PARTING WORDS

Ex-Ethics Chief Disputes ‘Ridiculous’ White House Allegations

Trump administration accused him of inappropriate public communications.

Walter Shaub, the outgoing Office of Government Ethics director who made his resignation public on Thursday, is disputing claims from the White House that he improperly disseminated information and never raised ethics concerns with the administration. A White House official told ABC News that Shaub “has been outspoken by leaking, tweeting, and writing letters to Democrat members of Congress” and never raised ethics issues with the White House counsel. Appearing on ABC’s This Week, Shaub called the statement “ridiculous,” adding: “I'm the head of a federal agency and I make decisions about what information we're going to release in an official way on behalf of the agency in order to communicate with the public.” Shaub said communicating with the public is an important way to “leverage change” and “help them to have confidence in the government's operations when the rules are being followed.”