US government ethics director steps down

Yahoo – AFP, July 6, 2017

Former ethics official Walter Shaub said in his resignation letter it had been
 a privilege to work with colleagues who protect the principle of placing
 "loyalty to the Constitution, the laws, and ethical principles above private
gain" (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

Washington (AFP) - The top US government ethics watchdog, who clashed with President Donald Trump's administration, announced Thursday he is resigning his post, effective July 19.

Walter Shaub, who was appointed in 2013 to a five-year term as director of the Office of Government Ethics, told Trump of his decision in a resignation letter.

Shaub will join the non-profit Campaign Legal Center (CLC) as its senior director of ethics.

"In working with the current administration, it has become clear to me that we need improvements to the existing ethics program," Shaub said in a statement published by the CLC.

"I look forward to working toward that aim at Campaign Legal Center, as well as working on ethics reforms at all levels of government."

While he did not offer direct criticism in his letter to Trump, he did tell him that it had been a privilege to work with colleagues who protect the principle of placing "loyalty to the Constitution, the laws, and ethical principles above private gain."

Even before Trump took office, Shaub took issue with the billionaire businessman-turned-president about whether Trump was appropriately ceding full control of his global property empire to his two adult sons.

Trump in January stopped short of making a full divestment, earning a swift rebuke from the OGE.

"It doesn't meet the standards that the best of his nominees are meeting and that every president in the last four decades has met," Shaub said at the time.

One month later, he urged the White House to investigate key Trump aide Kellyanne Conway for plugging the fashion brand of the president's daughter Ivanka Trump on a television broadcast, saying she should face "disciplinary" action for breaching standards of conduct.