False allegations of conflicts of interest

Over the course of the nearly two years that Robert Mueller served as Special Counsel, President Trump complained that Mueller had conflicts of interest that should have prevented him from being  in that role. One of these concerned Mueller’s having supposedly been turned down for a job as Trump’s FBI chief. Another was based on Mueller’s former law firm  having done legal work  for certain Trump family members. A third alleged COI arose out of a purported dispute regarding a membership fee paid by Mueller at a Trump golf club.

The specifics of each are not particularly interesting. What is noteworthy is that – for legal or factual reasons – each of them is utterly without merit, as described in this piece from FactCheck.Org.

Making false accusations of conflicts of interest is not the worst thing that Trump has done as president. Indeed, probably is not  in the top 100.

But – at least from the perspective of this blog – such accusations are particularly pernicious as they can make it difficult for companies and individuals to identify and address genuine COIs.

I should stress that I am not suggesting that companies adopt “zero tolerance” for inaccurate reports of conflict of interest. Doing so would undoubtedly discourage reporting of accurate – as well as inaccurate – COIs pursuant to companies’ compliance & ethics programs.

But when a COI accusation is made not to protect an organization and/or individuals from unethical conduct but rather as part of a campaign of falsehoods being pursued for personal and political reasons that is another matter. As Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. famously said: “Even a dog knows the difference between being kicked and being stumbled over.”