While you were watching those beautiful bombs and missiles going off last week, The New York Times and ProPublica co-authored an investigation that shows just how staggeringly corrupt this so-called “drain the swamp” Administration really is:
WASHINGTON — President Trump is populating the White House and federal agencies with former lobbyists, lawyers and consultants who in many cases are helping to craft new policies for the same industries in which they recently earned a paycheck.
The concept of a “conflict of interest” for former corporate lobbyists now assigned to positions of public service (and presumably charged with upholding the public trust) does not seem to have ever occurred to Donald Trump or anyone else in this White House. One of Trump’s first actions was to eliminate the Obama Administration’s prohibition against hiring industry lobbyists to work for the same agencies they’d lobbied in the past until one year had elapsed. So the infamous “revolving” door is almost literally the case for approximately 4000 hires across all Federal agencies.
But more importantly, the people Trump is “bringing in” to formulate our government policies are far wealthier, with far more intricate business and financial ties than any prior Administration, making such conflicts of interest that much more likely. Any President with the slightest pretense of working for the good of the country would recognize the potential for wholesale graft and corruption and immediately take steps to reassure the public that these people are working for the country, and not simply to enrich themselves and their pet industries at ordinary Americans’ expense.
But this Administration clearly doesn’t give a damn about the American public:
In at least two cases, the appointments may have already led to violations of the administration’s own ethics rules. But evaluating if and when such violations have occurred has become almost impossible because the Trump administration is secretly issuing waivers to the rules.
The Times and ProPublica investigation, which drew upon review of financial documents, lobbying documents, and interviews with current and former ethics officials, supplies numerous examples of the unprecedented breeding ground for corruption already blatantly obvious in this Administration:
One such case involves Michael Catanzaro, who serves as the top White House energy adviser. Until late last year, he was working as a lobbyist for major industry clients such as Devon Energy of Oklahoma, an oil and gas company, and Talen Energy of Pennsylvania, a coal-burning electric utility, as they fought Obama-era environmental regulations, including the landmark Clean Power Plan. Now, he is handling some of the same matters on behalf of the federal government.
Catanzaro’s former clients, Devon Energy and Talen Industries, have an enormous stake in reversing the very regulations that Catanzaro is now working on repealing— regulations which would have implemented more stringent environmental standards on their coal plants. Now Catanzaro’s perch in the Trump hierarchy by all appearances makes him their de facto stand-in to ensure they reap the most profit possible. When asked by the Times for comment, Catanzaro refused to talk to them.
Even under this Administration’s watered-down “ethical” standards—to the extent they even exist--former lobbyists are not supposed to be working on the exact same issues they formerly lobbied on. But by issuing secret “waivers” Trump effectively shuts the door on any ability of the public to know who is making policy—or cutting deals-- on their behalf. The Federal Government’s own ethics watchdog is being shut out of the process:
Even the federal government’s top ethics official, Walter Shaub, who runs the Office of Government Ethics, is being kept in the dark.
“There’s no transparency, and I have no idea how many waivers have been issued,” Shaub told the Times.
TheTimes also tried to speak to the White House lawyer in charge of the ethics policy, but White House refused to allow it. Instead, they provided a non-responsive written statement that didn’t address any of the issues the Times had raised.
It just gets worse:
Another case involves Chad Wolf, who spent the past several years lobbying to secure funding for the Transportation Security Administration to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a new carry-on luggage screening device. He is now chief of staff at that agency — at the same time as the device is being tested and evaluated for possible purchase by agency staff.
Other examples include a former lobbyist for Fidelity Investments working on repealing rules that would have required investment and financial firms to act in the interests of ordinary investors with stakes in their 401k’s. As a lobbyist, she fought against those same rules. Still another, now with the Labor Department, fought against workplace safety rules and fair wage standards which he now oversees. Tom Price’s chief of staff, Lance Leggitt, worked for ten different health care companies, lobbying for favorable Medicare Billing rules, the same rules he now is in charge of. Other non-lobbyists carry with them the same taint of conflicts of interest--Trump’s nominee to head the FDA, Scott Gottlieb, received $350,000 in payments from more than a dozen pharmaceutical companies in 2014-2015.
What all of these people have in common is a history of working for narrow, private interests, motivated entirely by profit. Most have no history or experience whatsoever in public service. Nor did they suddenly, magically transform into dutiful, conscientious public servants when Trump pulled them into his government.
Put simply, they are here to conduct the most massive corporate looting job in our country’s history. Trump, for his part, is making damned sure Americans don’t ever get to see them do it. Coming on the heels of this week’s announcement that the White House would no longer voluntarily release its visitors logs, this Administration is clearly well on its way to being the most corrupt in the nation’s collective memory.
Danielle Brian is the Executive Director of the Project On Government Oversight:
“This is not a matter of just checking a box — this is about protecting the integrity of the operation of federal government,” Ms. Brian said. “But our worst fears are coming true: We know people coming in who have conflicts, and we cannot see what restrictions they are under, if any.”