In a completely unprecedented move, President-elect Donald Trump is delaying the presidential transition process by refusing to provide the legally required ethical commitment.
The Presidential Transition Act requires the president-elect to sign an ethics agreement that applies to all members of the transition team and includes a commitment to avoid conflicts of interest once sworn in.
Only after the President-elect signs the pledge and discloses to the General Services Administration (GSA) all non-federal contributions received for the transition can his transition team receive from federal agencies.
The transition period represents a critical crossroads for our country and a point of extreme vulnerability for national security. Delaying a smooth transition of power will have negative consequences felt throughout government.
The transition team is setting the stage for the new administration in several ways. These highly trained professionals are given the immense responsibility of guiding a president-elect to the White House by handling critical pre-election and post-election issues before a candidate takes office.
The consequences of a poorly managed transition period extend well beyond these few months: sinisterly, the 9/11 Commission cited the shortened transition period after the 2000 presidential election as a contributing factor to the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.
The transition also sets the tone for the administration’s approach to transparency, accountability and public trust – which is why it is so critical that this team is committed to ensuring its duties are carried out in the right way. public interest.
It is unclear why Trump has not signed the agreement or indicated who contributed to the transition efforts; however, its most recent financial disclosure reports point to a potential reason.
Trump owns a number of holdings that raise significant conflict of interest concerns: including his new cryptocurrency business, his majority stake in the social media network Truth Social, his real estate holdings, his books and his deals. license.
If the president-elect were to sign an agreement pledging to avoid conflicts of interest, it would suggest that he would have to divest himself of many – if not all – of these holdings.
Additionally, the president-elect may not want the public to know who contributed to his transition or may impose a limit on individual contributions.
In order to receive government services and funds to ease the transition, a president-elect cannot receive more than $5,000 from any individual and must disclose those contributors to the GSA, which will then make this information available to the public.
It is possible that Trump – who has no shortage of wealthy allies with special interests – would prefer to accept unlimited contributions, which would create significant conflicts of interest, rather than receive the transition services needed from the federal government to ensure the security of the country.
From there, the president-elect could take three possible paths. First, it can propose strict ethical requirements as previous transition teams have done, albeit belatedly, and signal to the public that it will respect ethical standards, the rule of law, and the trust and security of the audience.
Second, the transition team may propose substandard ethical guidelines that meet legal requirements but constitute little more than window dressing. Transition efforts could move forward, but would do little to reassure the public that the team is operating at the highest ethical level.
Third, the transition team may refuse to adhere to ethical standards, effectively choosing to operate without transparency or accountability regarding possible conflicts of interest. This path has little precedent in modern history
The president-elect has already signaled his refusal to adhere to strict ethical requirements by failing to provide the public with a timely code of ethics for the transition team, as required by the Presidential Transition Act.
The two main presidential candidate parties had to establish ethical plans for their transition teams before October 1. Trump has missed this deadline.
The omission of the first ethics requirement on the path to the Oval Office is a disturbing premonition of what ethics enforcement might look like under a second Trump administration.
This is particularly concerning given Trump’s lackadaisical attitude and blatant disregard for the laws and ethical standards necessary to maintain public trust.
During his first administration, Trump notoriously refused to disengage from its commercial interests despite the thousands of conflicts of interest they posed. He also repeatedly refused to hold his top officials accountable for ethics violations and rescinded his ethics pledge by executive order on the last day of his term, paving the way for unfettered use by his officials of the revolving door and a legacy of corruption and waste.
This behavior does not go unnoticed by the public. Public trust in government has reached some of the lowest levels in more than 60 years under the last Trump administration, as 17% of Americans trust the government to do what is right.
In the absence of rapid and concrete actions by the president-elect to demonstrate his commitment to ethical standards, all signs point to a second term that will prioritize personal interest over the public good, as well as as a decline in confidence in public institutions.