Walter Shaub

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Walter Michael Shaub Jr. is an American lawyer who specialized in government ethics. He served as the director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) from January 9, 2013, to July 19, 2017, under President Barack Obama. After leaving the OGE, he joined the Campaign Legal Center in Washington, D.C., as senior director of ethics.

Shaub grew up in Virginia and went to South Lakes High School in Reston. He earned a history degree from James Madison University and a law degree from American University. He worked as an attorney at federal agencies, including the OGE, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Health and Human Services, before entering private practice in 2004. He returned to the OGE in 2006 to oversee the Presidential nomination program and later became Deputy General Counsel. In 2013, Obama appointed him to lead the OGE for a five-year term.

As OGE director, Shaub was outspoken about ethics during the Trump transition and early presidency. He publicly questioned Trump’s failure to divest his business assets and pushed for transparency, including calls for releasing ethics waivers. He also pressed for the White House to provide ethics records and waivers, and he urged continued transparency about these waivers.

Shaub resigned from the OGE in July 2017, saying ethics rules should be tighter. He then criticized the Trump administration, arguing that the White House set a tone in which ethics did not matter and warning that naming an acting director avoided proper Senate confirmation. He said Trump’s use of his hotels for government business created the appearance of conflict and potential profit.

In December 2017, Shaub warned that firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller would cross a red line. In February 2021, he announced he would join the watchdog group Project On Government Oversight (POGO) to lead an Ethics and Accountability Initiative, aiming to push for stronger ethics laws, limits on emergency powers, and stronger congressional oversight.