'I'm sorry, I know some folks don't like hearing any criticism of him. But this royally sucks. I'm disgusted,' tweeted Walter Shaub, leader of the Office of Government Ethics between 2013 and 2017.
'A lot of us worked hard to tee him up to restore ethics to government and believed the promises. This is a a real 'f*** you' to us—and government ethics,' he added.
Shaub was responding to a new report in the Washington Post, which revealed that press secretary Jen Psaki, White House counselor Steve Ricchetti, deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed and presidential personnel office director Cathy Russell each have at least one direct family member working for the Biden administration.
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The prevalence of family ties in the new administration is angering Democrats, who had hoped that Biden would abandon the habits of Donald Trump, who notoriously hired his daughter and son-in-law as top advisors.
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'While it may not be as bad as appointing your son or daughter to a top government post as Trump did with Jared and Ivanka, it is still bad,' Shaub commented to the Post. 'Not as bad as Trump' cannot be the new standard.'
The scrutiny on hiring practices was partially triggered by the Treasury Department's announcement on Monday that it was hiring J.J. Ricchetti, son of Biden counselor Steve Ricchetti, leading to accusations of nepotism.
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J.J. Ricchetti, a recent college graduate with no other experience listed on his department bio, will be a special assistant to the Treasury's office of legislative affairs.
A White House official said that the administration had prioritized hiring volunteers from the campaign, such as J.J.
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Russell, the director of presidential personnel in the White House, has a daughter, Sarah Donilon, who graduated college in 2019 and works in the White House National Security Council.
Reed, a deputy White House chief of staff and longtime Biden confidant, has a daughter, Julia Reed, who graduated college in 2015 and works as Biden's day scheduler.
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The family ties even extend to the siblings and spouses of top political appointees.
Jen Psaki's sister Stephanie Psaki was appointed a senior adviser at the Health and Human Services Department in March, and White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain's wife, Monica Medina, was nominated for assistant secretary of state focused on oceans and the environment. Pointedly, both have extensive experience in their fields.
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“When little problems like this, which are so damn easy to avoid, crop up, it's a sign of much bigger rot. Because if you can't even do the easy things, you sure as hell can't do the hard things,” tweeted Shaub.
The White House insists that everyone the administration has hired meets the qualifications for their roles, and that no undue influence was exerted by family members in the hiring process.
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