Many of U.S.
President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet choices are scheduled to appear at
Senate confirmation hearings in the coming week, even though some have not yet
completed a required ethics review intended to ensure they will face no
conflicts of interest after becoming part of the government.
Walter Shaub,
director of the nonpartisan Office of Government Ethics, has written to Senate
leaders complaining that several of the very wealthy nominees have not filed
documents, including financial disclosure reports, that are required for anyone
being considered for a Cabinet post.
The Senate must
vote to confirm a president’s nominees for Cabinet-level jobs, and a key task
is identifying whether a conflict of interest may arise if a candidate must
choose between the requirements of government service and personal activities
and business.
How will
nominees avoid conflicts?
Prospective
Cabinet secretaries are expected to explain how they would avoid such
conflicts, often by selling off personal assets or stepping down from executive
duties in a business.
Click here for a
look at Trump's nominees for Cabinet and other leadership posts.
In normal
practice, the Senate committees that review an incoming president’s Cabinet
nomination would delay voting on a candidate’s fitness for office until the
ethics documentation and review is complete.
Shaub did not
indicate which of Trump’s nominees have unfinished paperwork, but said the lack
of disclosure on those matters has left some nominees “with potentially unknown
or unresolved ethics issues” in the days leading up to their hearings.
Trump’s nominee
for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, and his pick for secretary of state, Rex
Tillerson, are among six proposed Cabinet secretaries whose qualifications will
be reviewed Wednesday. Sessions’ hearing begins Tuesday, but will continue into
Wednesday.
Also appearing
before Senate committees on the same day are Trump’s choices to serve as
director of the Central Intelligence Agency, secretary of transportation,
secretary of homeland security and secretary of defense.
Trump announced
early
Shaub’s letter
to Senate leaders, obtained by news agencies Saturday, noted that Trump
announced his nominees before their conflict-of-interest status was reviewed by
his office, breaking a tradition in which a newly elected president waits for
approval by the ethics office before identifying his nominees.
Trump’s haste in
announcing his candidates put pressure on the schedule for confirmation
hearings and complicated the effort to evaluate the nominees, Shaub said. Apart
from the confirmation hearings, Trump has said he will meet with reporters
Wednesday in his first news conference since July, which could draw attention
away from the Senate proceedings.
A simple
majority vote of 51 senators is needed to confirm a Cabinet nominee. Because
Republicans hold 52 seats in the Senate, any disagreement in their ranks could
result in the new administration having to depend on support from Democrats to
gain approval of one or more of Trump’s choices.
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