Fmr Gov’t Ethics Chief Tells CNN Biden Needs to Address Conflict of Interest Concerns Over His Brother
Walter Shaub, who served as the director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics in the Obama and Trump administrations, said President Joe Biden should take steps to address the appearance of conflict of interest with respect to his brother.
Shaub has been very outspoken in the last few years calling out the Trump administration, which Jake Tapper noted Monday before asking Shaub questions concerning Biden’s brother.
As CNN reported last week, the law firm Frank Biden works for — as a senior adviser — has been touting his connection to the president. The report notes one White House official said there’s “currently a process in place that involves the White House Counsel’s Office and family representatives to address issues as they may arise any questions of potential conflicts of interest.”
Tapper asked Shaub, “Is there a problem at least with the appearance of a conflict of interest?”
“I think there is a problem here, and it’s an appearance problem, admittedly, but appearance matters,” Shaub said, “in a period when we’re trying to rebuild after what was inarguably the most unethical presidency in our history.”
Shaub said it’s “not enough” for the Biden White House to just “tell us they have a mysterious process of some sort.”
He elaborated:
“I would like them to tell us what that process is. And although it’s not required by the rules, we’re in a period when we’re rebuilding from ethical failures, so I would like to hear the president say that he has asked his brother to stop touting the connection to the White House. Now, he can’t control his brother, but he certainly can reassure us that he has asked him. He can share what the process they put in place is, and he can also ask that all of his political appointees will refrain from dealings with the law firm and defer to career government officials to handle any matters that arise. I think that would go a long way to resolving the appearance concern, and I hope they’ll do that, because they haven’t done it yet.”
Tapper also asked Shaub about potential ethical concerns surrounding Hunter Biden’s upcoming book.
Shaub said that while it’s important to see the president showing empathy, “unlike the last president,” he thinks it would be better for Biden “to not be on television talking about having read his son’s book.”
Tapper closed the segment by adding, “This is apples to alligators when it comes to the Trump team.”
You can watch above, via CNN.
