Ethics Pledges by Trump Cabinet Draw Questions and Skepticism; The New York Times, February 1, 2025

 Eric Lipton, The New York Times; Ethics Pledges by Trump Cabinet Draw Questions and Skepticism

"A total of 467 separate conflicts that require recusal, meaning at least temporarily the official cannot handle certain matters, have been identified in 15 of these ethics letters filed so far by senior Trump administration officials or those pending confirmation, according to a tally by Campaign Legal Center.

The largest number of these recusal requirements will be imposed on Howard Lutnick, a Wall Street financier and the nominee for Commerce Department secretary, who at least initially must refrain from being involved in certain matters involving 106 different corporate entities.

To outside ethics lawyers, this is a minefield of potential problems, and reason to be apprehensive, given that during Mr. Trump’s first term, several of his cabinet members failed to honor ethics promises they made to avoid actions that benefited their families or financial interests...

Richard Painter, who served as a White House ethics lawyer during President George W. Bush’s tenure and has written a book on federal ethics policies, said that he expects that the second term of Mr. Trump will feature even less compliance with ethics rules.

“The tone of this administration is going to be a lot more confrontational to the norms of government than even the first Trump administration,” he said, pointing to the recent firing of the inspectors general and the lack of an ethics memo, like every president since Mr. Obama has issued. “It is discouraging. Very discouraging.”"

Trump transition team ethics pledge appears to exclude president-elect; CNN, November 27, 2024

 Betsy Klein, Steve Contorno and Arlette Saenz , CNN; Trump transition team ethics pledge appears to exclude president-elect

[Kip Currier: Res Ipsa Loquitur (The thing speaks for itself)]

[Excerpt]

"President-elect Donald Trump’s team submitted an ethics plan guiding the conduct of its members throughout the transition period that does not appear to include provisions for one key member of the team: the president himself.

“There does not appear to be a provision addressing the requirement for the president-elect to address his conflicts of interest,” said Valerie Smith Boyd, director of the Center for Presidential Transition at the nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service."

How the Trump transition ethics pledge differs from recent norms; Reuters, November 27, 2024

 Heather Timmons , Reuters; How the Trump transition ethics pledge differs from recent norms

"U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's team signed an agreement on Tuesday with President Joe Biden's administration to coordinate with federal agencies and share documents, after weeks of delays.

The Trump team also posted a separate ethics pledge on the website of the General Services Administration, which echoes the standard ethics pledge signed by other past presidential candidates, ethics experts say, with some notable differences...

TRUMP'S ASSETS AND CONFLICTS

The standard pledge contains a promise that the candidate, if elected, will "avoid both actual and apparent conflicts of interest" and to "hold only non-conflicting assets, such as assets exempt from conflict by regulation."

The Trump transition team pledge contains no mention of Trump's personal ethics or assets.

It's a notable difference, said Enzo Benoit, spokesman for the Partnership for Public Service, which monitors transitions. But it may be a minor issue because Trump will be bound by the more detailed conflicts of interest requirements when he actually takes office."