Trump ousts director of Office of Government Ethics

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Trump ousts director of Office of Government Ethics

Legal blowback to Trump executive orders

The legal blowback to Trump’s executive orders

07:41

Washington — President Trump on Monday removed the director of the Office of Government Ethics, the independent agency responsible for overseeing ethics rules and financial disclosures for the executive branch.

“OGE has been notified that the President is removing David Huitema as the director of OGE,” the office said in a

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on its website. “OGE is reverting to an Acting Director.” 

Huitema was appointed to a five-year term by former President Biden. He was confirmed by the Senate in November 2024 and sworn in on Dec. 16, 2024. The office’s website now lists Shelley Finlayson as its acting director. Finlayson has been at the agency since 2006, serving most recently as chief of staff.

The move to oust Huitema comes two weeks after Mr. Trump fired at least 17 inspectors general from their roles as watchdogs without explanation, and as Mr. Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency task force have upended multiple government agencies. 

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Six months into Mr. Trump’s first term in 2017, Walter Shaub resigned as the head of OGE, saying the Trump White House abandoned the “norms and ethical traditions of the executive branch that have made our ethics program the gold standard in the world until now.” 

OGE collects both confidential and public financial disclosures, as well as ethics agreements and other forms from government officials, from the president and vice president to high-ranking appointees and Cabinet nominees. The office works to identify and prevent conflicts of interest. 

“The primary mission of the executive branch ethics program is to prevent conflicts of interest on the part of executive branch employees, by working to ensure that they make impartial decisions based on the public interest, serve as good stewards of public resources, and loyally adhere to the Constitution and laws of the United States,” OGE’s

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reads. 

Kathryn Watson

Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C.

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