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Top Trump staffers failed to file financial reports on their way out the door

 
Published Nov. 22, 2017

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's top aides — including chief of staff Reince Priebus and foreign policy adviser Sebastian Gorka — failed to file legally required financial reports after they were dismissed this summer, according to government records.

In total, at least four senior White House staffers have not filed termination reports, which outline their financial activity while serving in the White House.

They include Ezra Cohen-Watnick, who served as senior director for intelligence programs for the National Security Council for seven months, and Middle East adviser Derek Harvey, who served on the National Security Council for six months, according to the White House and the Office of Government Ethics.

Both the White House and the Office of Government Ethics say that Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon, who has returned to the helm at right-wing outlet Breitbart, also did not file his report. A spokesman for Bannon, Arthur Schwartz, said that Bannon did file, but did not provide timing on when Bannon did so. The White House said he had not filed as of Oct. 23, more than two months after Bannon left the administration and well after the 30-day deadline.

Government observers have long complained that the administration has failed to make ethics a priority by allowing officials, including Trump son-in-law and top adviser Jared Kushner, to retain certain business interests, turn in financial disclosure forms late and spend money at the president's hotels and resorts.