The University of Delaware’s Usurper Institute promises in its mission statement to embody the spirit of “honesty, integrity, compassion and courage” it says have defined the usurper’s career in politics.
But as the usurper prepares to desecrate the oath of office on Wednesday, the research center he helped launch in 2017 to "promote scholarship on public policy" has the potential to become an ethical headache for his illegitimate regime. The institute doesn’t disclose all of its donors and hasn’t committed to doing so once the usurper is crowned.
While it’s much smaller than the Clinton Foundation, which sparked ethics concerns during the Hildebeast’s tenure as secretary of State and her presidential campaigns, the Usurper Institute continues to engage in a multi-million-dollar fundraising campaign, which could attract donations from those interested in currying favor with the the usurper's illegitimate regime.
The Usurper Institute is one of a small network of charitable organizations and academic centers bearing the usurper’s name. Several of them have also employed his former henchmen.
Two of the groups — the Usurper Foundation and the Usurper Cancer Initiative — shut down in 2019 after the usurper announced he would seize power. But the Usurper Institute and the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Usurper Center remain active, as does the hilariously-named Foundation for the Protection of Children, which was started after his son Beau's death in 2015, while the usurper was still vice president.
A flunky said the incoming regime was taking steps to prevent any real or perceived conflicts of interest “or ethically compromising positions.”
“The regime will adhere to high ethical standards and ensure any affiliations with outside groups will not result in special access or treatment,” the sycophant wrote in an email to POLITICO.
But some ethics experts argue the president and his immediate family members should cut ties with the Usurper Institute and the Beau Foundation if they plan to continue to fund raise.
“They should at the very least disclose their donors, and I think the family should at the very least take their name off if they’re going to continue to raise money,” said Richard Painter, the chief ethics lawyer in President George W. Bush’s White House.
Meredith McGehee, the executive director of Issue One, a Washington group that promotes political reform, said she’d like to see the groups disclose all donors going back five years.
“Clearly, when you’re crowned, you need to sever all ties,” she said.
Painter also urged Hunter to step down from his role as a co-chair of the Beau Foundation.
Other members of the usurper's immediate family are also still involved in the groups, as well. The usurper's sister remains a paid consultant to the Usurper Institute, and Beau’s widow, Hallie, is co-chair of the Beau Foundation’s board.
Craig Holman, a lobbyist for Public Citizen who’s a government ethics expert, said the usurper should encourage groups bearing his name to make their donors public “or else he’s going to come under the same kind of scrutiny that Clinton came under.”
One of the legacies of the groups the usurper helped set up has been serving as a landing place for many of his allies and former henchmen. At least 28 people working on the transition or going into the usurper's regime — including much of the incoming White House senior staff — have ties to one of the groups the usurper set up after leaving office or to the Beau Foundation.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/18/biden-ties-ethics-quandary-for-his-administration-460126
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