‘Breach of Protocol’: Senators Still Don’t Have Ethics Filings From Trump Nominees
Confirmation hearings for a slew of Donald Trump’s picks for his Cabinet and other high-ranking positions are scheduled to begin this week. Senate committees still have not received vetting materials for several nominees, and many of their financial disclosures and ethics disclosures have not yet been made public.
On Monday, with less than 24 hours left before his confirmation hearing, embattled Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth’s financial disclosure and ethics agreement were finally released to the public. The disclosure form shows the former Fox News host received $4.6 million in salary from the right-wing cable news network over the past two years, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees for dozens of appearances he made, many of them before conservative and religious groups.
The Senate Armed Services Committee reportedly only received Hegseth’s FBI background check late Friday.
While the public learned Sunday that Lee Zeldin, Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, recently made a fortune authoring paid op-eds on behalf of secret clients, several other prominent nominees’ ethics disclosures have not been released — despite them being scheduled to appear before Congress over the next few days. These include Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi, Transportation Secretary nominee Sean Duffy, Interior Secretary nominee Doug Burgum, Homeland Security nominee Kristi Noem, CIA Director nominee John Ratcliffe, and Energy Secretary nominee Chris Wright.
Speaking about Duffy’s materials, a Democratic spokesperson for the Senate Commerce Committee tells Rolling Stone, “The committee hasn’t received financial or ethics paperwork. Or any information related to an FBI background check. We have only received his questionnaire. Having a hearing without this material is a breach of longstanding protocol.”
The spokesperson says the paperwork hold-ups aren’t necessarily a problem, and that the issue is Republicans are trying to race through Trump’s nominees without standard vetting.
“These aren’t delays,” says the spokesperson. “It takes time to complete paperwork, review ethics, and financials — often [nominees] are asked for additional information and materials. The responsibility lies with Republicans who are trying to force nominees through regardless of proper vetting.”
Taylor Rogers, a spokesperson for the Trump-Vance transition, says that nominees’ “paperwork is being submitted quickly to ensure the confirmation process is smooth and President Trump is able to implement his agenda mandated by the American people on day one.”
Some Democratic senators have called for certain hearings to be delayed, including the hearing for Burgum, a former North Dakota governor, which is scheduled for Tuesday morning. On Monday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s ranking member Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) called on Republican leaders to postpone Burgum’s hearing for a week.
“The committee still has not received the standard financial disclosure report, ethics agreement, or the opinions from the designated agency ethics officer and the Office of Government Ethics stating that the nominee is in compliance with the ethics laws, which are required by law of all nominees for positions that require Senate confirmation,” Heinrich wrote.
He continued: “In view of the fact that the committee still does not have these documents, which are essential for us to faithfully discharge our constitutional advice-and-consent responsibilities, we respectfully request that you postpone the scheduled hearing on Governor Burgum’s nomination for at least a week to give Members sufficient time to receive and review these materials.”
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