Top government ethics official resigns, citing 'the current situation'

US Capitol and Washington Monument.
(Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

On Thursday, Walter M. Shaub Jr., the director of watchdog group the Office of Government Ethics, submitted his letter of resignation to President Trump. "There isn't much more I could accomplish at the Office of Government Ethics, given the current situation," wrote Shaub, who has butted heads with the Trump administration over conflicts of interest concerns. "OGE's recent experiences have made it clear that the ethics program needs to be strengthened."

Shaub will resign from his position effective July 19, months ahead of when his five-year term was set to end in January, and head to a nonpartisan advocacy group where he can push for ethics reforms. The New York Times noted that Shaub's early exit will allow Trump to "begin putting his mark on the agency overseeing the federal government's vast ethics program."

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