President Biden had four years to make good on his promises to reform ethics and transparency laws in the wake of the first Trump administration.
Biden proposed to create a government that works for the people, not wealthy special interests, lobbyists or big political donors.
Despite having opportunities to do so, Biden only fulfilled three of the 25 promises he made and has left the door open to future unethical behavior in the next administration.
Government Transparency
President Biden pledged to increase transparency in the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision-making.
However, President Biden’s administration failed to live up to this pledge almost immediately. In May of 2021, after the DOJ chose to not charge President Trump with any crimes relating to obstruction of justice, the legal memo outlining this decision was blocked from being released. A more transparent DOJ would have released the memo.
Additionally, despite calls to make White House meetings more transparent by publishing visitor logs, the White House did not release “purely personal” logs, even though personal visits can be political in nature.
The White House has also declined to release virtual visitor logs, even though a significant amount of lobbying is done virtually. This refusal to inform the public of who has the administration’s ear leads to public mistrust.
The people have a right to know who is influencing the president’s decisions.
The White House has also made no indication of relaunching a comprehensive website to ensure the public has easy access to ethics documents.
They’ve removed the comment line, the citizen petition site, and no longer release the president or vice president’s daily schedules. These decisions have frustrated the press and open government advocates.
As a result of President Biden’s inaction on government transparency, the second Trump administration will be able to politicize the DOJ without the public’s knowledge.
It will also be able to hide lobbying meetings from the public, preventing them from knowing the information they deserve about who is influencing government action or inaction.
The second Trump administration will also have the opportunity to withhold other basic information from the public that it should have, such as what the president is doing on a day-to-day basis.
Federal Ethics
President Biden pledged to establish a commission on federal ethics to improve how effectively the government enforces federal ethics laws.
Since this commission was not established, and the Office of Government Ethics does not have the ability to enforce these laws, there is a significant potential for conflicts of interest with Trump nominees with significant wealth.
Additionally, President Biden issued an executive order to prevent the president and other senior executive branch members from being influenced by personal financial holdings, but didn’t take any further action to ensure that this was the case going forward.
In order to keep our government ethical, it’s important to have independent watchdogs that can provide nonpartisan oversight, like the Office of Congressional Conduct, formerly known as the Office of Congressional Ethics.
Consequently, President Trump will be able to lead an administration that could flagrantly violates federal ethics laws with little recourse.
Lobbying
The public should know who is lobbying the executive branch. While President Biden reversed Schedule F, a Trump-era executive order that would have drastically increased the number of exempt executive branch employees from the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA), he has failed to take further action.
There are also a significant number of Biden White House advisors who have previously worked as consultants; therefore, their previous work and former clients don't need to be disclosed under the LDA.
Without significant lobbying reform, President Trump will be able to continue under the status quo and fill the executive branch with former consultants who will not have to disclose their clients.
This means that advisors may still be influenced by their former employers or clients without public knowledge, making it impossible for the public to know who they are truly advocating for.
Voters deserve to know that their elected officials are acting ethically and in the public’s best interest, but the Biden administration has failed to fulfill its promise on ensuring a more ethical government.
These unfulfilled pledges now pave the way for the Trump administration to take advantage of the lack of guardrails in our system.
Campaign Legal Center intends to watch the administration’s actions over the next four years and hold it accountable for any unethical behavior.