Watchdog group to track hiring of ex-Trump aides

Companies that hire people who worked as top aides to former President Donald Trump will be identified by a new liberal watchdog group formed to track the employment of ex-senior administration officials.

The Campaign Against Corporate Complicity, which kicks off Tuesday, said it’s building a list of former officials and aides who were involved in what the group says were the Trump administration’s most controversial actions.

The group said the initiative, which started in the fall, gained momentum after Trump egged on supporters who broke into the US Capitol on Jan. 6 as Congress prepared to certify Joe Biden’s election victory. The organization also cited the administration’s policy of separating migrant families and its response to the coronavirus pandemic among examples of acts and decisions it’s taking into account.

The Campaign Against Corporate Complicity was formed by two public-interest groups in Washington, American Oversight and Accountable US, which specialise in public records requests and research. Although they call themselves non-partisan, they count significant staffing from Democratic and progressive groups and don’t disclose funding.

Among the former officials on CACC’s list are former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, former senior counselor Kellyanne Conway, senior adviser Stephen Miller, former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and former acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, a spokeswoman for the group said.

Miller worked on immigration policy and was a frequent Trump defender on television. Conway was also one of Trump’s most aggressive defenders until she left the administration last summer. Nielsen oversaw family separations and Trump’s border wall until she was pushed out in 2019 for not moving quickly enough on his agenda, Bloomberg has reported. Wolf, who subsequently oversaw the department in an acting role, resigned in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot.

“As people leave government, we expect them to show up on the doorsteps of corporate America,” said Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight. He urged companies to use the documents that the group has posted on its website to check on potential hires’ roles in the Trump administration.

The group said it’s still developing a full list of officials to track and plans to focus on top-level aides and officials, rather than rank-and-file government employees. It urges companies to “demand clear, evidence-based answers to whether a former official participated in enabling, crafting, implementing, or defending a concerted effort to shatter democratic norms and spread hate,” according to a letter addressed to “America’s CEOs.”

The organization’s effort will join traditional revolving-door tracking by watchdog organizations and journalists, as well as a database by the Lincoln Project, which is outlined in a tweet from Stuart Stevens, who advises the group of anti-Trump Republicans.

Some companies have pulled campaign donations from lawmakers who supported Trump’s false claims of a rigged election, which led to the Jan. 6 riot.

Former government staffers are worried about their professional futures now that they’re branded with the “Scarlet T” of working for Trump, Bloomberg has reported, and some lower-ranking staffers have said they’ve had offers withdrawn.

Elaine Chao, who stepped down as secretary of transportation after the riot at the Capitol, will rejoin the Hudson Institute, according to a statement on Monday.