The opaque nature of his family’s multinational company makes it impossible to understand his conflicts of interest as he directs foreign policy for the United States. His son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has repeatedly filed incomplete or inaccurate forms with the federal government, both as part of his effort to secure a permanent security clearance, and to comply with federal disclosure rules intended to forestall conflicts of interest. [...]
“In the early months of the administration, at the behest of now-President Trump, who was furious over leaks from within the White House, senior White House staff members were asked to, and did, sign nondisclosure agreements vowing not to reveal confidential information and exposing them to damages for any violation,” Ruth Marcus reports. As Ben Wizner of the ACLU subsequently noted, “These so-called NDAs are unconstitutional and unenforceable.” Still, the prospect of fighting a billionaire in court over an NDA could easily chill protected speech. [...]
Law-abiding citizens of modest means are subject to inescapable government surveillance and opaque corporate data-gathering in their private lives, while the most powerful elected officials and many of the most powerful figures in tech— which rivals government in its ability to intrude on the privacy of billions—marshal their wealth and power to obscure even actions that profoundly affect the public sphere.
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