White House Announces New Transparency Measure

With so many millionaires and billionaires working in the Trump administration, Democrats—with the help of the liberal mainstream media—has made a concerted effort of calling into question the motives of those President Donald Trump has appointed to serve in high-level positions in government.

A new measure announced Wednesday by the White House will likely address many of those concerns, although as complicated as it has been for many Trump nominees to extricate themselves from their vast personal wealth, it might create entirely new headaches, as well. But, the president promised real transparency from his administration.

The White House statement reads:

Fulfilling the president’s commitment to ensure an ethical and transparent government, on March 31, 2017, the White House will be making the U.S. Office of Government Ethics Form 278 financial disclosure reports filed by high-level officials in the White House office available to the public.

Additionally, in the future, members of the public will be able to make requests through an online portal and receive access to the public financial disclosure reports of officials who have filed their form at least 30 days prior to the date of the request.

Additional Information

As per the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 and the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012, high-level officials in the White House are required to file public financial disclosure reports. These reports are reviewed by the White House and are used to identify and prevent potential financial conflicts of interest. The reports of the highest-level officials are also independently reviewed by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Under section 105 of the Ethics in Government Act, these reports are available to the public upon request.

To ensure timely response and maximum public disclosure, the White House may release some reports prior to their certification by the White House or the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Uncertified reports are still considered to be under review, and are subject to change based on the robust review process of the Office of White House Counsel. {eoa}