Elaine Lan Chao is an American businesswoman and former government official. A member of the Republican Party,she served as the 18th United States secretary of transportation in the Trump administration from 2017 to 2021,and as the 24th United States secretary of labor in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2009. Chao was the first Asian-Pacific American woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet.
Judicial Watch (JW) is an American conservative activist group that files Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits to investigate claimed misconduct by government officials. Founded in 1994,JW has primarily targeted Democrats,in particular Bill Clinton,Hillary Clinton,and the administration of Barack Obama. It was founded by attorney Larry Klayman,and has been led by Tom Fitton since 2003.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) and nonpartisan U.S. government ethics and accountability watchdog organization. Founded in 2003 as a counterweight to conservative government watchdog groups such as Judicial Watch,CREW works to expose ethics violations and corruption by government officials and institutions and to reduce the role of money in politics.
Wilbur Louis Ross Jr. is an American businessman who served as the 39th United States Secretary of Commerce from 2017 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party,Ross was previously chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of WL Ross &Co from 2000 to 2017.
Benjamin Domenech is an American writer,blogger,editor,publisher and television commentator. He is the co-founder and publisher of The Federalist and host of The Federalist Radio Hour,and writes The Transom,a daily subscription newsletter for political insiders. He also co-founded the RedState group blog. In present day,he is a frequent co-host and commentator on Fox News.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) is a conservative think tank based in Austin,Texas. The organization was founded in 1989 by James R. Leininger,who sought intellectual support for his education reform ideas,including public school vouchers. Projects of the organization include Right on Crime,which is focused on criminal justice reform,and Fueling Freedom,which seeks to "explain the forgotten moral case for fossil fuels" by rejecting the scientific consensus on climate change.
Francisco J. Domenech is a former Director of the Office of Legislative Services of Puerto Rico (2005–2008). Domenech spent part of his childhood,and adolescent years,in Ocala,Florida,having attended Blessed Trinity Catholic School,and Forest High School.
Brian Darrell Montgomery is an American government official who served as the United States Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2020 to 2021. Montgomery previously served as Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner from 2005 to 2009 and from 2018 to 2020. Montgomery is the only individual to serve as FHA Commissioner twice and under three U.S. Presidents.
According to the United States Office of Government Ethics,a political appointee is "any employee who is appointed by the President,the Vice President,or agency head". As of 2016,there were around 4,000 political appointment positions which an incoming administration needs to review,and fill or confirm,of which about 1,200 require Senate confirmation. The White House Presidential Personnel Office (PPO) is one of the offices most responsible for political appointees and for assessing candidates to work at or for the White House.
Andrew George McCabe is an American attorney who served as the Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from February 2016 to March 2018 and as the acting Director of the FBI from May 9,2017,to August 2,2017. He also serves as a professor at the George Mason University - Schar School of Policy and Government. McCabe joined the FBI as a special agent in 1996 and served with the bureau's SWAT team. He became a supervisory special agent in 2003 and held management positions of increasing responsibility until he was appointed deputy director of the FBI in February 2016. McCabe became the acting Director of the FBI following James Comey's dismissal by then President Donald Trump,and served in that position until Trump's appointment of Christopher A. Wray. McCabe later departed from the FBI on poor terms with Trump. After leaving the Trump administration,McCabe has been a contributor at CNN since 2019.
Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20,2017,and ended on January 20,2021. Trump,a Republican from New York City,took office following his Electoral College victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election,in which he lost the popular vote to Clinton by nearly three million votes. Upon his inauguration,he became the first president in American history without prior public office or military background. Trump made an unprecedented number of false or misleading statements during his campaign and presidency. His presidency ended with defeat in the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden after one term in office.
The environmental policy of the Donald Trump administration represented a shift from the policy priorities and goals of the preceding Barack Obama administration. Where President Obama's environmental agenda prioritized the reduction of carbon emissions through the use of renewable energy with the goal of conserving the environment for future generations,the Trump administration policy was for the US to attain energy independence based on fossil fuel use and to rescind many environmental regulations. By the end of Trump's term,his administration had rolled back 98 environmental rules and regulations,leaving an additional 14 rollbacks still in progress. As of early 2021,the Biden administration was making a public accounting of regulatory decisions under the Trump administration that had been influenced by politics rather than science.
David Longly Bernhardt is an American lawyer who served as the 53rd United States Secretary of the Interior from 2019 to 2021 during the Trump administration. He previously was a shareholder at the Colorado law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck,where he was an oil and energy industry lobbyist and natural resources attorney. He began working for the United States Department of the Interior (DOI) in 2001,and served as the department's solicitor from 2006 to 2009 and deputy secretary from 2017 to 2019.
Suzanne Israel Tufts is an American consultant and attorney. She is a former Assistant Secretary of Administration at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD),having resigned in October 2018.
Thomas Ulrich Brechbuhl is a Swiss-American businessman and former government official,having held the position of Counselor of the United States Department of State from May 1,2018,to January 20,2021. He was appointed by and reported to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,and replaced Maliz E. Beams. Along with the role of Counselor,he served as the Acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the Department of State from March to September 2020.
Steven Alan Linick is an American attorney and State Department official who served as Inspector General of the Department of State and led the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of State. In 2013,he was nominated by President Barack Obama and was confirmed by the United States Senate. Linick was removed from office by Donald Trump on May 15,2020,effective in 30 days per federal law,with Stephen Akard appointed acting inspector general in the interim.
Roger Thomas Severino is an American attorney who served as the director of the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the United States Department of Health and Human Services from 2017 to 2021. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
Michael Ellis is an American attorney,Republican political operative,and former government official. He is a visiting fellow for law and technology with the Heritage Foundation's Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. Ellis previously worked in multiple positions in the George W. Bush administration,for Republican congressman Devin Nunes and the Trump administration,being called a Donald Trump loyalist. He worked as a legal advisor to the National Security Council and was later appointed as Senior Director for Intelligence for the agency. In December 2021,he became the general counsel for the online video platform Rumble.
The Joe Biden administration pledged to pass government ethics reform. The Biden administration also pledged to pass legislation and enforce policies to enforce electoral reform,in response to the influence of special interests and gerrymandering in elections.
