As inauguration day draws closer and closer, there is still a lot to be done for Team Trump. Many of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks are headed to Capitol Hill this week for confirmation hearings, but most of them have yet to submit financial and ethical reports to Congress that are vital to the vetting process.
Typically, cabinet nominees submit this paperwork to the Office of Government Ethics, and they look for any legal issues or conflicts of interest. They then submit a report to the Senate certifying all personal conflicts are addressed.
It’s apparently taking Trump’s richest nominees a long time to start this process. And they’re running out of time. The Office of Government Ethics isn’t the one holding up the process. Director Walter Shaub wrote that despite repeated efforts to contact them:
“…We seem to have lost contact with the Trump-Pence transition since the election. Announcing Cabinet picks without taking OGE up on the offer to take an early look at financial disclosure picks poses the risk of embarrassment for the President-elect … in the event that the individual walks away from the nomination after learning what he or she will have to do with his or her financial interests.”
Despite this, Senate Republicans seem eager to schedule confirmation hearings. And the Trump camp keeps insisting that the transition is running smoothly.
Schaub disagrees. And he isn’t backing down. He wrote a letter to Senate Democrats Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) to sound his concerns:
“This schedule has created undue pressure on OGE’s staff and agency ethics officials to rush through these important reviews. …In fact, OGE has not received even initial draft disclosure reports for some of the nominees scheduled for hearings…”
If Donald Trump thinks he can just strong-arm and sneak his cabinet picks through the Senate confirmation hearings, it seems that he is wrong.
At least, if Walter Schaub has anything to say about it.
Watch Schaub’s speech on the conflict issue here:
