As Jeffrey Clark joins the Trump administration as acting chief of the White House regulations office, he is continuing to publicly solicit contributions to cover legal expenses stemming from his activities during President Donald Trump’s first term, online records show.
As of Friday morning, Clark’s account on the X social media platform featured a link to a legal expense fund created several years ago on GiveSendGo, a fundraising platform popular among conservatives. The fund, which says it was started by Clark supporters and includes a prayer tab, has thus far raised more than $138,000 toward a $500,000 goal. The most recent contribution of $25 arrived earlier this month.
As federal employees and appointees turn to such funds to pay legal bills related to investigations and other matters related to their jobs, the Office of Government Ethics two years ago issued regulations aimed in part at heading off donations from people or interest groups with a stake in their official actions.
“I think there are some safeguards,” Danielle Caputo, senior legal counsel for ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan watchdog group, said in an interview.
