Watchdogging Conflicts of Interest
Donald Trump took office with blatant conflicts of interest, including a global business empire a vast array of business lines. Trump’s businesses are impacted by a wide range of government policies, including taxes, consumer protection, civil justice, financial regulation, employee rights, foreign policy and much more. Here is some of the work Public Citizen has been doing to call out Trump on his conflicts of interest:
- March 24, 2020: Trump’s Financial Conflicts of Interest Endanger Public Health
- March 5, 2020: Public Citizen Records Request Uncovers $140,000 in Spending by Secret Service at Trump Properties in New Jersey, Florida
- March 3, 2020: After Public Citizen Request, Judge Unseals Court Records Concerning Mulvaney’s South Carolina Land Deal
- February 25, 2020: Public Citizen’s Legal Motion Could Reveal Specifics of Mulvaney’s Land Deal in South Carolina
- January 22, 2020: Where, Oh Where, Did the Trump Inaugural Money Go?
- January 16, 2020: GAO Report: A Damning Rebuke of White House Lies
- December 11, 2019: Conflicts of Interest Appear Rampant Within the Interior Department
- November 20, 2019: Ambassador Sondland Testimony: Delayed Ukraine Aid Linked Directly to Trump’s Desire to Win Reelection
- November 11, 2019: 371 Politicians, Corporations, Foreign Governments and Other Groups Have Spent Money at Trump Properties
- October 25, 2019: Self-Dealing President Discovers Ethics? Trump Team Now Allegedly Exploring Buyer for D.C. Hotel
- October 22, 2019: Top U.S. Diplomat: Confirms What Trump Admitted
- October 17, 2019: Self-Dealing President Doesn’t Even Pretend to Be Constrained by the Law; G-7 to Be Held at Trump’s Doral Property
- October 3, 2019: Publicly Committing an Impeachable Offense Makes Abuse of Power Worse
- September 25, 2019: Casual Corruption Under Trump Continues
- September 24, 2019: Intolerable: Trump’s Shocking, Clearly Impeachable Abuse of Power
- September 12, 2019: Judiciary Committee Formally Probes President Trump’s Actions in Office
- June 27, 2019: Public Citizen Supports Legislation to Enforce the Hatch Act for Executive Branch Employees
- June 13, 2019: Public Citizen Agrees With Federal Watchdog, Conway Must Go
- June 13, 2019: Unregulated, Secretive Legal Slush Funds Are Swamping the Executive Branch
- April 19, 2019: Public Citizen, U.S. Rep. Pascrell and Others to Demand Congressional Action After IRS Fails to Deliver Trump Tax Returns
- April 16, 2019: Better Late Than Never: Following a Public Citizen Petition, the Office of Government Ethics Will Regulate Executive Branch Legal Defense Funds
- March 14, 2019: Mueller’s Findings Must Be Public
- February 14, 2019: Barr Must Not Impede Mueller Investigation; Groups Doubt His Commitment to Justice For All
- February 4, 2019: Public Citizen Calls on Ways and Means Subcommittee to Obtain Trump’s Tax Returns
- January 28, 2019: New Bipartisan Momentum to Require a Special Counsel’s Report to Be Made Public
- December 13, 2018: Trump Inaugural Committee Under Federal Criminal Investigation, Trump Associates May Have Gotten Rich Off Ceremony
- December 10, 2018: Clean Water Rule Rollback May Benefit Golfer-in-Chief While Wiping Out Protections for Millions of Americans
- December 6, 2018: Federal Trade Commission’s Andrew Smith Has Conflicts With 120 Companies. How Can He Do His Job?
- November 19, 2018: Trump and Family Business Accused of Deceptive Advertising
- October 18, 2018: Trump Knew More About Preventing FBI Office Relocation Than Previously Revealed
- October 12, 2018: Trump Family Financial Ties to Saudi Arabia Blur Lines Between Government Policy and Family Business Interests
- October 2, 2018: Trump Has Exposed Shortcomings in Executive Branch Ethics Laws That Require Immediate Fixes
- September 18, 2018: Federal Judge Recognizes That Students Have Suffered Enough; Delayed Student Protections Could Take Effect in October
- August 21, 2018: DeVos’ Back-to-School List: For-Profit Leadership, Obstacles for Defrauded Students, Scaling Back Performance Accountability
- August 16, 2018: Chemical, Petrochemical and Allied Industry Insiders Run Rampant in EPA and White House
- July 25, 2018: Education Department’s Proposed Borrower Defense Rule Again Places Students at the Mercy of Predatory For-Profit Colleges
- July 12, 2018: Public Citizen Files Second Conflicts of Interest Complaint Against OMB Associate Director Joseph Grogan
- June 21, 2018: Pruitt Must Answer Ethics Questions About His Legal Defense Fund
- June 20, 2018: Public Citizen Calls on Ethics Officials to Investigate Whether Interior Department Chief Violated Federal Code
- May 31, 2018: As Commerce Secretary Ross Heads to China, Possible Conflicts of Interest Obscure Whether He Is Negotiating on Behalf Americans or His Own Business Interests
- May 23, 2018: Oil and Auto Insiders Rampant in White House
- May 17, 2018: Something’s Rotten Here: Trump, Kushner and Qatar
- March 30, 2018: Pruitt’s Rental Arrangement Appears to Violate Gift Ban; Public Citizen Calls on EPA Inspector General to Investigate
- March 26, 2018: Public Citizen Files 30 Ethics Complaints for Likely Violations of Trump’s Own Ethics Rules
- March 9, 2018: No Matter What Trump Organization Paid to Treasury, Core Problem Remains Unsolved
- March 1, 2018: More Than 75 Trump Administration Lawyers Present Revolving Door Concerns, Public Citizen Finds
- February 15, 2018: Close Friend of Trump Family Got Rich Off the Inauguration
- February 5, 2018: Public Citizen Calls on Trump Organization to Make Promised Donation to Treasury, Release Details About Trump Property Profits
- January 30, 2018: Trump Has No Shame: He Is Commercializing the State of the Union Address
- January 19, 2018: Trump’s First Year: Influence-Peddling, Demolishing Safeguards and Self-Dealing
- January 16, 2018: Sixty-Four Trade Groups, Foreign Governments, Companies, Charities and Politicians Hold Events at Trump Properties, Public Citizen Finds
- December 14, 2017: Trump’s Self-Serving Deregulatory Binge Endangers Americans, Betrays His Supporters
- December 12, 2017: Trump’s Lawyers Float Red Herring to Undermine Mueller Investigation
- November 3, 2017: Public Citizen’s Corporate Presidency Project Highlights Corporate Ties, Conflicts of Interest of Trump Administration
- November 2, 2017: Asia Trip Spotlights Chasm Between Trump Campaign Rhetoric on Trade and Action, Raising Political Stakes for Meaningful Deliverables
- October 31, 2017: Former Trump Official May Have Violated Ethics Code by Participating in Matters That Affected Her Potential Future Employers
- October 11, 2017: Mnuchin’s Decision to Suppress Crucial Report Signals Treasury Has Everything to Hide on Corporate Tax Giveaways
- October 11, 2017: Trump’s Deregulatory Agenda Could Boost Family Business
- October 5, 2017: Public Citizen Report Highlights Who Would Benefit From Trump’s Proposed Estate Tax Repeal
- September 27, 2017: Trump Tax Plan Is for the Superrich – Like Trump
- September 15, 2017: Ethics Watchdog Offers Little Guidance to White House Officials and Staff on How to Pay for Legal Expenses
- September 6, 2017: House Ways and Means Committee Must End Questions of Possible Trump Conflicts of Interest by Requiring Disclosure of Tax Returns
- September 5, 2017: President Trump Inc.: 49 Businesses Launched Since Announcing for Office
- August 29, 2017: Policy Rider Blocking Mueller Investigation Must Be Removed From Budget Legislation
- August 18, 2017: Trump Adviser Icahn Loses Interest in Regulation, Severs Ties to Administration After Self-Enrichment Scheme Fails
- July 25, 2017: Kushner Should Lose His Security Clearance, Groups Say
- July 10, 2017: Has Trump’s Regs Czar Neomi Rao Received Koch Brothers Funding?
- July 6, 2017: Shaub Departure Places Integrity of Office of Government Ethics in Doubt
- June 28, 2017: Conflicts of Interest and Gilded Age Excess; Attendees at Trump’s Fundraiser Aren’t There for the Food
- June 27, 2017: Conflicted Golfer-in-Chief Takes Swing at Clean Water Rule
- June 22, 2017: Despite Trump’s Own Ethics Rules, Dozens of Former Lobbyists Appear to Work in the Administration on Issues on Which They Lobbied
- June 14, 2017: Public Citizen Applauds Lawmakers’ Lawsuit to Enforce the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution
- June 1, 2017: Waivers for Lobbyists Show Ethics Rules Are an Inconvenience for Trump
- May 11, 2017: Trump’s New Bank Regulator Offers First Gift to Wall Street, Pushes to Undo Crucial Volcker Rule
- May 3, 2017: Icahn Bet Pays Off, Highlighting His Conflict of Interest
- May 3, 2017: Is Corey Lewandowski Violating Lobbying and Foreign Agents Registration Laws? Public Citizen Calls for Investigation
- April 24, 2017: Trump’s First 100 Days: A Wholesale Corporate Takeover of Government
- April 6, 2017: Trump Diminishes Presidency by Using Official Trips to Market His Florida Resort
- April 5, 2017: Trump’s Tax Returns Should Be Made Public Immediately
- March 23, 2017: GSA Says Trump Organization, Owned By Their Boss, Is In Compliance With Hotel Lease
- March 22, 2017: Report: Two Months Into Presidency, Two Months of Broken Promises
- March 9, 2017: Top GSA Official’s Exit Paves the Way for Trump to Continue Using Presidency to Promote Family Businesses
- Feb. 28, 2017: Conflicted Golfer-in-Chief Takes Aim at Clean Water Rule; For-Profit Presidency Must End
- Feb. 14, 2017: Ethics Office Confirms Conway Breach; Administration’s Conflicts, Recklessness and Disregard for the Truth Start With Trump
- Feb. 9, 2017: Public Citizen Calls for Ethics Investigation Into Kellyanne Conway’s Sales Pitch for Ivanka Trump Products
- Feb. 9, 2017: So Much for Separation of Trump Administration and Trump Family Businesses
- Jan. 28, 2017: Public Citizen: Trump’s Lobbying Policy Will Not Stop Rampant Corruption
- Jan. 11, 2017: Trump ‘Plan’ Fails on All Levels, Will Do Nothing to Solve Most Serious Conflict Problems
- Jan. 10, 2017: Presidency for Profit – Trump’s Conflicts Are Inescapable as Long as He Maintains Ownership of His Business
- Jan. 9, 2017: Warren Bill Would Require President Trump to Sell Business
- Dec. 15, 2016: New Senate Legislation to Combat Trump’s ‘Conflicts of Interest in His Administration
- Dec. 13, 2016: Concerned About Trump’s Conflicts of Interest, Activists to Deliver More Than 400,000 Petitions to Trump Hotel
- Dec. 13, 2016: Trump Tweet Suggests Conflicts of Interest Will Continue
- Dec. 12, 2016: Public Citizen Parody Ad – to Run Tuesday on Fox News – Turns Trump Campaign Rhetoric on Its Head
- Dec. 10, 2016: Tillerson Nomination Completes Corporate Takeover of Trump Administration
- Dec. 9, 2016: Trump’s Continued Ownership of Businesses Will Cause Serious Problems for His Presidency and the Country
- Nov. 30, 2016: Trump ‘Leaving’ Business Does Nothing to Alleviate Conflicts of Interest
- Nov. 21, 2016: Trump’s Conflicts of Interest Are Unprecedented in American History
- Nov. 17, 2016: ‘The Most Blatant Conflicts of Interest in the History of American Politics’
- Nov. 17, 2016: Trump Must Divest Himself of All Business Holdings, Democracy Advocates and Ethicists Say
- Nov. 17, 2016: Trump’s Lobbying Ban Won’t Stop the Real Conflicts of Interest in His Administration