Donald Trump’s transition team decided to cancel plans for an ethics, leadership and management course for Trump’s senior White House staff and appointees, including Cabinet members.
According to a report in Politico, documents they received confirm that the Trump team decided to opt out of having staff and cabinet members go through the program.
According to Politico, “The documents suggest the program could have better prepared officials for working within existing laws and executive orders, and provided guidance on how to navigate Senate confirmation for nominees and political appointees, how to deal with congressional and media scrutiny, and how to work with Congress and collaborate with agencies — some of the same issues that have become major stumbling blocks in the early days of the administration.”
The ethics training program was first put in place in 2000 and the transition teams for both President Obama and President Bush went through the training.
Politico noted that the contract for the training program was never awarded “because after the election the transition team shifted its priorities, according to a letter the General Services Administration sent to bidders such as the Partnership for Public Service.”
“It has been determined that the requirements as defined in the RFQ do not accurately reflect the current needs of the Presidential Transition Team,” according to a GSA letter.
Politico said that “The lack of training likely fueled a series of early missteps in the presidency, as aides fired off executive orders and new rules without briefing Congress or their peers at agencies.”
And a the government ethics watch-dog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said, “It looks like a good program, and I wish they had implemented it.”
“It might have spared them the numerous ethics and other messes they have encountered.”
