Riding the waive

15 June 2017 By Gina Chon Follow @GinaChon

Some White House officials have received permission to work on issues they handled as lobbyists. The exemptions violate earlier swamp-draining steps signed by the CEO-president. In the corporate context Trump prefers, such conflicts of interest also wouldn’t stack up in court.

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The White House on May 31 disclosed ethics waivers granted to 11 individuals who now work in President Donald Trump's administration. Another three were general exemptions that seemed to apply to five officials. The White House initially had refused to make them public, but was pushed to make the move after requests by the Office of Government Ethics.

Walter Shaub, director of the Office of Government Ethics, sent a letter on June 13 to four Democratic senators who asked about the waiver granted to White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon. All White House appointees, including Bannon, are allowed to have contact with news organizations such as Breitbart News Network. Bannon was the organization’s executive chair. Shaub said the waiver was “problematic” because it was unsigned, undated and retroactive.

In January, after he took office, Trump signed an executive order barring lobbyists joining his administration from working on issues related to their prior employment. The White House has the authority to grant waivers from those restrictions. Trump also banned executive-branch officials from lobbying for five years after they leave government.

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