The White House asserted this week that broad swaths of federal ethics regulations do not apply to people who work in the Executive Office of the President. Ethics experts say this sets the Trump White House apart from past administrations.
The administration‘s assertion was made in a letter that White House Deputy Counsel Stefan Passantino wrote regarding the controversy over White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway‘s recent ethical issues.
Passantino‘s letter said that “many regulations promulgated by the Office of Government Ethics (“OGE”) do not apply to employees of the Executive Office of the President.”