If this administration were truly interested in rooting out “waste, fraud, and abuse,” it wouldn’t be firing those whose job it is do just that. Yet that is exactly what it is doing! After firing a bevy of inspectors general, Donald Trump also fired the head of the Office of Government Ethics.

CBS News reports:

President Trump on Monday removed the director of the Office of Government Ethics, the independent agency responsible for overseeing ethics rules and financial disclosures for the executive branch.

“OGE has been notified that the president is removing David Huitema as the director of OGE,” the office said in a notice on its website. …

Huitema was appointed to a five-year term by former President Biden. He was confirmed by the Senate in November 2024 and sworn in on December 16, 2024. … The move to oust Huitema comes two weeks after Mr. Trump fired at least 17 inspectors general from their roles as watchdogs without explanation.

“The primary mission of the executive branch ethics program is to prevent conflicts of interest on the part of executive branch employees, by working to ensure that they make impartial decisions based on the public interest, serve as good stewards of public resources, and loyally adhere to the Constitution and laws of the United States,” OGE’s mission statement reads. …

OGE collects both confidential and public financial disclosures, as well as ethics agreements and other forms from government officials, from the president and vice president to high-ranking appointees and Cabinet nominees. The office works to identify and prevent conflicts of interest.

What kind of ethics system does Trump have in mind to replace the one he is gutting? One in which Elon Musk polices his own conflicts of interests—a frank admission that this administration has no intention of enforcing any ethics rules on its favored public officials.