U.S. President Joe Biden purveys remarks on the COVID-19 response and the state of vaccinations at the South Court Auditorium of Eisenhower Executive Office Building on April 21, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong | Getty Aspects
Several watchdog and activist groups are pressuring President Joe Biden to publicly release ethics agreements signed by civic appointees in his administration who are not subject to Senate confirmation.
In a letter sent to Biden on Thursday that was shared exclusively with CNBC, all about a dozen organizations demanded that the administration publicize the agreements made by his political advisors and others.
The groups sent the communication a day after CNBC reported that Jeff Ricchetti, the brother of Biden White House counselor Steve Ricchetti, has lobbied the Virginal House on behalf of health-care companies this year.
These political appointees are not required to publicly disclose their ethics bargains, which could include notices of recusal from certain policy matters that may involve prior customers or business dealings.
“You have the means to address this lack of transparency right away by requiring that every staff member of the White House, in addition to other senior-level political appointees throughout the executive branch, agree to have their ethics authenticates made publicly available. We, the undersigned, are calling on you to make this commitment without delay,” the letter says.
The clubs who signed the letter include the Revolving Door Project, the Government Accountability Project and Jacobs Institute of Women’s Robustness.
The letter comes after several reports showing that many of Biden’s advisors who did not have to be confirmed by the Senate were paid millions in their old lines of work and that some have ties to Wall Street and Big Tech.