Trump nominates hyperpartisan political operative to top government ethics job

Michael Chamberlain is a former Trump administration employee who misrepresented his own organization

DENVER—President Donald Trump has nominated Michael Chamberlain to be director of the Office of Government Ethics, the federal government’s top ethics regulator.

Chamberlain, who served in the first Trump administration, is the director of Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT), a hyper-partisan organization that targeted Interior department officials with spurious ethics complaints during the Biden presidency, including a lawsuit demanding records from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland's wedding to investigate alleged “influence peddling.”

Protect the Public’s Trust misrepresented itself in public records requests targeting Biden cabinet members. In a May 2021 request to the Department of Energy, PPT called itself “a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with supporters and members of the public who seek a transparent, ethical, and impartial government.” But PPT never filed the IRS form that’s required of 501(c)(3) groups.

The Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Executive Director Aaron Weiss: 

“Michael Chamberlain is wholly unqualified to be the government’s top ethics official. He is a partisan operative who worked for Donald Trump during his first term and spent the entirety of the Biden administration filing flimsy complaints meant to tarnish the reputations of hardworking public servants, not uncover real wrongdoing.

“His record makes it clear he views the Office of Government Ethics as a political weapon. The nomination of a Trump loyalist with no regard for a functioning ethics system is especially disappointing when there is blatant corruption occurring at the Interior department right under Doug Burgum’s nose. If he’s confirmed, Chamberlain must immediately take actions to address Karen Budd-Falen’s work on grazing, mining, and wolf issues. Failure to do so will prove what we already know—he serves to protect the Trump administration’s corruption, not the public’s trust.”

Learn more:

• A ‘Nonprofit’ Watchdog, Led By A Former Trump Official, Is Largely A Phantom - HuffPost
• New group eyes corruption at DOE, Interior - E&E News
• Top Interior Official Met With Former Clients Before Intervening To Delay Wolf Release - Public Domain
• UPDATE: Trump's Interior Dept. Issues Sudden Waiver Allowing This Controversial Official To Work On Grazing - Public Domain
• The Trump Administration Approved a Big Lithium Mine. A Top Official’s Husband Profited - New York Times