OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Obama’s ethics chief issued a warning about Joe Biden’s White House staff.
Former Office of Government Ethics director Walter Shaub reacted to news that Michael Czin would be joining the White House in a “senior adviser” position.
Czin comes from the Biden-aligned consulting firm, SKDK.
Shaub warns that the Biden’s White House staff is going through “the revolving door from influence-peddling operations.”
This isn’t good for the country, Shaub emphasized.
“Personnel is policy, and it’s problematic when that personnel is swinging through the revolving door from influence-peddling operations,” Shaub told Fox News.
“It’s all the more troubling when they don’t even quit their outside jobs with those outfits.”
“I hope he won’t follow the path that Anita Dunn chose of coming in as a special government employee and accepting a salary below the threshold that triggers the requirement to file a public financial disclosure report, but the fact that he’s only taking a leave of absence is cause for concern that this could be the plan – and if so, the public will have no way to gauge the extent of his conflicts of interest,” Shaub continued.
“It’s not optimal.”
Shaub criticized Biden’s handling of Hunter Biden’s art sales, saying it’s “absolutely appalling.”
“There is simply no way an artist who has never even juried into a community center art fair is going to suddenly show up in New York selling art for half a million a pop,” Shaub said.
“Let’s talk about the magnitude of this… That’s $6.5 million going to the president’s son for being the president’s son, not for being an artist and I just think that’s absolutely appalling.”
More from Fox News:
Czin is the most recent hire from SKDK, which was co-founded by Anita Dunn. Dunn recently left the Biden administration after being able to skirt publicly disclosing her personal finances and business interests, unlike other presidential appointees, due to an ethics loophole…
Shaub previously wrote on Twitter Wednesday that Czin’s “leave of absence” from SKDK “doesn’t get him out of filing a public disclosure” but noted that “coming on as a special government employee and setting his pay below the threshold at which public disclosure would apply may do it.”
The former White House ethics chief also wrote that “the leave of absence status may suggest that’s happening.”
“Yuck,” Shaub concluded.
This isn’t the first time that Shaub has blasted the Biden administration over ethics. Earlier this year, Shaub said the Biden administration was sending a “f— you” message to ethics experts by hiring so many relatives of senior White House officials, including Steve Ricchetti, Jake Sullivan and Jen Psaki.
“I’m sorry, I know some folks don’t like hearing any criticism of him. But this royally sucks. I’m disgusted,” Shaub wrote in a Twitter thread in June, reacting to an article about the family ties of Biden officials.
