Elizabeth Warren threatens Donald Trump’s corrupt cabinet members with jail time
Just how far can Democratic Senate leaders go in reining in Donald Trump’s historically corrupt cabinet picks? Senator Elizabeth Warren seems determined to find out. After Trump picked a flurry of nominees from the corporate world who are dripping with illegal financial conflicts of interest, Warren issued a stern reminder that they face jail time for doing so.
Warren made her threat against Donald Trump’s cabinet picks across a slew of tweets on Friday which began with this tweet. Strung together, they read in the following manner:
“Cabinet officials must put the interests of the nation ahead of their own bank accounts. It’s not just good government – it’s the law. Federal agency appointees can face jail time if they make official government decisions that affect their own financial interests. [Republicans and Democrats] always require cabinet nominees to complete FBI background checks & ethics agreements to resolve financial conflicts. If President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees ignore the ethics rules, it’s a recipe for corruption. Every nominee must follow the law before they are confirmed – even rich ones who think the rules don’t apply.”
Senator Warren didn’t include the names of any specific Donald Trump cabinet picks while making her implied threat to imprison those who violate the law. But she did include links to two articles, one of which was from the New York Times and the other of which was from Roll Call, which detailed the various entanglements of Trump’s picks.
The question becomes whether Warren, or anyone on the Democratic side, can find a way to hold Trump’s corrupt cabinet picks to the fire. The Republicans currently enjoy a majority in both the Senate and House, meaning the Democrats would need GOP cooperation to launch any formal investigations into any of their improprieties. However, if the Democrats are able to flip the House and/or Senate in two years, leading Democrats could immediately begin investigations into anything Trump’s cabinet did wrong during those first two years. Warren appears to be simply threatening them with potential jail time in advance.
