Following his abrupt
resignation on July 6—which lawmakers and watchdog groups
said should be "deeply
unnerving" to advocates of government accountability—Office of
Government Ethics (OGE) head Walter Shaub said in a televised
interview on CBS that it appears Donald Trump and
members of his family are profiting from his presidency.
"I can't know what their intention is," Shaub said.
"I know that the effect is that there's an appearance that the businesses
are profiting from his occupying the presidency. And appearance matters as much
as reality."
"America should have the right to know what the motivations
of its leaders are," he continued, "and they need to know that
financial interests, personal financial interests, aren't among them."
Shaub, who had repeatedly battled Trump over his numerous attempts to flout federal ethics and transparency requirements, said that the United States needs to "have the gold standard for an ethics program in government."
Speaking with NPR shortly after he announced
his decision to resign, Shaub argued that
"the current situation" indicates a failure to live up to that
standard.
Responding to Shaub's resignation, Sen. Elizabeth Warren
(D-Mass.) urged the
Senate to resist any attempt by the Trump White House to use the vacancy at the
OGE to further undercut ethical standards.
"The Senate is responsible for confirming the new head of
this post-Watergate ethics watchdog," Warren said, "and every
senator—regardless of party—should insist upon a tough, fiercely independent
replacement who will follow Shaub's example of enforcing the law, even in the
face of relentless pressure from the Trump administration to ignore ethics
rules."