Donald K. Sherman on Government Ethics

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Disputes over conflicts of interest, financial disclosure and ethics rules for public officials and for the people who work with them in government.

How we classify topics

Statement history

2 statements on this page. Dates: February 20, 2026 to September 15, 2026

2 matching statements. Dates: February 20, 2026 to September 15, 2026

2 published statements. Dates: February 20, 2026 to September 15, 2026

Condemned

2 published statements. Dates: February 20, 2026 to September 15, 2026

2 statements on this page. Dates: February 20, 2026 to September 15, 2026

Donald K. Sherman

Role at the time: President and Chief Executive Officer of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, in written testimony to a House subcommittee

September 15, 2026Condemned

Response to this claim

CREW says that President Trump's February 19, 2026 designation of Jared Kushner as a special envoy requires him to file a public financial disclosure report within 30 days under federal ethics rules.

“Mr. Kushner has been involved in the most serious foreign policy and national security issues of the day at the same time that his private investment firm is engaged in significant businesses with some of the same foreign partners he is working with in his governmental role. The potential for conflicts of interest is staggering and although Mr. Kushner is legally required to file a public disclosure statement so that the public and Congress have transparency about what foreign governments may be funding his businesses, there is no publicly available evidence that he has done so.”

Donald K. Sherman

Role at the time: President of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, in a CREW statement

February 20, 2026Condemned

Response to this claim

CREW says that President Trump's February 19, 2026 designation of Jared Kushner as a special envoy requires him to file a public financial disclosure report within 30 days under federal ethics rules.

“Given his company’s public dealings and investments in the very countries and conflicts that he will apparently be working on directly, Kushner should also proactively divest from his firm, Affinity Partners. … If there is a silver lining to President Trump’s announcement, it is that Kushner will finally be subject to some ethics rules, instead of acting as a completely unchecked private citizen.”

Read the official statementCREW statement on Jared Kushner's role as special peace envoy (February 20, 2026) · Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in WashingtonQuoted statement from CREW President Donald K. Sherman, second and third paragraphs

CREW's release the day after President Trump's February 19 remarks. It says the designation formalizes a role Kushner had been playing and will likely require a financial disclosure report, and it quotes CREW's president calling for Senate advice and consent, divestment from Affinity Partners and a security clearance.

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Why we used this label

The reference point is the proposition that Kushner's private business through Affinity, including its Israeli investments and Gulf capital, creates a conflict of interest with his role in U.S. Middle East negotiations. Sherman ties Affinity's dealings in the countries Kushner will handle to a call for divestment, which treats the overlap as a problem, so we used Condemned. The closest competing label is Mixed or conditional, because he also welcomes the ethics rules that the designation brings. It loses because that welcome concerns the rules, and his call to divest criticizes the arrangement itself.

Read statement Does Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners conflict with his role in Middle East negotiations, as congressional Democrats and ethics groups say?