The Office of Government Ethics is on the verge of asking the White House for more information about more than a dozen ethics waivers it announced earlier this week, according to a report Friday.
The Trump administration on Wednesday released a list of 14 waivers to staff members, including White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and counselor Kellyanne Conway.
The issue OGE has with the list is that 10 out of 14 waivers issued did not have a date on them, and that leaves open the possibility that some could have been issued retroactively.
“There’s no such thing as a retroactive waiver,” said OGE Director Walter Shaub Jr., according to the Washington Post.
Other staff members to receive waivers included former lobbyists.
Another waiver allows all appointees in the Executive Office of the President to “participate in communications and meetings with news organizations regarding broad policy matters.” This seemingly would allow chief strategist Steve Bannon to huddle with reporters at Breitbart.
This particular waiver was undated, and Shaub made it clear that if it was issued after any meetings between Bannon and Breitbart, that would be in violation of an executive order Trump signed off on that prevents Trump officials from “participate in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to my former employer or former clients, including regulations and contracts.”
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Ethics office wants answers on dateless waivers from Trump administration: Report https://t.co/sjdQDUIeqw pic.twitter.com/UGFZO8c61O
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) June 3, 2017
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