Documents Reveal Ties Between Trump Officials and Industries They Regulate
ProPublica • • business
Key Points:
- Four companies awarded contracts for the Pentagon's Golden Dome missile defense project are owned by Cerberus Capital Management, whose co-founder Steve Feinberg is now Deputy Secretary of Defense and oversees the project, raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest.
- Feinberg divested his stake in Cerberus but maintains ongoing contracts with the firm for accounting and healthcare services, with Defense Department approval extending this financial relationship indefinitely, which ethics experts say could undermine conflict-of-interest rules.
- The ProPublica investigation reveals broader ethical concerns within the Trump administration, including officials holding significant financial interests in industries they regulate and the rollback of ethics safeguards such as the rescinding of Biden-era ethics pledges and firing of inspectors general.
- Other senior Pentagon officials, like Marc Berk
