ROADMAP FOR RENEWAL  Strengthen Congress’s Capacity to Fulfill its Constitutional Role    VII. Ending White House Corruption and Conflicts of Interest    Democracy works only if public officials act​—a ​ nd appear to act​—f​ or the people they serve,  not for their own interests. We’ve seen all too clearly now how corrupt officials can evade  existing ethics rules or violate them without fear of enforcement.      We recommend:  ● Enacting specific reforms to address White House conflicts and apparent or actual  corruption​; and  ● Improving the administration and enforcement of federal ethics laws.    The Problem    Ethics laws are unclear and ripe for exploitation by the President.​ The Trump  Administration has exploited gaps in existing Executive Branch ethics mechanisms and  laws and has not followed the ethical norms that presidents have observed for at least the  last 40 years. President Trump has not released his tax returns or information about his  personal finances. He has not divested himself from his personal business or removed  himself from its operations, as previous presidents have done. He has hired family members  for government positions, which had been made illegal under the Anti-Nepotism Act of  1967. Far from ensuring that he does not personally profit from the presidency, he has  visited his own properties with government resources, conducted government business for  apparent personal gain, and marketed his businesses on government time. Previously,  presidents paid a political price for flouting existing ethics norms. This is no longer true.     The President has explicitly said that he is not required by law to follow the ethics rules  that apply to government employees. The President claims to be exempt from existing  conflict-of-interest and anti-nepotism laws. Many of these actions have trickled down and  been replicated by other key members of his administration. Now that President Trump has  breached these ethical standards, there will be far less incentive for his successors to  resume observing them.      The public doesn’t know if governmental actions are based on the President’s personal  interests or the public good.​ Without disclosure of the President’s taxes and business  finances, it is impossible to discern whether the President is acting in the public’s interest  or his own business interests. To complicate matters, the President’s businesses have  foreign interests. This implicates the Emoluments Clause of the constitution and has  national security ramifications. Additionally, lower-level government officials have been  permitted to work in agencies that impact their own financial interests, incentivizing  1  regulated industries to curry favor with the administration through backroom dealing. In  this environment, citizens have little reason to believe that their individual votes can affect  public policy.     Lack of effective enforcement mechanisms for existing ethics laws.​ On top of these issues,  enforcement mechanisms are too weak to police corruption, protect norms, and disincentive  noncompliance. The Office of Government Ethics and other existing investigative bodies do  not have the authority to curtail corruption.    Proposed Solutions    Enact specific reforms to address ​White House conflicts and ​apparent or actual  corruption   ● Close loopholes that exempt the President from conflict-of-interest laws;  ● Require the disclosure of Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates’ tax returns;  ● Mandate detailed disclosure of and divestment from ongoing business interests for  the President and Vice President. ​See​ ​Public Citizen/CREW’s proposal​ for more1;  ● Require a national security financial risk assessment to recommend additional  divestments by the President, Vice President, and senior national security staff, as  proposed by the Brennan Center2;   ● Prohibit the acceptance of foreign and domestic emoluments; and  ● Clarify that anti-nepotism law applies to the President and Vice President.    Improve the administration and enforcement of federal ethics laws   ● ● Create a new public integrity agency to police and enforce corruption, along the lines  proposed by the the ​Roosevelt Institute​,3 ​or​ vest more investigative and enforcement  power in the Office of Government Ethics; and  Implement a series of reforms to strengthen the OGE proposed by former OGE  Director Walter Shaub4, including:  ○ Enforce the independence of OGE by insulating the Director against  retaliation;   ○ Strengthen OGE’s oversight abilities by clarifying scope, establishing an  Inspector General with jurisdiction to conduct ethics investigations; and  1 Public Citizen and CREW, ​Trump Proofing the Presidency A Plan for Executive Branch Ethics Reform ​(October  2, 2018), Available at  https://s3.amazonaws.com/storage.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/10191835/Trump-Proofing-t he-Presidency.pdf​.   2 Brennan Center, National Task Force on Rule of Law and Democracy, ​Proposals for Reform (​ September 2018),  Available at ​https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/publications/TaskForceReport_2018_09_.pdf​.   3 Rohit Chopra, Julie Margetta Morgan, Roosevelt Institute, ​Unstacking the Deck: A New Agenda to Tame  Corruption in Washington ​(May 2, 2018), Available at ​http://rooseveltinstitute.org/unstacking-deck/​.    4 Walter Shaub, ​Letter to Trey Gowdy and Elijah E. Cummings​, H. Committee on Oversight and Government  Reform (November 9, 2017), Available at  https://campaignlegal.org/sites/default/files/W%20Shaub%20Legislative%20Proposal%20-%209%20November%2 02017_0.pdf​.    2  ○ Increase transparency with online postings of specified ethics actions and  government aircraft usage, public disclosure of interests in discretionary  trusts, and collection of candidate transition and ethics plans.   3