Trump risks US being seen as 'kleptocracy', says ex-ethics chief Walter Shaub

[sunonmars]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/31/trump-ethics-chief-walter-shaub-kleptocracy

The former head of the US government ethics watchdog has warned that Donald Trump’s conflicts of interest put the country at risk of being seen as a “kleptocracy”.

Speaking to the Guardian, Walter Shaub, who quit this month as director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), condemned the president for using his hotels and other properties for government business in what is in effect a free advertising campaign.

“His actions create the appearance of profiting from the presidency, and the appearance here is everything because the demand I’m making is so much more than ‘have a clean heart’. It’s ‘Have a clean heart and act appropriately,’” Shaub said.


“The fact that we’re having to ask questions about whether he’s intentionally using the presidency for profit is bad enough because the appearance itself undermines confidence in government.”

He added: “It certainly risks people starting to refer to us as a kleptocracy. That’s a term people throw around fairly freely when they’re talking about Russia, fairly or unfairly, and we run the risk of getting branded the same way. America really should stand for more than that.”

The outspoken Shaub, 46, was a thorn in the side of the Trump administration, turning the career government lawyer into an unlikely star of the “resistance”. His name was spotted on placards at anti-Trump demonstrations and a fan page materialised on Facebook. Shaub left the OGE almost six months before his five-year term was due to finish and is now senior director of ethics at the not-for-profit Campaign Legal Center, where he reckoned he would be better placed to push for reforms.

These are vital, Shaub argued, because Trump’s intertwined business and political interests, while not violating any laws, mark such a break from past norms that there is an “ethics crisis” in Washington.

[tblue37]

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