A federal ethics director's decision to publicly criticize Donald Trump's plan to address conflicts of interest has sparked a political battle on Capitol Hill. Trump ignored the advice of most outside ethics lawyers, who wanted him to sell his holdings to avoid conflicts of interest. The ethics director also explained a series of unusual tweets sent from the ethics office's account in November that enthusiastically congratulated Trump for divesting himself of his holdings, even though Trump had not done so. Related: Government ethics chief blasts Trump over plans for businessChaffetz told Stephanopoulos that criticisms of Trump's conflicts plan were "premature." The Office of Government Ethics did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Source: CNN January 15, 2017 21:35 UTC