--- title: Donald Trump Criticizes House GOP for Gutting Ethics Office description: Donald Trump said Congress should prioritize issues beyond gutting the Office of Congressional Ethics, which he still described as "unfair" canonical: https://time.com/4620585/donald-trump-congressional-ethics-gop/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-03T15:51:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:31:15.213Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Knocks House Republicans for 'Weakening' Ethics Office og:description: "Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance" og:url: https://time.com/4620585/donald-trump-congressional-ethics-gop/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ba0b25381efb0bf/6988b445cf40a87bffc45f48/donald-trump-congressional-ethics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3976 og:image:height: 2237 og:image:alt: TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-TRUMP og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Knocks House Republicans for 'Weakening' Ethics Office twitter:description: "Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ba0b25381efb0bf/6988b445cf40a87bffc45f48/donald-trump-congressional-ethics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Knocks House Republicans for 'Weakening' Ethics Office > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 3, 2017 3:51 PM UTC  President-elect Donald Trump answers questions from reporters accompanied by wife Melania for a New Year's Eve party Dec. 31, 2016 at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. President-elect Donald Trump answers questions from reporters accompanied by wife Melania for a New Year's Eve party Dec. 31, 2016 at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. Don Emmert—AFP/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 3, 2017 3:51 PM UTC President-elect [Donald Trump](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump-choice/) on Tuesday said Congress should prioritize issues other than [gutting the Office of Congressional Ethics](http://time.com/4620405/house-republicans-office-congressional-ethics/), while still calling the watchdog body “unfair.” “With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority,” Trump said in two tweets on Tuesday. “Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance!” His comments followed a vote by House Republicans on Monday to [weaken the independent ethics office](http://time.com/4620405/house-republicans-office-congressional-ethics/), a move that sparked criticism from Democrats and government watchdog groups. The office was created in 2008 to investigate corruption and misconduct by lawmakers. Under the changes, the office will be controlled by the House Ethics Committee, which is run by lawmakers. In a statement following Trump’s tweets, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan defended the move. “After eight years of operation, many members believe the Office of Congressional Ethics is in need of reform to protect due process and ensure it is operating according to its stated mission,” he said. “I want to make clear that this House will hold its members to the highest ethical standards and the Office will continue to operate independently to provide public accountability to Congress.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4620585/donald-trump-congressional-ethics-gop/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4620585/donald-trump-congressional-ethics-gop/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Knocks House Republicans for 'Weakening' Ethics Office","datePublished":"2017-01-03T15:51:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:31:15.213Z","description":"\"Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance\"","url":"https://time.com/4620585/donald-trump-congressional-ethics-gop/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Congress","White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ba0b25381efb0bf/6988b445cf40a87bffc45f48/donald-trump-congressional-ethics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ba0b25381efb0bf/6988b445cf40a87bffc45f48/donald-trump-congressional-ethics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-TRUMP","caption":"TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-TRUMP","creditText":"Don Emmert—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4620585/donald-trump-congressional-ethics-gop/","name":"Donald Trump Knocks House Republicans for 'Weakening' Ethics Office"}}]}] ```