweets his office issued in late November, praising Trump for moving to divest his business interests. Trump has not committed to divesting, and the tweets raised eyebrows.
A spokesman for Shaub’s agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Chaffetz’s letter.
Shaub’s five-year term expires in January 2018.
Other Democrats denounced Chaffetz’s actions.
Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Oversight panel, objected to Chaffetz’s push to interview Shaub privately. Cummings said any questioning should occur in public “to avoid any perception that he is being unfairly targeted behind closed doors for expressing his views.”
On Twitter, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., argued that Chaffetz’s move mirrored a short-lived attempt by House Republicans earlier this month to gut the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, which polices potential wrongdoing by House members.
Source:-Â http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/01/13/house-republicans-take-aim-ethics-chief/96539744/
