One senator said vacancies at the Office of Government Ethics, which seeks to prevent financial conflicts of interest, have “kneecapped” its work.
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Senate Democrats are pressing the White House to explain its plan for the Office of Government Ethics, more than a year after President Donald Trump fired the office’s Senate-confirmed leader and five months after its most recent acting director stepped down.
The Office of Government Ethics, an independent agency, works to prevent financial conflicts of interest and other ethical violations across more than 100 government agencies. It has historically served as a watchdog on government ethical standards, offering guidance to federal officials — and even rebuking the White House, as the office’s past leader repeatedly did in the first Trump administration.
“OGE simply cannot fulfill its role, as intended by Congress, without a director,” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California) and colleagues wrote Monday to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, asking for an update on the office’s leadership and its initiatives. The letter was shared with The Washington Post.
Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, however, a vacancy cannot be filled by an acting director for more than 300 days, unless there is a pending nomination — meaning there has been no acting director of the ethics office since December.
The Office of Government Ethics referred questions to the White House, which declined to comment on the office’s vacancies and work. A White House official said the White House regularly consults with the ethics office.
Outside ethics experts and watchdog groups said they were concerned that the ethics office’s work had been limited by its vacancies and undermined by Trump’s repeated flouting of ethical norms as president. Danielle Caputo of the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit focused on campaign finance reform and ethical conduct, said it was a “major problem” that the ethics office had not had a full-time leader in more than a year. She also cited other vacancies in the office after a hiring freeze and noted that key positions such as general counsel have sat empty.
“It shows that ethics, at best, is an afterthought for the Trump administration,” Caputo said. “At worst, this is an intentional disbanding of the systems that have been used in other presidencies and other administrations at least since the 1970s.”
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The ethics office, which plays a key role in helping senators vet presidential nominees’ financial holdings, was at the center of clashes over government ethics in Trump’s first term. Walter Shaub Jr., the office’s director when Trump was elected, publicly criticized the president for declining to divest his businesses. Shaub also said the White House had delayed sharing required information about ethical waivers granted to lobbyists and officials working in the administration.
President Joe Biden nominated Huitema in September 2023 to serve as the ethics office’s director, but he wasn’t confirmed until a week after Trump’s 2024 election in a narrow vote amid GOP opposition.
Huitema warned after his removal that government watchdog functions were being “eroded” under Trump.
“In time, you can expect to see more corruption, more abuse of office and less accountability for that,” Huitema said in an interview with ABC News in February 2025.
He did not immediately respond to questions.
After firing Huitema, Trump tapped a series of acting directors who simultaneously held other roles. Eric Ueland, who served as OGE’s most recent acting director until leaving in December, at the same time held senior roles at the White House’s Office of Management and Budget and USAID, according to his LinkedIn profile. Ueland did not respond to questions.
Schiff said that the vacancies and turnover have “kneecapped” the ethics office.
“It is small wonder we have seen an explosion of corrupt activity within the administration and without consequence,” Schiff said in a statement to The Post. “The cost of corruption is high, and the American people are paying the price.”
Caputo credited the OGE for continuing to monitor government agencies and produce key documents on ethical conflicts, although she said some of its reports were running months behind their typical production schedule.
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“OGE is still doing some of their work,” she said.
