Jill R Shah, Akila Quinio, Alex Rogers, Financial Times; Landmark US crypto bill fails as Senate splits over Trump ethics concerns
"A landmark crypto regulation bill backed by the digital currency industry failed to advance in the US Senate on Tuesday, as Democrats insisted on stronger limits on Donald Trump’s ability to profit from the industry."
Sophia Solano, The Washington Post; Spanberger removes Virginia Tech rector, citing ethics concerns
"Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) removed the rector of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors this week, a move that angered Republicans and drew swift comparison to allegations of political interference in state colleges that were aimed at her predecessor.
In a letter Wednesday to Rector John Rocovich, Spanberger accused him of violating a code of conduct for state board appointees, as well as the university board’s Code of Ethics “requiring board members to act in accordance with the best interests of Virginia Tech.”
The governor did not provide examples of alleged misconduct.
Spanberger appointed former board member Edward Baine to fill the remainder of Rocovich’s term through June 2027. She also appointed Sharon Brickhouse Martin to fill a vacancy through June; she was previously tapped for a four-year term that begins in July."
Jacob Knutson , Democracy Docket; Trump’s attorneys general are racking up ethics complaints
"As they aggressively weaponize federal law enforcement, President Donald Trump’s attorneys general are quickly amassing ethics complaints — and they don’t appear poised to stop anytime soon."
Rachel Treisman, NPR; Transportation Secretary Duffy filmed a reality show, funded by firms he regulates
"On Monday, the nonprofit government watchdog group Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with Transportation's Office of Inspector General, accusing Duffy of violating federal gift and travel rules, and calling on the Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General to investigate.
"You have everyday Americans who are struggling with the price of gas, struggling with the costs of everyday items, and you have the cabinet secretary announcing that he is going on a trip with his entire family, which appears to have been funded by the industries that his department is overseeing," CREW president Donald Sherman tells NPR...
As the trailer made the rounds on social media, many commenters asked how the trip was paid for. Some worried it was costing taxpayers, while others said its product placement — like the Toyota car, a Japanese brand, prominently featured in the video — raised questions of corruption. Sherman, of CREW, agrees.
"One has to wonder whether the decision to prominently feature Toyota in this project is because Toyota paid for a sponsorship or because the secretary actually thinks that promoting Toyota is in the best interest of the American public, American automakers and the people that work for that industry," he said."...
The Great American Road Trip Inc. describes itself as an independent nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization, "fully funding its own efforts to celebrate and share America's story." (An IRS database search did not yield any results for an organization by that name, and Barnes did not respond to NPR's requests for an identification number.)
The nonprofit's website lists over a dozen sponsors "powering America's road trip," most of which are in the travel or transportation industry. They include Toyota, Boeing and Royal Caribbean, which Sherman says have been subject to investigation — and in some cases, fines — by the Department of Transportation in recent years "and certainly could be in the future."
"[The nonprofit] has become a vehicle for providing access, to its sponsors, to a cabinet secretary, which should make everyday Americans who cannot pay for similar access really concerned," Sherman adds."
Karoun Demirjian, The New York Times; Duffy’s ‘Great American Road Trip’ Prompts Ethical Concerns
"On May 1, Sean P. Duffy was in New Orleans, touring its container terminals in his official capacity as the secretary of transportation.
Then, he climbed behind the wheel of a car with his family on the final, all-expenses paid stop for “The Great American Road Trip,” a slickly produced YouTube series that has raised questions about self-promotion and gifts his family may have accepted as he conducted official business as a prominent member of the Trump administration.
The series, filmed across 10 states and Washington, D.C., over the course of seven months, is part of the department’s commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the United States this year. But it doubled as a set of family excursions for Mr. Duffy, his wife and his children, who traveled to national parks and major landmarks paid for by Great American Road Trip Inc., a nonprofit that names among its sponsors Toyota, United Airlines and Boeing.
Mr. Duffy has said that ethics and budget officials in the department cleared the project. But the corporate ties — and the show’s timing, with gas prices rising — drew immediate blowback on social media when the trailer was released, announcing that it will air beginning in June. The average price of gas has gone up more than 40 percent since the war with Iran started in February."
CNN; Former DOJ ethics official sounds off on Bondi exit
"A former Justice Department ethics official fired by Pam Bondi last year speaks out on her departure."
Karissa Waddick , USA TODAY; Is Trump profiting off America's 250th? Ethics groups question merch
"Ethics groups point to the for-sale items as part of a growing list of evidence they say suggests the president is hijacking bipartisan plans for the milestone commemoration to benefit his personal interests."
Adam Gabbatt and Dara Kerr, The Guardian; OpenAI to work with Pentagon after Anthropic dropped by Trump over company’s ethics concerns
CEO Sam Altman claims military will not use AI product for autonomous killing systems or mass surveillance
"OpenAI said it had struck a deal with the Pentagon to supply AI to classified US military networks, hours after Donald Trump ordered the government to stop using the services of one of the company’s main competitors.
Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, announced the move on Friday night. It came after an agreement between Anthropic, a rival AI company that runs the Claude system, and the Trump administration broke down after Anthropic sought assurances its technology would not be used for mass surveillance – nor for autonomous weapons systems that can kill people without human input.
Announcing the deal, Altman insisted that OpenAI’s agreement with the government included assurances that it would not be used to those ends.
“Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems,” Altman wrote on X. He added that the Pentagon “agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement”.
Altman also said he hoped the Pentagon would “offer these same terms to all AI companies” as a way to “de-escalate away from legal and governmental actions and toward reasonable agreements”."
Rebecca F. Elliott and Brad Plumer , The New York Times; Another Trump Financial Conflict, This Time With Nuclear Power
"A Trump-sponsored business is once again betting on an industry that the president has championed, further entwining his personal fortunes in sectors that his administration is both supporting and overseeing.
This one is in the nuclear power sector. TAE Technologies, which is developing fusion energy, said on Thursday that it planned to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group. President Trump is the largest shareholder of the money-losing social media and crypto investing firm that bears his name, and he will remain a major investor in the combined company.
The deal, should it be completed, would put Mr. Trump in competition with other energy companies over which his administration holds financial and regulatory sway. Already, the president has sought to speed up safety reviews of new nuclear power plants and lower thresholds for acceptable radiation exposure.
“Having the president and his family have a large stake in a particular energy source is very problematic,” said Peter A. Bradford, who previously served on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the independent agency that oversees the industry."
Shawn McCreesh, The New York Times; ‘Things Happen’: Trump Brushes Off the Murder of Khashoggi
"“Things happen.”
That was how President Trump described the murder of the columnist Jamal Khashoggi on Tuesday afternoon while sitting beside Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi ruler whom the C.I.A. believes approved the killing.
In an Oval Office meeting full of news-making moments, that comment by Mr. Trump was perhaps the most astonishing one, and it came just a few moments after he opened up the room to questions.
It was the ABC News journalist Mary Bruce who asked about the finding by U.S. intelligence officials that Prince Mohammed had ordered the killing of Mr. Khashoggi. “Your royal highness,” she said, turning to Prince Mohammed, “the U.S. intelligence concluded that you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist. 9/11 families are furious that you are here in the Oval Office. Why should Americans trust—”
At that moment, the president cut in, his voice vibrating with anger.
“Who are you with?” he demanded to know.
The earlier part of Ms. Bruce’s question, which had been directed at Mr. Trump, concerned his family’s business entanglements in Saudi Arabia. He brushed off those ethics concerns (“I have nothing to do with the family business”) and then addressed the question about Mr. Khashoggi.
“You’re mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial,” Mr. Trump said, referring to the murdered columnist. “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him, or didn’t like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that.”
The crown prince spoke more like a politician, condemning the 9/11 attacks and Osama Bin Laden. Then he turned to the question about Mr. Khashoggi. “About the journalist,” Prince Mohammed said, going on to give a lengthy answer, casting it as “a huge mistake” that the kingdom never wants to happen again.
Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammed said, “did all the right steps” to investigate Mr. Khashoggi’s death.
Mr. Trump’s concerns were different.
“You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that,” he said to the reporter."
Minho Kim, The New York Times ; Close Trump Allies Sponsored the Military Parade, Raising Ethical Concerns
"Federal regulations prohibit the use of public office for the private gain of officeholders or their friends, relatives or nongovernmental affiliates, said Richard W. Painter, who served as the chief ethics lawyer in the White House Counsel’s Office under President George W. Bush.
“The parade is being used for advertising by these entities with close business ties to the president,” Mr. Painter said in an interview. “You’re in a situation where the U.S. government has been used to endorse a product.”
If he had been Mr. Trump’s chief ethics lawyer, he added, he would have not wanted the sponsorships at all. Such an arrangement would be acceptable only if the companies were to pay for the entire event, Mr. Painter said, allowing the government to host the celebration without paying any tax dollars. The military parade was estimated to cost up to $45 million."
