--- title: Ethics Director Walter Shaub Resigns After Trump Clashes description: Shaub will join the Campaign Legal Center as Senior Director of Ethics. canonical: https://time.com/4847547/top-government-ethics-official-resigns-after-white-house-clashes/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-06T17:30:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T06:04:13.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Top Government Ethics Official Resigns After White House Clashes og:description: He didn't offer a reason for leaving og:url: https://time.com/4847547/top-government-ethics-official-resigns-after-white-house-clashes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93fea6a946261e6c/6988d4b1096a94bdcd69eaa2/170706_walter-shaub.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4500 og:image:height: 2531 og:image:alt: 170706_Walter Shaub og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Top Government Ethics Official Resigns After White House Clashes twitter:description: He didn't offer a reason for leaving twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93fea6a946261e6c/6988d4b1096a94bdcd69eaa2/170706_walter-shaub.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Top Government Ethics Official Resigns After White House Clashes > 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 [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Updated: Dec 13, 2023 6:04 AM UTCPublished: Jul 6, 2017 5:30 PM UTC  In this Jan. 23, 2017 file photo, Walter M. Shaub Jr., director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics walks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Donald Trump’s attorneys originally wanted him to submit an updated financial disclosure without certifying the information as true, according to correspondence with the Office of Government Ethics. In this Jan. 23, 2017 file photo, Walter M. Shaub Jr., director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics walks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Donald Trump’s attorneys originally wanted him to submit an updated financial disclosure without certifying the information as true, according to correspondence with the Office of Government Ethics.J. Scott Applewhite—AP  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Updated: Dec 13, 2023 6:04 AM UTCPublished: Jul 6, 2017 5:30 PM UTC The Director of the Office of U.S. Government Ethics announced his resignation on Thursday. Walter Shaub Jr.’s resignation is effective as of July 19, he wrote in a letter he posted on Twitter. Shaub’s letter did not include a reason for his departure, but he had previously clashed with the White House. Shaub is joining the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan campaign finance reform group, as Senior Director of Ethics, that organization announced Thursday. “In working with the current administration, it has become clear to me that we need improvements to the existing ethics program,” Shaub said in a release from the Campaign Legal Center. “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 resignation letter, Shaub praised the dedication of his office’s staff, calling it “the great privilege and honor of my career” to lead the agency. > [](https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/883007616435269632) Shaub first joined the Office of Government Ethics, or OGE, in 2006, during the George W. Bush administration. He worked his way up the ranks until he was appointed Director by President Barack Obama in 2013. Shaub only worked with the Trump Administration for about five months. However, it was a period fraught with conflict. In March, he blasted the White House for failing to discipline Senior Adviser Kellyanne Conway after she promoted Ivanka Trump’s clothing line on Fox News, arguing that a lack of action “risks undermining the ethics program.” Even before Trump was inaugurated, Shaub lamented that the OGE was facing pressure to rush through ethics reviews before confirmation hearings for cabinet nominees, and that some nominees had their confirmation hearings scheduled before their ethics reviews were completed. Shaub also criticized President Trump’s decision to turn the Trump Organization over to his sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr, for the duration of his presidency and putting his assets in a trust. He argued that only full divestment would be sufficient. “Stepping back from running his business is meaningless from a conflict of interest perspective,” Shaub [said at the Brookings Institute](https://www.oge.gov/web/OGE.nsf/0/DCC328BD6DB515CC852580A50079449D/$FILE/Remarks%20of%20W%20M%20Shaub%20Jr.pdf) the day Trump announced his plan, January 11, nine days before Trump’s inauguration. “The Presidency is a full-time job and he would have had to step back anyway. The idea of setting up a trust to hold his operating businesses adds nothing to the equation. This is not a blind trust—it’s not even close.” The White House said Thursday it had accepted Shaub’s resignation and appreciated his service. Trump, who is currently [abroad](http://time.com/4846907/russia-vladimir-putin-president-donald-trump-warsaw-poland/?xid=homepage), will nominate a replacement. \-With reporting by Zeke J. 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