{"id":393,"date":"2018-02-20T23:09:05","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T04:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=393"},"modified":"2018-03-02T23:13:36","modified_gmt":"2018-03-03T04:13:36","slug":"bannon-sold-cambridge-analytica-stake-fined-for-late-ethics-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=393","title":{"rendered":"Bannon sold Cambridge Analytica stake, fined for late ethics report"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The former White House chief strategist has been causing a stir since his departure from the Trump administration. Steve Bannon has declared war on the Republican establishment and he doesn\u2019t plan to stop until the 2018 midterm election.\u00a0<\/span>Nicole L. Cvetnic<\/span>\u00a0McClatchy<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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BY BEN WIEDER AND ANITA KUMAR<\/span><\/p>\n

bwieder@mcclatchydc.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

akumar@mcclatchydc.com<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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February 20, 2018 05:00 AM<\/span><\/p>\n

Updated February 20, 2018 11:19 AM<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

WASHINGTON\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
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An enduring ethics question of the Trump White House has been answered.<\/p>\n

Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon sold his stake in Cambridge Analytica \u2014 the controversial data firm Donald Trump\u2019s campaign employed to reach voters with hyper-targeted online messaging \u2014 in April, as required by his ethics requirement.<\/p>\n

But Bannon only\u00a0notified the government of the sale<\/a>\u00a0in November, three months after he had left the White House and one month after\u00a0McClatchy<\/a>\u00a0asked him whether he still had an interest in the company. He was fined for the late report about the sale, joining a\u00a0growing number<\/a>\u00a0of Trump administration officials who have been fined for late ethics filings.<\/p>\n

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Bannon\u2019s report wasn\u2019t approved by ethics officials at the White House and the Office of Government ethics until February.<\/p>\n

He also sold his stake in the production company Glittering Steel, LLC in April, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Bannon and the White House did not return requests for comment about the report and the delays in its submission and approval.<\/p>\n

Bannon\u00a0also filed his termination report<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 which\u00a0federal law<\/a>\u00a0requires within 30 days after leaving office \u2014 in late December, after receiving a 45-day extension. His filing came more than a month after\u00a0McClatchy<\/a>\u00a0had asked Bannon and other departed White House staffers about the status of their\u00a0termination reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Termination reports provide information about potential conflicts of interest that existed when the staffer was employed by the government and any arrangements the staffer had for future employment once leaving the government.<\/p>\n

Bannon was supposed to sell his $1 million to $5 million stake in Cambridge Analytica while he served in the administration as part of his ethics agreement, but it was never clear if he did until now.<\/p>\n

While Bannon has departed the White House, he has continued to make news. Comments he made about Trump and his family to author Michael Wolff for his book Fire and Fury, which came out in early January, caused a possibly irreparable breach with the president. In addition, he has been a\u00a0vocal critic<\/a>\u00a0of the Gulf nation of Qatar; a firm with the same parent company as Cambridge Analytica\u00a0was hired by\u00a0<\/a>the United Arab Emirates in September to launch a social media campaign against Qatar.<\/p>\n

Last week, Bannon was\u00a0interviewed twice by investigators<\/a>\u00a0with Special Counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s office, which is probing Russian meddling in the 2016 election and whether Trump\u2019s campaign coordinated with Moscow. He also spoke with the House Intelligence Committee, though members of that panel, frustrated that Bannon hasn\u2019t been more forthcoming,\u00a0are considering action against him<\/a>\u00a0that could include holding him in contempt.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who both serve as senior advisers in the White House,\u00a0have been fined<\/a>\u00a0for late financial transaction reports,\u00a0Kushner twice<\/a>. Former deputy national security advisers\u00a0K.T. McFarland<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Dina Powell<\/a>were also both fined for late transaction reports,\u00a0Powell twice<\/a>. A National Security Council spokesman previously said Powell\u2019s late filings were due to computer error. Sean Cairncross, former senior adviser to the chief of staff and a nominee to lead the federal Millennium Challenge Corporation, had a late filing fine waived for a\u00a0late report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Late fees on such reports are relatively rare. They were assessed on only 3.6 percent of the more than 12,000 periodic transaction reports filed by federal government employees in 2016, according to an\u00a0OGE survey<\/u><\/a>\u00a0of all executive branch agencies.<\/p>\n

Under\u00a0federal law<\/u><\/a>, filers who are required to publicly report their finances must pay a $200 fine if they file a report more than 30 days late. The fine can be waived if the White House ethic\u2019s officer determines the late filing was due to “extraordinary circumstances . . . which made the delay reasonably necessary,” including the agency\u2019s failure to notify a worker of the need to file the disclosure report.<\/p>\n

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Ben Wieder:\u00a0202-383-6125<\/a>,\u00a0@benbwieder<\/a><\/p>\n

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Anita Kumar:\u00a0202-383-6017<\/a>,\u00a0@anitakumar01<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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