OPINION:
Oh good. We were all wondering what Barack Obama’s people thought of President Donald Trump’s decision to hire his daughter, Ivanka, for an official White House job — and now we can sleep again.
According to Norman Eisen, the former ethics lawyer to Obama, yep, it’s nepotism alrightee. Plain and simple — except even he agrees it’s not so plain and simple.
Here’s his statement, made on “Anderson Cooper 360” on CNN: “My view … is that the nepotism statute does apply to the White House. For decades the Justice Department held ’yes’ the nepotism statute applies to the White House. … President Trump got an opinion from the Justice Department that the nepotism statute doesn’t apply to his White House. We don’t agree with that opinion.”
What? A member of Obama’s former administration doesn’t agree with a decision from the Trump administration? You don’t say.
There’s a shocker.
But really, why would Team Trump take advice from Team Obama — particularly from an Obama team member who presents as an expert on ethics?
To say Eisen, who helped with Obama’s presidential campaign and then served as Special Counsel for Ethics and Government Reform in Obama’s White House, set the stage for open and ethical government is a bit of a reach. Eisen went on to become Obama’s ambassador to the Czech Republic, but the legacy he left behind in terms of ethics was nothing to brag about. It was Obama’s Justice Department, under Eric Holder, that spied on Fox News and Associated Press reporters, tapping into their phone lines and such.
It was the IRS under the seeking-second-term Obama that targeted tea party and other conservative-type groups who wanted their nonprofit applications approved.
It was the Obama administration’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that was responsible for Operation Fast and Furious, when illegally sold firearms turned up, well, fast and furious in the commission of crimes — including the one that was tied to the death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry? Holder, for his role in that little ethical bump, earned the dubious honor of becoming the first sitting Cabinet member to be held in contempt of Congress. The ethical bump probably would have been larger if Obama had not gone mum and invoked executive privilege, thereby denying Congress the ability to obtain certain Justice Department documents related to the gun-running operation through his office.
But ethics are a funny thing, aren’t they?
As Eisen stated, “reasonable minds can disagree” on what constitutes right versus wrong.
Ivanka’s role in the White House had been as an informal adviser to her dad. But facing criticisms that such an informal role makes her a kind of silent shadowy entity, immune from watchdog oversight and disclosures’ laws, Trump appointed her to a formal — albeit unpaid — senior adviser slot.
And now the critics are coming out and complaining about some 1967 nepotism law prohibiting the appointment of family members. Well let’s just say heartland America doesn’t really care about this — doesn’t care that Trump and his daughter are going to be working together in the White House. This is an Inside-the-Beltway nitpick. Why?
Because most people in America, if in the same presidential position, would probably do the same. Who better to trust than a family member?
What the left can’t stand, though, is the idea of Ivanka turning into a Valerie Jarrett. Jarrett, the long-time shadow figure of Obama, was frequently seen as the influential policy driver behind the president — the one who reportedly helped forge the Iran nuclear deal long before it ever came to the light of day.
So what the left’s done is put Ivanka’s White House role in a danged if you do, danged if you don’t box. That’s fine; that’s how the left operates.
Just don’t trot out a so-called Obama-era ethics lawyer to point out law and decency and honor to the American people. It just doesn’t sell.
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