ProPublica uncovers the Trump administration’s impressive collection of conflicts of interest
It turns out that when you remove the ethics guardrails and fire the watchdogs, the revolving door does not just spin. It becomes the whole show.
A new ProPublica investigation digging through thousands of financial disclosure records shows what happens when ethics rules are tossed out the window.
More than 1,500 Trump administration officials have deep financial and professional ties to the very industries they now regulate, from defense contractors to cryptocurrency firms to chemical lobbyists.
The documents reveal a web of financial ties between senior government officials and the industries they help regulate — relationships that have drawn scrutiny as Trump has dismantled ethics safeguards designed to prevent conflicts of interest.
On his first day back in office, Trump rescinded an executive order signed by President Joe Biden that required his appointees to comply with an ethics pledge. The pledge barred them from working on issues related to their former lobbying topics or clients for two years. Weeks later, Trump fired 17 inspectors general charged with investigating fraud, corruption and conflicts of interest across the federal government. Around the same time, he removed the head of the Office of Government Ethics, the agency that oversees ethics compliance throughout the executive branch. The office is currently without a head or a chief of staff.
Against that backdrop, ProPublica has, over the past year, used the disclosure records to investigate how personal financial interests have intersected with government decision-making inside the Trump administration.
It turns out that when you remove the ethics guardrails and fire the watchdogs, the revolving door does not just spin. It becomes the whole show.
So now we know why they won’t do anything to stop him. Sigh.