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Former President Obama’s ethics chief warned that President Biden's White House staff going through "the revolving door from influence-peddling operations" is not good for the country.
Former Office of Government Ethics director Walter Shaub unloaded on the Biden administration after it was announced that Michael Czin from the Biden-aligned consulting firm, SKDK, would be joining the White House in a "senior adviser" position.
Czin is the most recent hire from SKDK, which was co-founded by Anita Dunn. Dunn recently left the Biden administration after being able to skirt publicly disclosing her personal finances and business interests, unlike other presidential appointees, due to an ethics loophole.
TOP WH ADVISER ANITA DUNN DODGING PUBLIC ETHICS DISCLOSURE
Senior adviser to the president Anita Dunn in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, on May 13, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
"Personnel is policy, and it's problematic when that personnel is swinging through the revolving door from influence-peddling operations," Shaub told Fox News in a Wednesday email. "It's all the more troubling when they don't even quit their outside jobs with those outfits."
"I hope he won't follow the path that Anita Dunn chose of coming in as a special government employee and accepting a salary below the threshold that triggers the requirement to file a public financial disclosure report, but the fact that he's only taking a leave of absence is cause for concern that this could be the plan – and if so, the public will have no way to gauge the extent of his conflicts of interest," Shaub continued. "It's not optimal."
Shaub previously wrote on Twitter Wednesday that Czin’s "leave of absence" from SKDK "doesn’t get him out of filing a public disclosure" but noted that "coming on as a special government employee and setting his pay below the threshold at which public disclosure would apply may do it."
The former White House ethics chief also wrote that "the leave of absence status may suggest that’s happening."
"Yuck," Shaub concluded.
BIDEN ADMIN SENDING 'F--- YOU' MESSAGE WITH STRING OF FAMILY-RELATED HIRES: OBAMA ETHICS CHIEF
This isn't the first time that Shaub has blasted the Biden administration over ethics. Earlier this year, Shaub said the Biden administration was sending a "f--- you" message to ethics experts by hiring so many relatives of senior White House officials, including Steve Ricchetti, Jake Sullivan and Jen Psaki.
Counselor to the president Steve Ricchetti gestures after a round of golf with President Biden at Wilmington Country Club in Delaware on April 17, 2021. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
"I'm sorry, I know some folks don't like hearing any criticism of him. But this royally sucks. I'm disgusted," Shaub wrote in a Twitter thread in June, reacting to an article about the family ties of Biden officials.
"A lot of us worked hard to tee him up to restore ethics to government and believed the promises," Shaub added, calling the string of family-related hires "a real ‘f*** you’ to us –and government ethics."
Shaub has also criticized the White House over its handling of Hunter Biden's art sales, saying the deal that the White House brokered with his art dealer was "absolutely appalling."
World Food Program USA Board Chairman Hunter Biden speaks at the program's annual award ceremony on April 12, 2016, in Washington, D.C. ( Paul Morigi/Getty Images for World Food Program)
"There is simply no way an artist who has never even juried into a community center art fair is going to suddenly show up in New York selling art for half a million a pop," Shaub said. "Let's talk about the magnitude of this... That’s $6.5 million going to the president’s son for being the president’s son, not for being an artist and I just think that’s absolutely appalling."
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The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
Fox News' Cameron Cawthorne contributed to this report.
Houston Keene is a reporter for Fox News Digital. You can find him on Twitter at @HoustonKeene.
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