President-Elect Trump Questions House GOP’s Move To Weaken Congressional Ethics Office

On Monday, House Republicans essentially voted to weaken the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) by bringing ethics oversight under their own control. The amendment will place the office under control of the House Ethics Committee and rename the OCE the “Office of Congressional Complaint Review.” In addition, it will prohibit investigations based off anonymous tips and prevent the OCE from making public statements.

Not gonna lie. On the surface, it doesn’t exactly sound like a move that promotes greater transparency. However, Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte defended the amendment. He said it “builds upon and strengthens the existing Office of Congressional Ethics by maintaining its primary area of focus of accepting and reviewing complaints from the public and referring them, if appropriate, to the Committee on Ethics.” He also said it “improves upon due process rights for individuals under investigation, as well as witnesses called to testify.”

“The OCE has a serious and important role in the House, and this amendment does nothing to impede their work,” he added.

You can read about it in greater detail here.

I was curious to see what President-elect Trump would say about this. I mean, Democrats are already mocking Republicans for failing to “drain the swamp.” How does Trump feel about this move?

I have to say, I’m really impressed by his mature response.

With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017

……..may be, their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance! #DTS

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017

EXACTLY. Don’t they have better things to do? They have so much more to focus on. Tax reform. Health care reform. Immigration form. Prioritize, Republicans. Focus on what really matters.