Office of Government Ethics Director Walter Shaub Jr. sent President Trump his resignation Thursday morning, following months of clashes with the administration.
Shaub will be joining the Campaign Legal Center (CLC), a non-profit that supports enforcement of campaign finance laws, on July 19 as senior director, the company announced.
Shaub's resignation letter offers no explanation for his departure; however, Shaub told NPR Thursday that "the current situation has made it clear that the ethics program needs to be stronger than it is. At the Campaign Legal Center, I'll have more freedom to push for reform. I'll also be broadening my focus to include ethics issues at all levels of government."
Shaub's time with the OGE under Trump was marked with conflict.
"In working with the current administration, it has become clear to me that we need improvements to the existing ethics program," Shaud said in the CLC announcement.
He opposed Trump's plan to avoid conflicts of interest. According to Shaub, since the 1978 Ethics in Government Act, presidents have moved their assets into blind trusts that are managed by third parties. Trump's plan was to have his two oldest sons and a business associate run his trust.
This did not cut it for Shaub, who spoke out against it at the Brookings Institution.
"Nothing short of divestiture will resolve these conflicts," he said.
Shaub's agency later repeated the sentiment in a series of tweets that mocked Trump's style, which read: "Bravo! Only way to resolve these conflicts of interest is to divest. Good call!" And: "OGE is delighted that you've decided to divest your businesses. Right decision!"
Shaub also fought the Trump administration for the release of waiver documents, which exempted at least 14 White House appointees from ethics rules including presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, chief strategist Steve Bannon, chief of staff Reince Priebus and three former lobbyists.
Shaub's agency, with only advisory power and made up of about 70 employees, was inundated with work after Trump's transition, according to NPR.
Not only was OGE tasked with researching conflicts of interest for Trump's nominations, but they were bombarded with public contacts.
OGE reported 733 public contacts during the six-month Obama transition and 39,105 during Trump's — a 5,235 percent increase without any extra staff hired.
