By Chad Day
WASHINGTON -- Several members of President Biden's White House
staff have ties to companies with major stakes in the
administration's positions on cybersecurity, antitrust and other
policy areas, new federal disclosures show.
Among the companies that appear in financial records released
Saturday for some senior White House staff are Microsoft Corp.,
which is working with the administration on the fallout from two
big cyberattacks in recent months, and Facebook Inc., which is
facing a federal antitrust lawsuit and congressional scrutiny over
how it moderates content on its platform.
The disclosures, which the White House made available on request
through an online portal, detail staff members' and their spouses'
assets, stock portfolios, income, nongovernmental positions and
debts for 2020 through when they joined government service this
year.
Some of the ties might pose an early test of how the Biden
administration is interpreting its ethics pledge, which mandates
that appointees commit to not participating in any matter
"involving specific parties that is directly and substantially
related to my former employer or former clients, including
regulations and contracts." As of Saturday, the White House said no
waivers to the administration's ethics pledge have been issued for
White House staff.
It isn't unusual for senior government officials to have ties to
prominent business, as every modern administration has drawn from
the private sector to fill top posts. President Donald Trump's
initial batch of White House advisers and cabinet officials drew
from the oil industry, Wall Street and his personal real-estate and
licensing business, among other sectors.
The new Biden White House disclosures particularly highlight
recent ties between national security adviser Jake Sullivan and
Microsoft.
Mr. Sullivan is overseeing an interagency effort to address a
recent cyberattack on Microsoft's Exchange email software, which
the company said was carried out by a network of suspected Chinese
hackers. Microsoft's network was also accessed in the recently
unearthed suspected Russian hack of at least nine federal agencies
and scores of private businesses.
Before entering the administration, Mr. Sullivan, a former
campaign aide to Hillary Clinton, served on an advisory council for
Microsoft from 2017 through May of last year, according to his
disclosure. In that role, he was paid $45,000 last year as part of
the council's work advising the company's president on "key policy
developments," the disclosure says.
In response to questions about Mr. Sullivan's disclosure, a
White House official said that while Mr. Sullivan is dealing with
the national-security consequences of the Microsoft Exchange hack,
deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger is leading the
National Security Council's response.
Mr. Sullivan hasn't had any contact with the company, isn't
participating in decisions directly affecting the company and is
consulting with NSC lawyers to remain in compliance with ethics
requirements, the official said.
"These White House officials are experienced government leaders
whose past private sector experience is part of a broad and diverse
skill set they bring to government service," the White House said
in a statement. "They have returned to government because of their
deep commitment to public service, their desire to help bring our
nation out of this time of crisis, and their strong belief that
government can work for the American people."
In response to questions about Mr. Sullivan's role on the
advisory council, Microsoft said in a statement that "like many
multinational companies, a group of individuals from across the
political spectrum offer ideas and advice on a variety of national
policy issues."
Through a trust, Mr. Sullivan holds between $50,000 and $100,000
of stock in both Microsoft and in Google's parent, Alphabet Inc.,
according to his disclosure, which uses ranges of valuations for
assets and income. He also owns between $15,000 and $50,000 of
Facebook stock.
Mr. Sullivan's disclosure detailed his work for the consulting
firm Macro Advisory Partners, showing he was paid about $138,000
last year in fees. Among his clients were Uber Technologies Inc.,
Mastercard Inc., Lego, the insurance company Aviva PLC, Standard
Life Aberdeen, Standard Chartered and a subsidiary of Bank of
America Corp.
Other senior Biden staff members listed past positions or
stockholdings in tech firms and other businesses involved in the
government's Covid-19 response.
On Saturday, the White House official said Mr. Sullivan is
divesting himself of all of his stockholdings, which will be
reflected in a coming government certificate of divestiture. He
will recuse himself from any matters involving his past Macro
Advisory Partners' clients and have no contact with those
companies, the official said.
Other senior Biden staff members listed past positions or
stockholdings in tech firms and other businesses involved in the
government's Covid-19 response.
Susan Rice, who leads the White House Domestic Policy Council,
listed assets of at least $37.9 million.
The former Obama administration national security adviser and
United Nations ambassador resigned in mid-December as a member of
the board of directors at Netflix Inc. and indicated in her filing
that she is in the process of liquidating stock options acquired
after joining the streaming company in 2018. The sale of less than
a third of those options in August netted her $305,275.
Her portfolio includes shares in the Covid-19 vaccine
manufacturers Pfizer Inc. and Johnson & Johnson. She listed
shares of between $1 million and $5 million in Johnson &
Johnson, while reporting between $15,001 and $50,000 in Pfizer.
On Saturday, the White House official said Ms. Rice isn't
involved in the administration's decisions related to Covid-19
vaccines.
Ms. Rice listed almost $638,000 in speaking fees earned during
2020, including more than $128,000 after Mr. Biden's election.
The Biden administration's coronavirus czar, Jeff Zients, who
reported assets of at least $89 million, served on Facebook's board
of directors until the middle of last year. He also held stock in
the company, for which his disclosure shows he has divested
himself.
The White House official said Mr. Zients has recused himself
from any Facebook-related matters and sold the stock as soon as he
was able to do so. The official referred to public reporting that
he left the board over disagreements over the directions of the
company.
Louisa Terrell, the White House director of legislative affairs,
who reported assets of at least $680,000, previously served as
Facebook's public-policy director and still held between $250,000
and $500,000 of company stock as of last year. In her latest
disclosure, she says that she will divest herself of those
assets.
Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary and Obama
administration veteran, was paid at least $5,000 as a
communications consultant for the ride-hailing company Lyft
Inc.
The White House official said the consulting occurred for about
six months when the company didn't have a communications director
and involved writing a communications plan.
--Alexa Corse and
John McCormick
contributed to this article.
Write to Chad Day at Chad.Day@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 20, 2021 21:14 ET (01:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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