Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff knew he had stocks that could create conflicts of interest. Marc Short, a former White House aide, declared at least some of those problematic stocks in public disclosures when he was hired to head up Pence's office. But Short was apparently never told to purge those holdings and opted not to divest from them after he wasn't offered the tax break sometimes given to government officials who sell stocks in compliance with ethics laws.
Now, according to NPR, Short and his wife own somewhere between half a million and $1.7 million’s worth of stocks in companies that are doing pandemic-related work.
Some of those companies pose some obvious conflicts of interest: 3M, Abbott Laboratories, Gilead Sciences, Procter & Gamble, Medtronic, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Johnson & Johnson. Others—such as CVS, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Walmart and Roche—have been singled out for praise by the White House for their pandemic efforts.
Legally, executive branch officials are prohibited from taking part in any policy decisions or deliberations involving companies in which they have a financial interest.
A Pence spokesperson defended Short, telling NPR he had "followed all applicable ethics laws." But Short has specifically touted the work of several companies in which he has holdings, including 3M and Honeywell.
Walter Shaub, the former director of the Office of Government Ethics, thinks the conflict is egregious enough to warrant an independent investigation. "This is now a red alarm. We have enough information to know that there is a serious possibility of a conflict of interest and a very realistic chance that he may have participated in matters affecting his financial interests," said Shaub, who now works with the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Another day in the Trump administration, more grift. This administration apparently exists for the purpose of lining the pockets of its exclusive members.