{"id":2633954,"date":"2026-07-23T05:24:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T09:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/john-solomons-trump-administration-role-draws-ethics-scrutiny\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T05:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T09:30:10","slug":"john-solomons-trump-administration-role-draws-ethics-scrutiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/john-solomons-trump-administration-role-draws-ethics-scrutiny\/","title":{"rendered":"John Solomon\u2019s Trump administration role draws ethics scrutiny"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjohn-solomons-trump-administration-role-draws-ethics-scrutiny%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2633954&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Conservative commentator John Solomon is under ethical scrutiny for holding a dual role as both a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/top-biden-coronavirus-adviser-announces-last-day-in-job\/\" title=\"Top Biden Coronavirus Adviser Announces Last Day in Job\">special government employee<\/a> within the Trump management and a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >media figure covering election integrity<\/a>. Solomon, founder and editor-in-chief of Just the News, announced in June his involvement in a government task force focused on transparency and election issues, raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest, especially since he continued to report and comment on related topics outside his government role. Critics worry that his simultaneous roles may lead to biased reporting or misuse of nonpublic facts. <\/p>\n<p>While officials say solomon\u2019s activities adhere to guidelines and efforts are made to manage conflicts, many see this arrangement as problematic, a critique common across administrations. Experts highlight that such dual roles can undermine ethical standards and public trust, with some pointing out that the use of &#8220;special government employee&#8221; designations often allows politicians to bypass usual oversight. Despite ongoing debates about ethics rules and transparency, critics believe these views often fall on deaf ears due to political incentives, contributing to a cycle where concerns about conflicts of interest persist across party lines.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Conservative commentator John Solomon\u2019s dual role as both a special government employee in the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"4\">Trump<\/a> administration and a media figure covering <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4653989\/trump-2020-xi-jinping-summit\/\">election integrity<\/a> is drawing scrutiny from ethics experts, who say there are few meaningful guardrails governing the unusual arrangement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Solomon, the founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of <em>Just the News<\/em>, announced in mid-June that he would be joining the Trump administration as a special government employee \u201cto help the government identify some documents, some secrets, some things you should know about when it comes to weaponization, election integrity, and other things.\u201d A White House official told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> that Solomon is part of a \u201ctask force on government transparency and election integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4657694\/john-solomon-special-government-employee-ethics-scrutiny\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>John Solomon\u2019s Trump administration role draws ethics scrutiny over election coverage<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4659752\/trump-communism-dont-think-anybody-wants-that-georgia-remarks\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Trump: \u2018With communism, everything turns to s***\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4659814\/trump-predicts-another-government-shutdown-in-september\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Trump predicts another government shutdown in September<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Solomon\u2019s work for Trump has also extended beyond advising behind the scenes. Solomon was involved in crafting President Donald Trump\u2019s primetime address last week that outlined alleged vulnerabilities in U.S. election systems \u2014 many of which Solomon and <em>Just the News<\/em> had previously reported on. Solomon also covered the topic during prior stints at the<em> Hill <\/em>and Fox News.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-15\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while Solomon has temporarily stepped down from his role as editor-in-chief, he\u2019s continued to cover election integrity for the site, in addition to on his podcast, <em>John Solomon Reports<\/em>, and the daily news program he co-hosts with <em>Just the News<\/em> White House correspondent Amanda Head on Real America\u2019s Voice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That overlap, ethics experts say, creates an unusual conflict between serving in government and reporting on the same subject.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think there\u2019s a pretty clear and pretty obvious conflict of interest here,\u201d said Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, vice president of policy and government affairs for the nonpartisan, nonprofit Project on Government Oversight.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-16\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBeing on this task force related to a specific topic that he is also very intimately involved in for his outside employment \u2014 that\u2019s where it starts to get troubling from our standpoint,\u201d he said. \u201cIs he using any nonpublic information that he may have gained access to on the government side of his current role to help, or to drive, or to otherwise inform his private sector work?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hedtler-Gaudette noted that the special government employee arrangement is not a problem that\u2019s unique to the Trump administration. He said the Biden administration similarly used the tactic to \u201cget whoever they want to into the government, to do things they want to do without having to go through all the pesky processes of appointing people, and running them through the confirmation process, or hiring them on a full-time basis, and dealing with the meritocratic process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of the information highlighted during Trump\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-admin-notifies-states-whose-election-data-was-compromised-by-china\/\" title=\"... Admin Notifies States &#039;Whose Election Data Was Compromised&#039; by China\">election integrity address<\/a> had already appeared in reporting by <em>Just the News<\/em> weeks earlier, including allegations that <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/china\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"232\">China<\/a> accessed millions of Americans\u2019 voter registration records.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-17\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Following the speech, however, Solomon acknowledged to MS Now that acting Director of National Intelligence <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/bill-pulte\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"22738\">Bill Pulte<\/a> and other intelligence officials had found \u201czero evidence\u201d that votes had been changed, by a foreign actor or otherwise, in the 2020, 2022, or 2024 elections. Solomon did say that he and other task force members are \u201cstill researching\u201d the issue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The second Trump administration has made use of special government employees at a higher rate than administrations past, the most prominent of which was <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/elon-musk\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"1412\">Elon Musk<\/a>, who oversaw the Department of Government Efficiency last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A White House official told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> that Solomon is \u201cin line with special government employee guidelines\u201d and \u201cengaged with White House officials directly\u201d on the \u201cneed to manage any potential conflicts.\u201d The official reiterated that \u201cWhite House Ethics works consistently with all staff to ensure compliance with [Office of Government Ethics] policies.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-25\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-4\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Davis Ingle, a spokesman for the White House, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> that \u201cPresident Trump and millions of Americans agree that we must have integrity in our elections, otherwise we have no country at all,\u201d adding that \u201cCongress should immediately pass the SAVE America Act.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Patrick Shepherd, a press liaison for the Office of Government Ethics, declined to comment on Solomon\u2019s hiring, as the office \u201cdoes not respond to questions about specific individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Office of Government Ethics \u201cis committed to transparency and citizen oversight of government,\u201d he wrote. It \u201cpublishes ethics disclosures, associated documents, and oversight correspondence to its website as soon as practicable.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-5\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-5\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-26\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-5\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Peter Loge, the director of George Washington University\u2019s Project on Ethics in Political Communication, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> that Solomon serving on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/virginia-democrat-gubernatorial-candidate-falsely-claims-republican-rival-doesnt-accept-2020-election-ignores-own-actual-denial-of-2000-election\/\" title=\"Virginia Democrat Gubernatorial Candidate Falsely Claims Republican Rival Doesn\u2019t Accept 2020 Election, Ignores Own Actual Denial Of 2000 Election\">election integrity task force<\/a> gives the perception of a conflict.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe\u2019s a political commentator with his own platform, promoting the findings of an investigation that already has ideas about,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cYou\u2019re not just inviting the fox into the hen house. You\u2019re giving the fox Old Bay sauce and a YouTube channel. This is, of course, ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Solomon and <em>Just the News<\/em> declined to say who is running the site in Solomon\u2019s stead. They<em> <\/em>also did not answer questions about whether Solomon is still serving as CEO or how the site is handling reporting on information made public by the task force Solomon is leading.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4655567\/trump-vows-iran-pay-killing-us-troops-what-comes-next\/\"><strong>TRUMP VOWS IRAN WILL \u2018PAY\u2019 FOR KILLING US TROOPS. WHAT COMES NEXT?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite the apparent concerns regarding Solomon\u2019s role, Loge told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> that critics are essentially \u201cyelling into the void.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Loge noted that ethics rules shift from administration to administration and that the use of special government employee designations allows any administration to skirt certain government <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ethics\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"1012\">ethics<\/a> requirements by withholding public disclosure filings, a critique frequently pointed to by ethics experts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hedtler-Gaudette expressed some optimism that there is a bipartisan movement to hold officials accountable for ethics violations and address special government employee \u201cloopholes,\u201d but he noted the problem is political more than anything else.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve seen it across administrations, across parties, the same conduct,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we find ourselves in this constant rinse-and-repeat cycle, where you care a lot about it if it\u2019s the other team, so to speak, and then you care less about it if it\u2019s your team, and then it just basically undermines the credibility of any of the arguments that get made at any given point.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John Solomon\u2019s government and media roles raise ethics concerns<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2645,"featured_media":2633955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP26198070626152.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[4381,37840,83061,5894,32640],"class_list":["post-2633954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-ethics","tag-government-oversight","tag-john-solomon","tag-politics","tag-trump-administration"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP26198070626152.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2633954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2645"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2633954"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2633954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2633958,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2633954\/revisions\/2633958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2633955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2633954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2633954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2633954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}