Normally secretive agency reveals it advised Donald Trump to divest
Source: Boston globe
Carolyn Kaster/AP
By Michael D. Shear and Eric Lipton The New York Times December 01, 2016
WASHINGTON The Office of Government Ethics has informed lawyers for President-elect Donald Trump that only a divestiture of his financial stake in his sprawling real estate business will resolve ethical concerns about conflicts of interest as he assumes the office of the presidency.
The revelation from the normally secretive federal agency came Wednesday in a bizarre series of oddly informal postings on its Twitter account after officials apparently concluded, erroneously, that Trump had committed on his own Twitter account to divesting his assets.
As we discussed with your counsel, divestiture is the way to resolve these conflicts, the office wrote on Twitter, revealing legal advice that would normally be confidential and adding in a separate post: Bravo! Only way to resolve these conflicts of interest is to divest. Good call!
In fact, Trump had made no such commitment, at least publicly....................
Read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/12/01/normally-secretive-agency-reveals-advised-donald-trump-divest/ts8O00tNYClyyG8hdph9uL/story.html?p1=Article_Recommended_ReadMore_Pos11
Tweets are included in article--some of them really are bizarre. What the heck is an Ethics Office doing tweeting comments when they are ones to get any cases regarding Trump????
Also-- come January 2017 --the Director only has one year left to work (in a 5-yr term). Nasty maybe of me but might he be hankering to be appointed for another 5 years???
I missed Last Word last night--Does anyone know if he had a segment on this issue??
TWEETS:
In reply to Deanna A.
Lawrence O'Donnell Verified account ?@Lawrence 11h11 hours ago
.@deanna9012 In sane government the most serious cases are treated most carefully. OGE got reckless with its most serious case ever. Insane.
35 replies 29 retweets 118 likes
https://twitter.com/Lawrence/status/804234897716113408
In reply to Sari Beth Rosenberg
Lawrence O'Donnell Verified account ?@Lawrence 11h11 hours ago
.@saribethrose So OGE decided for the 1st time in its history to use sarcasm? And to use it in the most important case in its history?
36 replies 35 retweets 103 likes
https://twitter.com/Lawrence/status/804228204156354564
In reply to Sari Beth Rosenberg
Lawrence O'Donnell Verified account ?@Lawrence 11h11 hours ago
.@saribethrose So OGE decided for the 1st time in its history to use sarcasm? And to use it in the most important case in its history?
36 replies 35 retweets 103 likes
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
https://www.oge.gov/web/oge.nsf/Organization
Organization
OGE is headed by a Director who is appointed to a five-year term by the President. As noted in the organizational chart and staff directory, in addition to the Office of the Director, OGE is divided into four divisons, guided by senior leadership, that work in concert to carry out OGE's mission.
Senior Leadership
Walter M. Shaub, Jr. Director, U.S. Office of Government Ethics On January 8, 2013, President Obama appointed Mr. Walter M. Shaub, Jr., as Director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE). He was sworn into office January 9, 2013.
Learn more >...............
riversedge
(69,721 posts)Not A Hack: U.S. Office Of Government Ethics Tweets At Trump
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/30/503879587/not-a-hack-u-s-office-of-government-ethics-tweets-at-trump
November 30, 20164:24 PM ET
Alina Selyukh
U.S. Office of Government Ethics tweeted at Donald Trump about an alleged plan to divest businesses.
U.S. Office of Government Ethics/Screenshot by NPR
The federal ethics watchdog isn't the kind of agency that typically airs its positions on Twitter let alone in a snarky tone, with exclamation points.
But it's been an all-around weird day at the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.
It started Wednesday morning, when President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter to address concerns about his ability to lead the U.S. government while also holding massive business interests around the world......................
riversedge
(69,721 posts)Tweets:
Citizens Fed Up and 8 others follow
Susan Simpson ?@TheViewFromLL2 24h24 hours ago
Susan Simpson Retweeted Alina Selyukh
So apparently those OGE tweets had an edge of sarcasm to them. I guess I did not expect that from OGE. More promising, though.
https://twitter.com/TheViewFromLL2/status/804037967861940224
Alina Selyukh Verified account
?@alinaselyukh
A statement from @OfficeGovEthics spokesman Seth Jaffe
12:43 PM - 30 Nov 2016
mahatmakanejeeves
(56,895 posts)Bernard Condon, AP Business Writer
Updated 9:18 am, Thursday, December 1, 2016
NEW YORK (AP) It's a glittering jewel in Donald Trump's hotel empire. Securing the rights to use the government-owned building where it is housed took him more than a year of negotiating. The resulting lease itself runs hundreds of pages, complicated and dreadfully dull.
Dull save for clause 37.19 on top of page 103, which has suddenly become the subject of great discussion among experts on government contracting law, and not a few Trump critics.
If some of the experts are correct a big if the first 43 words of this clause could force Trump to relinquish his equity stake in the Trump International Hotel just down the street from the White House. The key part: No "elected official of the Government of the United States" shall be "admitted to any share or part of this Lease."
"He's going to have to divest himself of the hotel," said John Sindelar, a former senior adviser to the head of the General Services Administration, the government agency that negotiated the lease three years ago. Sindelar left the agency in 2007.
cstanleytech
(26,080 posts)admitted into the lease as he was already on it before he *won* the election.