WASHINGTON _ Donald Trump's incoming chief of staff said Sunday that the top U.S. ethics official "ought to be careful" after publicly criticizing the president-elect's plan to step down from leading his businesses while keeping his ownership interests.
"That person is becoming extremely political," Reince Priebus said Sunday of Walter Shaub Jr., director of the Office of Government Ethics.
"I'm not sure what this person at Government Ethics, what sort of standing he has any more to be giving these opinions," Priebus said on ABC's "This Week."
In announcing his plan on Jan. 11, Trump said his two adult sons would run the company and would take steps to limit any conflicts, including a ban on new international business deals. He also said his hotels would pay any profits derived from foreign governments' spending to the U.S. Treasury.
Hours later, Shaub said at the Brookings Institution that Trump's plan to step down from leadership roles while still owning the business was "meaningless from a conflicts-of-interest perspective.
"We can't risk creating the perception that government leaders would use their official positions for personal profits," Shaub said.
Rep. Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, responded by telling Shaub in a letter that he overstepped his mandate as ethics director. Chaffetz summoned Shaub for an meeting later this month to explain his actions.
"How does he come to his current conclusion having never done an investigation?" Chaffetz said on ABC. He also said he won't go on a "fishing expedition" to investigate whether Trump's business interests create conflicts of interest.
The Office of Government Ethics is an independent agency with the mission of providing oversight of the executive branch's ethics program to prevent and resolve conflicts of interest. It works with ethics officials in more than 130 agencies. Shaub, a lawyer who has been with the agency since 2008, was appointed by President Barack Obama to a five-year term to head the agency in 2013.
Schaub's office didn't respond to messages seeking comment Sunday.
