Donald Trump certainly isn’t in favor of anyone checking up on ethics. On anything. Ever. However, the timing of the Republican assault has even the Donald worried that it might be a bit too obvious.
With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance!
But of course, Donald Trump also believes that as president, he’s beyond ethics and that any conflicts of interest are nothing compared to his great sacrifice in being president.
So while Donald may have trouble with the priority Republicans assigned to "reining in" those out of control demands for honesty and decency, the Trump team sees putting down the ethics watchdog as just another part of the Republican mandate.
The move by Republicans in Congress to gut the independent Office of Congressional Ethics will cut down on “overzealousness,” incoming counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway said Tuesday morning, while leaving in place a “mechanism” with which to address ethical complaints. …
She told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that Republican majorities in the House and Senate mean “there's a mandate there for them to make significant change.”
Republicans have long had an issue with the ethics committee applying that “politically correct” idea of not being corrupt. When the committee admonished Tom Delay in 2004 for a little thing like money-laundering and conspiracy, the ever-ethical Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert kicked three members off the committee and replaced them with members willing to look the other way on command.
With the new rules, that won’t be necessary. Because if there’s anything the public is tired of, it’s too much ethics in politics. Guys like Delay and Hastert would never be bothered by the newly neutered ethics watchdog.
The Goodlatte Amendment specifically prevents the independent ethics watchdog from:
- reporting a crime to the police
- informing the public of their findings
Instead any investigation remains secret, and can be halted on demand.
The Enabling Corruption, Bribery, and More Act of 2017, coming … right now to a Congress all too near you.