Trump’s Refusal to Sign the Required Ethics Agreement is His Virtual Promise to Violate It

The Presidential Transition Act was established to effect an orderly transition between succeeding terms of presidents. Among its features is a code of ethics that the president-elect is required to agree to before being permitted access to classified materials and briefings.

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Donald Trump WTF

No one should be surprised that Donald Trump has, so far, refused to sign the ethics agreement. Which is entirely in character for Trump whose record in business, politics, and even his personal life, is rife with deliberate and nefarious ethical failings. He is a walking monument to corruption, deceit, and immorality. Especially troubling are his legal lapses in ethics that have resulted in dozens of felony charges and convictions.

SEE THIS: Here’s a Summary of the Crimes Trump’s Lawyer Tells the Supreme Court He Has Immunity to Commit

According to reports, one of the factors holding up Trump’s signature is that the agreement would require him to abstain from any conflicts of interest. That would be a nearly impossible burden for Trump to uphold, considering his broad array of businesses that he has already exploited unethically in his previous occupation of the White House. Now CNN is reporting that…

“President-elect Donald Trump has not yet submitted a series of transition agreements with the Biden administration, in part because of concerns over the mandatory ethics pledge [which is required by law under the Presidential Transition Act] vowing to avoid conflicts of interest once sworn in to office, CNN has learned.

As president, Trump repeatedly came under fire from ethics groups for potential conflicts of interest relating to his businesses and brands.” […]

“Trump’s most recent financial disclosures as a candidate showed that he has continued to make millions off his properties, books and licensing deals. He and his family recently launched a new cryptocurrency business. […] A sizable share of his net worth, meanwhile, is tied to the publicly traded parent company of Truth Social, the conservative social media network. Trump is the dominant shareholder.”

Every president other Trump has complied with the ethic laws for the office by either relinquishing the potentially conflicting enterprises, or putting them in a blind trust. Trump did neither of those. And it appears that he isn’t interested in doing any of that in his upcoming term either.

By refusing to sign the ethics agreement, Trump is virtually promising to violate it. Why else would he hesitate? And those violations could include activities that are far more serious than improperly enriching himself financially. He could reveal sensitive intelligence information to his pals Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. He could abuse his authority in order to intimidate or control both domestic and foreign politicians. He could funnel funds to himself or to others with whom he has shady deals.

Trump is also preparing to evade any accountability for crimes he may commit while in office. He is stacking his Cabinet with unwavering loyalists who will support whatever crimes he commits. And to insure that he gets his way, he is also plotting to evade constitutional checks and balances in order to install his team of sycophants without Senate oversight or confirmation.

Speculation of Trump appointments of cultists such as Kash Patel to head the CIA, or Mike Davis as Attorney General, would essentially serve as guardians of Trump’s mob operation to shield the boss from accountability. And he needs all the help he can get considering the length of his rap sheet.

UPDATE: Trump finally signed a transition agreement, however, he did so only after altering it so that he “is still refusing to accept several typical trappings of the presidential transition process, including federal funding, equipment and office space — as well as official government background and security checks for his transition staff. The agreement does not include an ethics pledge for the president-elect, required by the Presidential Transition Act.”

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