Warren Challenges Trump Transition to Strengthen Past Ethics Pledge, Address Key Corruption Risks

Warren Challenges Trump Transition to Strengthen Past Ethics Pledge, Address Key Corruption Risks

Sen. Warren outlines provisions to strengthen Trump ethics pledge for incoming appointees

"President Trump can and should top President Biden's standard, and his own, with an ethics pledge that includes key improvements."

"These pledges have become expected because…government officials use their positions to benefit their own pocketbooks, as well as the special interests, and even foreign governments, that have employed them before and after their government service."

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote to Trump Transition Co-Chairs Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon, urging them to make the White House's ethics pledge for incoming appointees as strong as possible and outlining specific provisions to do so. The letter comes at the end of the first week of confirmation hearings for President-elect Trump's cabinet nominees, many of whom have been found to have serious conflicts of interest and massive wealth.

"President Trump has the opportunity to boost Americans' trust in government by issuing a 2025 ethics pledge that goes beyond prior presidential ethics pledges, including those required by Presidents Biden and Obama," wrote Senator Warren. "Now, President Trump can and should top President Biden's standard, and his own, with an ethics pledge that includes key improvements."

Senator Warren outlined specific provisions to strengthen the forthcoming ethics pledge, including: recusal for 4 years from matters of former clients and employers, restricting former lobbyists from entering government, imposing a 5-year cooling off period for post-employment lobbying (including shadow lobbying), lengthening the post-employment restrictions on communicating with former agencies to limit abuse of the revolving door, requiring disclosure of any prior work for foreign governments, requiring that waivers be transparent and only granted in the public interest, and committing to not revoking the pledge after Trump leaves office.

"These are just a few of the many ways you can improve upon President Trump's 2017 ethics pledge. I encourage you to also consider adding new provisions to address some of the key corruption risks that arose during President Trump's last administration - including restrictions on Special Government Employees who maintain dual private-sector employment and on former officials who engage in business deals with foreign governments," wrote Senator Warren.

Ethics pledges have been required of incoming appointees by the past three administrations. The pledges help close gaps in existing ethics law and hold officials to robust standards of public integrity - particularly critical at a time when public trust in government has reached an all-time low and continues to trend in a negative direction.

"[President Trump]'s 2017 pledge included unique strengths, such as a strong post-employment ban on lobbying activities and a permanent ban on former officials working as foreign agents. And while President Biden issued a strong ethics pledge, it still contained troubling elements, such as narrowing President Trump's ban on former officials engaging in shadow lobbying," wrote Senator Warren.

Senator Warren has long led on transition ethics:

• The requirement that a presidential transition issue an ethics plan comes from the Presidential Transition Enhancement Act (PTEA), which Trump signed into law in March 2020 and includes significant portions of Senator Warren's Transition Team Ethics Improvement Act.

• Senator Warren sent letters to multiple of President Trump's cabinet nominees regarding serious conflicts of interest and ethics issues, including nominee for head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Dr. Oz, nominee for IRS Commissioner Billy Long, and DOGE co-chair Elon Musk.

• In 2020, Senator Warren secured numerous voluntary ethics pledges from Biden appointees exceeding President Biden's official ethics pledge, including: Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf.

• In November 2016, Senator Warren sent a letter to then-President-elect Donald Trump demanding that he remove the Wall Street bankers, industry insiders, and special interest lobbyists filling out his initial transition team and replace them with advisors who advance the interests of working Americans.

• In November 2016, Senator Warren wrote to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, requesting that the GAO conduct a review of then-President-elect Trump's taxpayer-funded transition, following reports of conflicts of interest and other ethics concerns.

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