Twitter Walter M. Shaub Jr.
In his first-ever tweet, the director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics announced his resignation.
Walter M. Shaub Jr., who has challenged President Donald Trump and his administration on potential ethics violations in the past, sent his resignation letter out in a tweet Thursday, saying that he will no longer be in the position as of July 19.
Shaub’s five-year term was slated to end about six months from the date, but he opted to cut ties early. He said he decided to do so because he achieved all that he could in the role and thanked those that he was fortunate enough to work with in a letter.
“The great privilege and honor of my career has been to lead OGE’s staff and the community of ethics officials in the federal executive branch,” the resignation letter read. “They are committed to protecting the principle that public service is a public trust.”
Read the full resignation letter below:
Shortly after sending out the resignation letter, Shaub re-tweeted a press release from The Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit legal advocacy group. It said that Shaub will join the company to lead its ethics practice once his resignation is complete July 19.
In a statement included in the press release, Shaub stated that it became clear to him while working in the Trump administration that “we need improvements to the existing ethics program.”
“I have had the honor and privilege of serving the American public at the U.S. Office of Government Ethics under three presidents –- George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump,” Shaub said in a statement. “In working with the current administration, it has become clear to me that we need improvements to the existing ethics program. I look forward to working toward that aim at Campaign Legal Center, as well as working on ethics reforms at all levels of government.”
In his role as the director, Shaub never really held back from criticizing Trump, urging the president publicly to divest from his business practices as well as calling out one of his advisers for violating ethics rules.
Because of the history between the two, many officials within the administration weren’t pleased with his performance, The Washington Post reported.
One of the first signs of potential turmoil between Shaub and Trump, as reported by NPR, was in the morning of November 30, 2016.
The OGE official Twitter account sent nine tweets in three minutes that looked as if they were mimicking the way the president often tweets.
“OGE is delighted that you’ve decided to divest your businesses. Right decision!” one tweet directed at Trump said.
“Brilliant! Divestiture is good for you, very good for America!” another one said.
Soon enough, though, the tweets were deleted and mass confusion started. Some thought the OGE got hacked while others thought it was an employee that decided to go off on a sarcastic rant on Trump.
But according to The Post report, emails obtained through public records requests show that it was Shaub who directed the office to send the tweets.
