Tag: Wilbur Ross

Trump Commerce Boss Wilbur Ross Hoovered Up $53 Million While In Public Office

Huff Post logo

Then he slipped out of public life and into a business he set up in the Cayman Islands while reportedly still commerce secretary.

Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, earned at least $53 million from private companies while he was collecting a taxpayer salary and supposed to be looking out for the public instead of his own profits.

Ross reported making somewhere between $53 million and $127 million during his four years as head of the Commerce Department. The federal government only requires officials to report broad ranges of outside income.

It’s possible that Ross earned “significantly more” since he was not required to specify certain income totals over $1 million, noted watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which reported Ross’ financial disclosure filings earlier this week. Continue reading.

Commerce Department security unit evolved into counterintelligence-like operation, Washington Post examination found

Washington Post logo

An obscure security unit tasked with protecting the Commerce Department’s officials and facilities has evolved into something more akin to a counterintelligence operation that collected information on hundreds of people inside and outside the department, a Washington Post examination found.

The Investigations and Threat Management Service (ITMS) covertly searched employees’ offices at night, ran broad keyword searches of their emails trying to surface signs of foreign influence and scoured Americans’ social media for critical comments about the census, according to documents and interviews with five former investigators.

In one instance, the unit opened a case on a 68-year-old retiree in Florida who tweeted that the census, which is run by the Commerce Department, would be manipulated “to benefit the Trump Party!” records show. Continue reading.

Ivanka Trump’s Find Something New career campaign is more hype than help

Washington Post logoPeople who’ve lost their jobs because of the coronavirus don’t need a new website. They need better guidance.

Two rich people have decided to tell millions of unemployed people that all they need to do to feed their families and put a roof over their heads is “find something new.”

White House adviser Ivanka Trump and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross are co-chairs of the American Policy Workforce Advisory Board, which this month launched the Find Something New ad campaign with a website aimed at helping people find a fresh career path.

The initiative didn’t go over so well on social media. In defense of the effort, the first daughter tweeted to one critic: “I suggest that you visit http://FindSomethingNew.org. This initiative is about challenging the idea the traditional 2 and 4 yr college is the only option to acquire the skills needed to secure a job. This work has never been more urgent.” Continue reading.

House Oversight Committee sues Barr and Ross to enforce Census subpoenas

Axios logoThe House Oversight Committee filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against Attorney General Bill Barr and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross for refusing to comply with subpoenas for documents related to the Trump administration’s efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.

Why it matters: The White House had previously claimed its aides were “absolutely immune” from congressional subpoenas. On Monday, a federal judge ruled former White House counsel Don McGahn must testify under subpoena in the ongoing House impeachment inquiry, giving House Democrats a stronger hand to enforce its other oversight requests.

The backdrop: The House voted 230-198 in July to hold Barr and Ross in criminal contempt for withholding subpoenaed materials. Democrats believe the administration’s reason for attempting to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census was a cover for a politically motivated effort to diminish the electoral power of Democrats by eliminating non-citizens from population statistics.

View the complete November 26 article on the Axios website here.

Trump Aides Worked With GOP Activist Who Sought To Rig Census

The House Oversight and Reform Committee has obtained evidence showing that the Trump administration worked hand-in-hand with a GOP activist to try to rig the 2020 census.

Thomas Hofeller, who died last year, was a Republican activist who specialized in gerrymandering and redistricting. In 2015, he conducted a study that determined that having a citizenship question on the decennial census would disadvantage Democrats and be “advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites.”

During litigation over the Trump administration’s attempts to justify adding the question to the 2020 census, allegations appeared that Hofeller’s study had been instrumental in the administration’s decision to push for the question. The Justice Department flatly denied this, saying that the study “played no role” in the matter.

View the complete November 13 article by Lisa Needham on the National Memo website here.

National Archives Probing Ross’ Use Of Private Email Account

The National Archives is investigating Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for using as many as four personal email accounts to conduct official government business, Politico reported Thursday.

“The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has become aware of a potential unauthorized disposition of U.S. Department of Commerce records,” an official with NARA wrote in an Oct. 9 letter to the Commerce Department’s chief information officer.

The letter added that federal law “prohibits employees from creating or sending a record using a non-official messaging account unless the employee copies his or her official email account when the record is first transmitted, or forwards a complete copy of the record to the official email account within 20 days of the record’s original transmission.”

View the complete October 24 article by Dan Desai Martin on the National Memo website here.

Commerce chief threatened firings at NOAA after Trump’s hurricane tweets, sources say

WASHINGTON – The secretary of commerce threatened to fire top employees at the federal scientific agency responsible for weather forecasts last Friday after the agency’s Birmingham, Alabama, office contradicted President Donald Trump’s claim that Hurricane Dorian might hit Alabama, according to three people familiar with the discussion.

That threat led to an unusual, unsigned statement later that Friday by the agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, disavowing the National Weather Service’s position that Alabama was not at risk. The reversal caused widespread anger within the agency and drew accusations from the scientific community that the National Weather Service, which is part of NOAA, had been bent to political purposes.

NOAA’s statement on Friday is now being examined by the Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General, according to documents reviewed by the New York Times, and employees have been asked to preserve their files. NOAA is a division of the Commerce Department.

View the complete September 10 article by Peter Baker, Christopher Flavelle and Lisa Friedman from The New York Times on The StarTribune website here.

‘It’s a disaster over there’: Commerce reaches new heights of dysfunction

Under Secretary Wilbur Ross, the department is chaotic and adrift.

Constant infighting among top officials. Sudden departures of senior staffers without explanation. A leader who is disengaged and prone to falling asleep in meetings.

The Commerce Department has reached its apex of dysfunction under Wilbur Ross, according to four people with knowledge of the inner workings of the department. The 81-year-old Commerce secretary, who has for months endured whispers that he is on the outs, spends much of his time at the White House to try to retain President Donald Trump’s favor, the sources said, leaving his department adrift.

He’s hardly the only top Trump official to seek the president’s approval. But department insiders say they’ve rarely seen Commerce so rudderless — and they say Ross’ penchant for managing upward at the expense of his staff is leading to what one plugged-in observer described as “a disaster over there.”

View the complete July 22 article by Daniel Lippman on the Politico website here.

House votes to hold Trump Cabinet members Barr, Ross in contempt

The Hill logoThe House voted to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt on Wednesday, escalating a battle between the Trump administration and congressional Democrats.

The measure holds the Trump Cabinet members in contempt for defying subpoenas for documents on their since-abandoned efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The chamber approved the measure in a party-line vote of 230-198, with four Democrats joining all Republicans in voting against the resolution.

Democrats argued the measure was necessary to hold officials accountable for “obstruction & oppose efforts to undermine the census.” It passed the House Oversight and Reform Committee along party lines ahead of the July Fourth recess.

View the complete July 17 article by Juliegrace Burfke on The Hill website here.

Trump weighs ousting Commerce chief Wilbur Ross after census defeat

Some White House officials expect the Cabinet secretary, who has known the president for years, to depart as soon as this summer.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has told aides and allies that he is considering removing Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross after a stinging Supreme Court defeat on adding a citizenship question to the census, according to multiple people familiar with the conversations.

While Trump has previously expressed frustration with Ross, 81, in particular over failed trade negotiations, Ross’ long personal relationship with the president has allowed him to keep his job. And after the departure of Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, the Cabinet’s only Hispanic who resigned Friday amid questions about his role in a controversial 2008 plea agreement with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Ross may yet receive another reprieve.

But some White House officials expect Ross to be the next Cabinet secretary to depart, possibly as soon as this summer, according to advisers and officials.

View the complete July 15 article by Hans Nichols, Kayla Tausche, CNBC, and Hallie Jackson on the NBC News website here.