SOTU FACT CHECK: PRESIDENT TRUMP HAS FILLED – NOT DRAINED – THE SWAMP
PRESIDENT TRUMP'S FAILURE TO KEEP HIS PROMISE TO ‘DRAIN THE SWAMP' FAILS THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, UNDERMINES THE PUBLIC TRUST
During his first year in office, President Trump has made a mockery of the promise at the core of his presidential campaign: ‘Drain the Swamp'. President Trump has appointed the richest cabinet in U.S. history, unethical and wasteful actions have been at the center of his administration, and he has enriched himself at the expense of America's hard-working taxpayers.
- President Trump appointed Cabinet members with a combination of ethical problems, inexperience, hostility to the missions of the departments its members are being called to lead, and plain old ignorance that is simply unprecedented.
- At least five Trump Administration Cabinet officials are under IG investigation for spending millions of taxpayer dollars to travel on private planes.
- The Trump White House thinks ethics rules ‘Do Not Apply' to Administration staff.
- President Trump is using the office of the presidency to enrich himself, and the Republican Congress is failing to prohibit his conflicts of interests.
- President Trump has refused to release his tax returns, becoming the first President since Jimmy Carter to withhold that information from the American people.
- The Trump Organization failed to implement meaningful policy to prevent violations to the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution on the basis that it would be ‘impractical' and would ‘diminish the guest experience of our brand.'
CBS News: Donald Trump's Cabinet richest in U.S. history, historians say
As he traveled the country on his thank you tour, then-President-elect Donald Trump touted his choices for his Cabinet and inner circle, a group historians say is the richest in U.S. history … seven of Trump's picks are worth a combined $11 billion.
Washington Post: Traveling in style: Trump's White House wrestles with Cabinet costs
Inspectors general have opened at least five investigations into charter or military flights by Cabinet officials amounting to millions in federal spending. Their decisions to veer away from cheaper commercial flights have led to criticism from Democrats in Congress and government accountability groups about a culture of entitlement in Trump's administration.
NYT: White House Waivers May Have Violated Ethics Rules
The Trump administration may have skirted federal ethics rules by retroactively granting a blanket exemption that allows Stephen K. Bannon, the senior White House strategist, to communicate with editors at Breitbart News, where he was recently an executive.
NYT Editorial: The Self-Dealing Presidency of Donald Trump
Mr. Trump — whose global empire of hotels, real estate, golf courses and other businesses is awash in foreign money — has … performed in a sort of ethics theater, stepping away from the day-to-day management of the Trump Organization even as he retains his ownership in it. Since the Republican-led Congress appears to have no interest in holding Mr. Trump to account, the federal courts may be the only option.
CNN: Presidential tax returns: It started with Nixon. Will it end with Trump?
Donald Trump is positioning himself to become the first president in 40 years to refuse to release his tax returns in office. Such a refusal would overturn a precedent maintained by every president since Jimmy Carter -- and extend Trump's refusal to make his returns public during the campaign.