More Trouble For Sessions And Tillerson

I guess there is a reason that Mitch McConnell and the GOP are so intent on ramming through Trump’s cabinet nominees as soon as possible. Each new day provides more information on the ethical problems that the nominees have. Yesterday, I reviewed six of Trump’s most ethically challenged nominees. And today two of those “sleazy six” added to their list of ethical problems.

Jeff Sessions has apparently failed to disclose below ground oil and mineral rights on some 600 acres of land in Alabama in his legally mandated submissions to the Office of Government Ethics. At present, these oil and mineral rights only generate a little under $5,000 annually. Sessions apparently did report that income in the documents he submitted to the OGE. But a former investigator for the OGE was quite clear about the requirement to disclose all real estate holdings, saying, “Office of Government Ethics guidance clearly states with regard to mineral rights leases that filers must disclose their real estate holding as well as the identity of the lessee and the specific type of resources being extracted.” A spokesperson for Sessions said, “We are investigating these questions and looking carefully into the reporting forms submitted to be sure that they have accurately characterized the senator’s holdings. To whatever extent that’s not the case, the forms will be amended.” According to my count, this will be the third amendment Sessions will have had to make to either his submission to the OGE or the Senate Judiciary Committee.

It is now being reported that Exxon evaded sanctions on Iran, Syria, and Sudan back in the early 2000s when Tillerson was a senior executive on his way to becoming CEO. All three countries had been deemed sponsors of terror which therefore prohibited US companies from doing business with any of them. But Tillerson and Exxon never let the law or the foreign policy interests of the US get in the way. Just like Tillerson’s treasonous deal with the Kurds over the objections of the US State Department that ultimately led to the Iraq civil war, Exxon just went right ahead and did about $55 million in business with those three sanctioned companies. Exxon used a legal technicality by having a European subsidiary with no US employees do the sanctioned work. Unfortunately, SEC rules required disclosure of any dealings with sanctioned countries. Exxon did not make that disclosure to its shareholders and spokesman said, “We [Exxon] didn’t feel they were material because of the size of the transactions.” 55 million dollars is probably insignificant to Exxon, but not to most people, especially in the countries where they were doing business. What is more significant to Americans would be the knowledge that one of America’s largest companies was doing business with our enemies. It should also be noted the Exxon was not alone in this evasion of sanctions. These were all joint ventures with Shell.

I wish someone could give me a reasonable answer about why we provide massive tax breaks to companies that evade US law and act in opposition to US foreign policy; why we provide the protections of US securities law and our legal system in general to companies that evade US law and act in opposition to US foreign policy; and why the executives in these companies that evade US law and act in opposition to US foreign policy manage to avoid any kind of censure, legal or otherwise, at all.

One Republican Senator actually has an answer to that when it comes to Trump’s nominees. Jim Inhofe from the man-made earthquake state of Oklahoma simply believes that we need to hold Trump’s nominees to a different, more minimal, standard. Inhofe was asked if Trump’s nominees should report income from foreign sources as he and 25 other GOP Senators demanded of Chuck Hagel in 2013. Inhofe’s response was they should not. When asked whether “it was different now because it’s Trump”, Inhofe replied, “That’s just right”. When the incredulous reporter followed up, Inhofe reiterated his response. His office later walked back Inhofe’s statement. But I think Inhofe’s statement and McConnell’s actions clearly show that the GOP clearly believes in a double standard for Trump’s nominees. By any normal standard, they should never be confirmed.