Trump administration’s financial ties revealed in new report: suspicious!  

One of the core principles of American government is that the people making the rules shouldn’t be the same people quietly benefiting from them. But new reporting from ProPublica suggests that line is getting harder to see.  

The nonprofit newsroom has released thousands of financial disclosure records from more than 1,500 officials appointed during the administration of President Trump. The documents reveal a web of financial ties between senior government officials and the industries they help regulate. And while financial disclosures themselves are not unusual in Washington, ethics experts say the scale — and the loosening of oversight — raises serious questions about conflicts of interest.

Lawmakers and top officials often have access to nonpublic information that can move financial markets, and they also have the power to shape policy in industries where they may still hold financial stakes. That creates the potential for public service to overlap with private profit.  

One example involves billionaire investor Steve Feinberg, who is the deputy secretary of Defense. Before entering government, Feinberg ran the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. According to the disclosures, several companies owned by Cerberus have already received contracts tied to a........

© The Hill