US ethics chief quits after repeated confrontations with Trump and his administration

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President Donald Trump speaks at Krasinski Square at the Royal Castle, in Warsaw, Poland. Photo: AP

Published: 4:37am, 7 Jul 2017Updated: 4:37am, 7 Jul 2017

Walter Shaub Jr, director of the US Office of Government Ethics (OGE), announced on Thursday he would resign, following a rocky relationship with President Donald Trump and repeated confrontations with the administration.

Shaub, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2013, had unsuccessfully pressed Trump to divest his business interests to avoid potential conflicts of interest, something Trump refused to do.

The ethics watchdog also engaged in a public battle with the White House over his demands for more information about former lobbyists and other appointees who had been granted waivers from ethics rules. After initially balking, the White House eventually released the requested information about the waivers.

Shaub called for a harsher punishment for presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway after she flouted ethics rules by publicly endorsing Ivanka Trump’s clothing line during a television appearance.

Walter Shaub Jr., director of the US Office of Government Ethics, who prodded President Donald Trump’s administration over conflicts of interest is resigning to take a new job at the Campaign Legal Centre, a non-profit in Washington that mostly focuses on violations of campaign finance law. Photo: AP

Shaub did not specify a reason for his resignation in a letter to Trump, which he released on Twitter on Thursday afternoon. He told The Washington Post he was not leaving under pressure.