President Trump has approved 14 ethics waivers to White House staff, including four to former lobbyists allowing them to work on their areas of expertise, officials announced Wednesday as they posted details of their decision making online.
The move was designed to prove Mr. Trump’s commitment to the ethics process he touted during the campaign, but which some watchdogs had feared he was backing away from now that he was in office.
“The White House is really trying to take all of the allegations about our commitment to ethics off the table unilaterally,” said one White House official who asked not to be named in order to discuss the process. “While we don’t necessarily expect people to give us accolades for that, it’s important for us to do.”
Every employee in the executive office was granted a waiver to be able to talk to the press, while all commissioned employees were granted a blanket waiver to talk with political organizations. Those who used to work at Jones Day, a prominent law firm, were also granted a blanket waiver so they could communicate with their old law firm, which still handles the president’s legal matters from his campaign and as a private citizen.
Specific waivers were granted to his top staffers such as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus so he could still talk to the Republican National Committee, his former employer, and to senior adviser Kellyanne Conway so she could talk with former clients of her polling firm, which include a number of politically important groups the White House communicates with.
The former lobbyists who earned waivers were Michael Catanzaro, who lobbied on energy issues and will be allowed to work on environmental issues; Shahira Knight, who lobbied for investment funds and will be allowed to work on tax and retirement issues; Andrew Olmem, who lobbied for a host of insurance and banking interests and will be allowed to work on a series of financial issues; and Joshua Pitcock, who lobbied for the state of Indiana, and who will be allowed to still communicate with Indiana officials and also work on a host of other issues he likely was involved in while representing the state.
The White House released a chart showing each of the waivers issued and offering a brief explanation of why they were granted.
The actual waivers themselves weren’t released. That marks a break from the Obama White House, which posted each waiver online.
As of a week ago, it wasn’t clear the Trump White House would post anything, as it was engaged in a legal battle with the Office of Government Ethics.
The OGE had demanded that every federal agency — including the White House — turn over copies of approved waivers. The White House had responded by questioning whether the OGE’s request was legal. The head of the OGE, an Obama appointee, refused to back down.
All told, the White House announced 11 waivers for specific individuals, and three for categories of employees.
That’s more than the four waivers President Obama had issued at this point in his tenure. He had approved waivers for Jocelyn Frye, Cecilia Munoz, William Lynn and Valerie Jarrett.
Overall, watchdog groups say the Trump administration has hired former lobbyists at a faster clip than the Obama administration, and has allowed some of them to work in the same areas in which they lobbied.
The White House official said they had worked hard to avoid having to issue waivers, instead pushing employees to recuse themselves from dealings with former employers or clients.
“This reflects a real commitment by the White House to make sure everyone understands that ethics is a true priority, not just a talking point for us,” the official said.
Mr. Trump in January signed an executive order maintaining much of the Obama administration’s ethics rules — and, like Mr. Obama, allowing a waiver for cases where no other option worked.
Most of Wednesday’s waivers excused employees from a two-year ban on dealing with former employers and former clients. The lobbyists were also granted an exemption from a two-year ban on dealing with issues they’d previously handled.
The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) said the announcement confirmed fears that Mr. Trump was giving lobbyist a pass.
“When we heard there were waivers to the ethics pledge given but not released, the fear was that they were giving registered lobbyists a waiver to allow them to work on matters on which they lobbied or Washington insiders the ability to work with former clients. It appears that’s exactly what happened,” said CREW spokesman Jordan Libowitz.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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