Peter Overby
The Inspector General for the General Services Administration said agency lawyers decided to ignore the constitutional issues when they reviewed the lease after Donald Trump won the 2016 election.
When President Trump said the money didn’t come from his campaign, he was making the wrong defense. The problem is that it didn’t come from the campaign.
Big-money donors can already donate anonymously through social welfare groups. If Congress keeps a provision in the House tax bill, it would allow charitable organizations to play politics.
Among Democratic high rollers, Weinstein’s presence was bigger than his bankroll.
Facebook says $100,000 worth of ads appeared to come from Russia and seemed to be linked. Sometimes they named the candidates, but mostly targeted divisive social and political issues.
While giving reporters his reaction to the violence in Charlottesville, Va., the president reminded them he owns a vineyard there. But that presidential product placement was a blip on the radar.
President Trump and some GOP lawmakers want an investigation into Hillary Clinton and other figures from the Obama era. But a probe of a defeated candidate is not the norm in American democracy.
Trump Jr.'s email exchange concerning a meeting with a Russian attorney last year has raised questions about a federal law that prohibits foreign nationals from aiding U.S. political campaigns.
Shaub, who announced he would resign on Thursday, says his successor should be someone “who’s shown respect for the ethical norms and traditions, and is independent.”
Shaub, who has had many battles with the Trump administration, says he is quitting to become a legal activist. He says the “current situation” shows tougher ethics action is needed.
“This is nonsense,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote to President Trump earlier this month, regarding the administration’s narrow view of oversight.
As a presidential candidate last year, Trump had to disclose his sources of revenues. Now in office, the president has voluntarily updated the information about the Trump Organization’s businesses.
The White House released a list of people exempted from its ethics rules. The list includes White House Chief of Staff Reince Preibus, counselor Kellyanne Conway and chief strategist Steve Bannon.
The Office of Government Ethics wants to know which Trump appointees who worked for corporations and lobbying firms have been given waivers from ethics rules. The White House has halted that search.
As the president’s “special adviser on regulatory reform,” billionaire Carl Icahn has undefined reach, and no need to comply with the ethics rules.
President Trump named Icahn as an unpaid special adviser on regulatory changes. But no one has defined what a special adviser is, or how much power Trump has given to his longtime rival and friend.
The compliance forms are to be posted online, along with the ethics agreements the appointees signed during the Senate confirmation process.
Democracy 21 says President Trump’s son-in-law should recuse himself from certain duties. Kushner’s lawyer says her client “has consistently said that he would follow government ethics requirements.”