Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said she plans to create a Department of Justice task force to investigate President Donald Trump and officials who served in his administration if she’s elected president.
The Democratic presidential candidate released a proposal on Jan. 21 that includes the task force, which would “hold government officials accountable for illegal activity” committed during the Trump administration.
Warren wrote about the plan: “If we are to move forward to restore public confidence in government and deter future wrongdoing, we cannot simply sweep this corruption under the rug in a new administration.”
“That’s why I will direct the Justice Department to establish a task force to investigate violations by Trump administration officials of federal bribery laws, insider trading laws, and other anti-corruption and public integrity laws, and give that task force independent authority to pursue any substantiated criminal and civil violations.”
Warren also claimed that Trump, if he loses, “will leave behind a government that has been infected by corruption and incompetence, and his vindictive actions as president suggest that he is likely to do everything he can to undermine the next president.”
“We cannot assume that everything will be fine once Donald Trump leaves office,” she said.
The White House didn’t respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
The plan focuses on “how to get the government working for the people,” said the senator, who was in Washington on Jan. 21 for the impeachment trial.
Another part of the proposal is the enforcement of rules to prevent people appointed to positions in the government from getting around standard hiring practices and converting political appointments to career positions in a practice known as “burrowing.”
Warren has vowed not to hire any individuals who served as a corporate lobbyist in the past six years, or noncorporate lobbyists unless it had been at least two years since they served in that role.
Senior members of a Warren administration would be required to pledge not to accept a lobbying position in the future and not work “for any giant bank or company worth more than $150 billion, any federal contractor receiving more than $5 billion in revenue from federal contracts, or any market-dominant company, as determined by the Attorney General, for four years after leaving their post.”
Warren said that both Trump and President Barack Obama issued ethics pledges at the start of their administrations, but that both failed to curb the number of lobbyists and government officials that “spin through the revolving door.”
