Richard W. Painter
MSNBC Columnist
Richard W. Painter was the chief White House ethics lawyer from 2005 to 2007 under President George W. Bush. He is the S. Walter Richey Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Minnesota and is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School.
Richard W. Painter was the chief White House ethics lawyer from 2005 to 2007 under President George W. Bush. He is the S. Walter Richey Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Minnesota and is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School.
Latest from Richard W. Painter
I did Alito’s ethics prep for his confirmation hearing. His new excuses are nonsense.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s defense of his 2008 vacation with billionaire Paul Singer ignores basic tenets of judicial ethics.
How the Supreme Court can finally get its house in order
Why does Supreme Court keep having ethics scandals? Because Clarence Thomas and John Roberts can't police themselves. Senate's Dick Durbin's hearing proves it.
Fox News destroyed its own reputation for a painfully simple reason
Two pernicious ideas came together to destroy the reputation and the business model of Fox News.
Trump’s tax returns show he was a bigger risk than we realized
If Congress had known about Trump's foreign bank accounts earlier, they could very well have looked into them.
Georgia's voter laws remain rife with issues
Though Stacy Abrams's group lost its lawsuit, the case still exposed major problems with the state's voting laws.
Trump used the Secret Service to make money. Here's how taxpayers can respond.
A House committee revealed the former president's properties charged exorbitant rates for Secret Service agents who stayed there while protecting him or his family.
Geoffrey Berman reveals how Donald Trump abused his firing power
Congress must protect against lawless presidents — or risk democracy itself.
Biden's ongoing struggle with the utter hypocrisy of stock trading in Congress
Americans are fed up with corruption and the appearance of corruption in Congress.
Trump discussing a coup with private citizens was a workaround federal law
There's a reason people giving official capacity advice to the president should be federal employees.
Claiming Merrick Garland can't prosecute Trump is ill-conceived at best
Some legal commentators argue that the Justice Department could have a conflict of interest because prosecuting Trump could appear to be political.
The Jan. 6 committee needs to follow the money
The people who financed the insurrection to keep Trump in office need to be exposed.
