{"id":787,"date":"2026-05-19T09:34:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T09:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=787"},"modified":"2026-05-19T09:34:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T09:34:29","slug":"a-year-after-trump-fired-a-top-ethics-watchdog-theres-still-no-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=787","title":{"rendered":"A year after Trump fired a top ethics watchdog, there\u2019s still no leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

One senator said vacancies at the Office of Government Ethics, which seeks to prevent financial conflicts of interest, have \u201ckneecapped\u201d its work.<\/strong><\/p>

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Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California) and his colleagues are asking the White House to explain their plan for the government’s ethics office. (Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

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\u2019s Senate-confirmed leader and five months after its most recent acting director stepped down.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 and even rebuking the White House, as the office\u2019s past leader repeatedly did<\/a> in the first Trump administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cOGE simply cannot fulfill its role, as intended by Congress, without a director,\u201d Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California) and colleagues wrote Monday to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, asking for an update on the office\u2019s leadership and its initiatives. The letter<\/a> was shared with The Washington Post.<\/p>\n

Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act<\/a>, however, a vacancy cannot be filled by an acting director for more than 300 days, unless there is a pending nomination \u2014 meaning there has been no acting director of the ethics office since December.<\/p>\n

The Office of Government Ethics referred questions to the White House, which declined to comment on the office\u2019s vacancies and work. A White House official said the White House regularly consults with the ethics office.<\/p>\n

Outside ethics experts and watchdog groups said they were concerned that the ethics office\u2019s work had been limited by its vacancies and undermined by Trump\u2019s 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 \u201cmajor problem\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows that ethics, at best, is an afterthought for the Trump administration,\u201d Caputo said. \u201cAt worst, this is an intentional disbanding of the systems that have been used in other presidencies and other administrations at least since the 1970s.\u201d<\/p>

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The ethics office, which plays a key role in helping senators vet presidential nominees\u2019 financial holdings, was at the center of clashes over government ethics<\/a> in Trump\u2019s first term. Walter Shaub Jr., the office\u2019s 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 admin\u00adistration.<\/p>\n

President Joe Biden nominated Huitema in September 2023 to serve as the ethics office\u2019s director, but he wasn\u2019t confirmed until a week after Trump\u2019s 2024 election in a narrow vote amid GOP opposition.<\/p>\n

Huitema warned after his removal that government watchdog functions were being \u201ceroded\u201d under Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn time, you can expect to see more corruption, more abuse of office and less accountability for that,\u201d Huitema said in an interview<\/a> with ABC News in February 2025.<\/p>\n

He did not immediately respond to questions.<\/p>\n

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David Huitema in 2025, while serving as director of the Office of Government Ethics. (Evelyn Hockstein\/Reuters)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

After firing Huitema, Trump tapped a series of acting directors who simultaneously held other roles. Eric Ueland, who served as OGE\u2019s most recent acting director until leaving in December, at the same time held senior roles at the White House\u2019s Office of Management and Budget and USAID, according to his LinkedIn profile. Ueland did not respond to questions.<\/p>\n

Schiff said that the vacancies and turnover have \u201ckneecapped\u201d the ethics office.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is small wonder we have seen an explosion of corrupt activity within the administration and without consequence,\u201d Schiff said in a statement to The Post. \u201cThe cost of corruption is high, and the American people are paying the price.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>

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\u201cOGE is still doing some of their work,\u201d she said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One senator said vacancies at the Office of Government Ethics, which seeks to prevent financial conflicts of interest, have \u201ckneecapped\u201d its work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nA year after Trump fired a top ethics watchdog, there\u2019s still no leader - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=787\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A year after Trump fired a top ethics watchdog, there\u2019s still no leader - 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