Walter Shaub | |
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Walter Shaub
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Director of the United States Office of Government Ethics | |
Assumed office January 9, 2013 |
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Appointed by | Barack Obama |
Personal details | |
Born | Walter M. Shaub, Jr. |
Education |
Walter M. Shaub, Jr. is the director of the United States Office of Government Ethics.
Shaub earned a bachelor's degree in history from James Madison University, then earned his law degree from American University's Washington College of Law. He spent from 1997 to 2004 as an attorney in federal agencies including the Office of Government Ethics, the Central Office of the United States Department of Veteran Affairs, the Office of General Counsel of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and the United States Department of Veteran Affairs Baltimore–Washington Regional Counsel's office. In 2004, he became an attorney at the Shaw, Bransford, Veilleux and Rother law firm. In 2006, he joined the Office of Government Ethics to become the attorney in charge of the Presidential nomination program. He held this position for two years before becoming the Deputy General Counsel in 2008. In 2013, he was appointed by President Barack Obama to a five-year term as the director of the Office of Government Ethics.
Shaub has been outspoken with concerns about the Trump administration during the transition period before he takes office. He delivered a long statement on January 11, 2017 regarding concerns with the president-elect's plans to move his assets into a trust managed by his sons. Shaub was also the author of a series of tweets published on the Office of Government Ethics Twitter account, which gained media attention for breaking from the account's typically serious tone to mimick Donald Trump's tweeting style and congratulate him on his announcement that he would divest himself of his business assets.
On April 28, 2017, Shaub issued a data request to see the ethics waivers given to ex-lobbyists in the executive branch, which, Mick Mulvaney, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, refused. On May 22, Shaub sent Mulvaney, in addition to every federal ethics officer, every inspector general, and the six members of Congress responsible for government oversight, a ten-page response reasserting his legal authority to see the ethics waivers.