Cummings Requests Public Hearing With Top Government Ethics Official on President-Elect’s Refusal to Divest

Washington, D.C. (Jan. 12, 2017)—Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Chairman Jason Chaffetz requesting that the Committee convene a hearing next week for Committee Members and the American people to have the opportunity to hear public testimony from the nation’s top government ethics expert, Walter M. Schaub, Jr., regarding President-Elect Donald Trump’s massive global business entanglements.

Yesterday, Mr. Schaub, the Director of the Office of Government Ethics, warned that President-Elect Trump’s plan is “wholly inadequate” and that “we can’t risk creating the perception that government leaders would use their official positions for profit.”

As Cummings wrote:  “I believe it is imperative that Director Schaub be permitted to testify in public—before the American people—to avoid any perception that he is being unfairly targeted behind closed doors for expressing his views.  Protecting those who speak truth to power is one of this Committee’s core values and purposes, and we should fully support government officials charged with increasing transparency and ethical governance when they provide independent advice that is based on the law.”

Click here to read today’s letter.