President Trump has fired the director of the Office of Government Ethics, the agency announced Monday.
The office posted on its website that it had been notified Trump was removing David Huitema, who had been nominated by former President Biden. He was confirmed last November by the Senate to a five-year term and officially started the job in December.
Shelley Finlayson will serve as acting director of the office in the interim. She has been with the office since 2006.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Office of Government Ethics interprets ethics laws and regulations, trains executive branch officials to follow ethics laws and monitors compliance with those rules.
Watchdogs and Democrats have expressed particular concern about potential conflicts of interest involving Elon Musk, a billionaire ally of Trump who has been leading efforts to cut government funding.
Musk is the CEO of Tesla and founder of SpaceX, which have received at least $15.4 billion in government contracts over the past 10 years, The New York Times reported in October.
Trump has said Musk would not be allowed near a certain aspect of government if it was determined there was a potential conflict, though it’s unclear what specific guardrails exist.
Trump faced scrutiny during his first term for his plan to separate himself from his businesses, and for Kellyanne Conway’s promotion of Trump family products in their official position.
