Donald Trump

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Government watchdog to investigate ethics, funding of Trump transition

The inquiry follows a request from two Democratic lawmakers.

 

Andrew Couts

Tech

Posted on Apr 11, 2017   Updated on May 24, 2021, 5:52 pm CDT

A federal government watchdog agency has launched an investigation into President Donald Trump‘s transition into the White House.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) began its inquiry into the Trump transition at the request of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who sent a letter to the agency inquiring about Trump’s transition in November of last year.

The GAO investigation, which it expects to conclude in June, will explore the ethics rules surrounding presidential transitions, how the Government Service Administration managed transition funds, and how much private funds the Trump transition team collected.

The GAO probe will also look into which ethics guidelines were provided to Trump’s team by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), which sets ethics guidance for the executive branch. It will also investigate which guidelines regarding contacts with foreign governments were provided to Trump’s team and compare those to guidance given to the incoming Obama administration.

GAO Letter to Warren and Cummings

Warren and Cummings have remained staunch critics of Trump and his administration’s policies and conduct. Depending on the results of the GAO inquiry, the Democratic lawmakers may soon have more political ammunition to use against the president.

H/T the Hill

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*First Published: Apr 11, 2017, 1:31 pm CDT