U.S. Ethics Dept. Tweets Approval Of Trump
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal government's ethics office has tweeted congratulations to President-elect Donald Trump for a "total divestiture" that he has not promised.
The U.S. Office of Government Ethics tweeted Wednesday, "We can't repeat enough how good this total divesture will be." Under divestiture, an incoming federal official can sell off massive investments, defer paying capital gains and house the proceeds in Treasury bonds or diversified mutual funds.
But Trump has not confirmed that he will turn over any assets as part of a divestiture. In his own tweetstorm Wednesday, Trump said only that he would separate from his business empire to focus on running the country. He left out other details.
The agency tweets were unusual for a site that normally sends out buttoned-up explanations of ethics guidelines. In a statement, Seth Jones, the chief of the OGE's Ethics Law and Policy branch, acknowledged that the agency's tweets are authentic but said officials do not know the details of Trump's financial plans.
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