Open Letter to Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno
Jeffrey Owens : Writer, Lecturer, Anti-Fascist
I have reviewed the rules and regulations of the U.S. Justice Management Division; Department of Ethics Office on public officials accepting gifts from a “prohibited source,” and as a constituent of your state of Ohio, I have a question for you.
President Trump has just accepted a commissioned painting of himself by a “leading Russian artist” which was sent to him by none other than Vladimir Putin; dictator of Russia and ICC wanted war criminal. This gift was publicly revealed in the Steve Witkoff interview with Tucker Carlson, among other media sources.
The U.S. Department of Ethics Office prohibits public officials from accepting “a gift given because of his official position or from a prohibited source.” A “prohibited source” is defined as but not limited to, a person who “has interests that may be substantially affected by the performance of an employee’s official duties.” The public official is thereby required to decline the gift especially if “the timing of the gift creates the appearance that the donor is seeking to influence an official action.”
President Trump has repeatedly displayed his affinity towards Putin, and how easily he is manipulated by him. Ever since their original phone call on February 12 and subsequent meeting of diplomats in Saudi Arabia, U.S. foreign policy has been an endless parade of simping to Russia.
After eleven years of advocacy for Ukraine as a Senator, Secretary of State Marco Rubio suddenly and publicly adopted a major Russian propaganda line in which the United States is fighting a “proxy war” with Russia in Ukraine.
Without warning, President Trump temporarily shut off all U.S. military aid and intelligence sharing to Ukraine as well as disabled much of the U.S. weaponry provided to Ukraine. This was done unmistakably as a benefit to Russia, who immediately took advantage of the situation by launching significant waves of drone and missile attacks during the blackout.
Meanwhile he has caved to every conceivable Russian demand while asking not even a single concession from Russia. As a result, Trump has been publicly praised by Russian state propagandists.
Vladimir Solovyov has bragged that Trump must be “watching our programs” and congratulated him on “doing more damage to the western world” than Russia could have imagined accomplishing.
The U.S. shamefully sided with Russia, North Korea and Iran by voting against a U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning Russia as the aggressor in Ukraine, and insisting the occupied territories be returned.
The Department of Defense has stopped monitoring Russian cyber threats, while Russia has long been known to be the U.S.’s greatest cyber security adversary.
The State Department has not just cut off funding for the tracking of kidnapped Ukrainian children, but may have even permanently deleted its voluminous files on these vile crimes.
Putin has rejected President Trump’s unconditional 30-day ceasefire proposal with a counteroffer containing multiple conditions.
Russia attacked the infrastructure of the city of Kropyvnytskyi, a seven-hour train ride from the front lines, and struck a hospital in Sumy on the very night of a second Trump-Putin phone call in which they allegedly agreed to a ceasefire on energy and infrastructure.
While Ukraine was punished for “not being ready for peace” for daring to have conditions of their own for a ceasefire, by being blinded of intelligence and having their equipment deactivated, costing hundreds of lives; no such consequences have come to Russia.
President Trump is very clearly in a position of great advantage for Russia. Putin and his propagandists have already found that they can “influence an official action” from Trump, and will continue to do so through any means necessary to a achieve an upper hand, however temporary, in killing more Ukrainians.
Few people could meet the standard of a “prohibited source” for gifts than Vladimir Putin.
He is a wanted war criminal whose forces have leveled dozens of cities, kidnapped tens of thousands of children as a means of depopulation, left behind in liberated regions execution pits filled with hundreds of civilians, scores of torture chambers, and thousands of rape survivors.
Behind the lines of occupied Ukraine, the reality is even more grim. Ukrainian Nobel Laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk has written “occupation is not peace…it’s just another form of war.”
Occupied Ukraine is a life of slavery, not a “protectorate of Russian speakers.” Among many crimes is that tens of thousands of military age males have been forcibly conscripted into Russian military units, and used as cannon fodder against their own countrymen.
It is here that the Trump administration publicly intends to abandon 3 million Ukrainians through the cessation of territory.
President Trump fancies himself a Mussolini style strong man; immune to Judicial review or Congressional oversight, and free to bend the government to his will. Therefore, me attempting to make any legal argument about him accepting the gift from Putin, I already know is pointless.
As an Ohioan and a constituent of yours, I ask, how do you feel about your President accepting a gift from a wanted war criminal?
What does your conscience say, when your President pivots his entire foreign policy in favor of a decades long adversary and against an ally while clearly receiving flattery in return?
If gifts from disreputable actors cause you to look the other way now, in what other scenario and to what adversary’s benefit would you do the same in the future?
North Korea, Iran, Islamic State?
If you struggle to answer these questions, which I’m confident you do, I ask you to assert your position as U.S. Senators, and request that the President adhere to the guidelines of the U.S. Department of Ethics and refuse the painting.
These ethical regulations are in place for a reason and generally apply across all government organizations and business structures. Accepting gifts from global adversaries who clearly receive benefits at the expense of allies in return is a dangerous precedent to set, and its practice is best stopped now.
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Comment from :
Michael Halibej
I understand your anti Trump tirade. You are one of many that cast blame and the cent be scenario that Trump is a puppet of Putin and he has caved to every demand. That is a lot of caving in 60 days.
You write as if Trump allowed Putin to invade Ukraine? Who was the President that allowed the war to begin and did nothing to stop Putin. Is this not caving? When Biden declined to allow Poland to give the MiGs to Ukraine at the beginning of the war was this not a GIFT TO PUTIN?
You are a Lecturer that has a strange innacurate view of reality. It is obvious you believe are some Giant thinker proselytizing your invented reality.
Trump didn’t allow Putin to annex Crimea. Obama and Biden did. When Trump was President, he was the one that supplied Ukraine with Javelins.
Was that also a gift to Putin? Was this Caving to Putin?What did Obama and Biden give Ukraine when Putin annexed Crimea? What did Obama and Biden give to Ukraine when Putin invaded Dunbas? Blankets? Socks? Was this being tough on Putin?
Like most individuals with Trump Derangement Syndrome you invent your own reality and then present a perverted narrative. You may be a lecturer, one with a lack of credibility on this subject.
David Simmons
Michael Halibej you fail to mention that Trump didn’t stop the war when Putin broke the Minsk Accords . Every agreement Trump has made has been broken: the Chinese didn’t buy the grain they agreed to, North Korea didn’t stop their nuclear program, the Gaza peace plan has fallen apart, the Taliban didn’t stick to the agreement and Trump sat on his as a for 11 months and didn’t withdraw from Afghanistan leaving Biden 5 months to so it while the Taliban were stampeding.
Jennifer F.
Michael Halibej please keep talking so everyone can see what a Russian shill you are. Everyone knows that Trump is and has been a Russian asset for many years. His loyalty to Putin was bought and paid for. Uncle Joe was a saint compared to Trump. Trump wants nothing more than to pull the US out of NATO and three countries have stated that they will cancel their F 35 fighter jet orders, because they fear Trump will hit the technology kill switch for the planes whenever he gets upset over some imagined slight. Trump supports Putin and attacks Ukraine. The United States of America has a legal and moral obligation to support Ukraine and Trump has broken America’s promises to Ukraine.
Michael Halibej you are a Russian troll. You support the rape and murder of civilians and the abduction of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian children. You support a and defend the actions of a monster. We see what you are.
Thomas Van Hare
To set the record straight, as a former senior government official, I have been briefed many times on policies regarding gifts. Often gifts are given by foreign governments, foreign leaders, industry, and others — the requirement is to accept the gift on behalf of the US Government and, as per the regulations, the gifts are considered the property of the US Government, not ofthe individual receiving the gift.
In this case, Witkoff is a private citizen who is performing a special mission on behalf of the US Government, and my understanding is that it is without pay. While he may receive gifts — nothing disallowing that — it is quite clear that the gift was given to Trump through Witkoff, who simply conveyed it to the President.
I have seen no evidence that the President has accepted the painting as personal property. Most probably, it is in the Trump warehouse, stacked with a few dozen other paintings already received. Future Presidents may, if they wish to show their pro-Putin colors, display the Trump painting in the White House.
Finally, the recipient of a gift like this has the option to purchase it from the US Government if they wish, based on its appraised value. If he or she does that, it becomes their private property
Torben Ballegaard Sorensen
Thanks Jeff, for a very thorough article. The conclusion is crystal clear: Comerade Krasnov (disguised as the Mad Man in the Oval Office) is NOT allowed to accept any kind of bribery or ill-packaged persuasion from a war criminal. But who can tell one gift or favor from other previously given?