Rules don't apply to him

And ethics sure don't.

President-elect Donald J. Trump has not yet submitted a legally required ethics pledge stating that he will avoid conflicts of interest and other ethical concerns while in office, raising concerns that his refusal to do so will hamper the smooth transition to power.

Mr. Trump’s transition team was required to submit the ethics plan by Oct. 1, according to the Presidential Transition Act.

While the transition team’s leadership has privately drafted an ethics code and a conflict-of-interest statement governing its staff, those documents do not include language, required under the law, that explains how Mr. Trump himself will address conflicts of interest during his presidency.

Since Mr. Trump created his transition team in August, it has refused to participate in the normal handoff process, which typically begins months before the election.

  NYT

I'm shocked.

It has missed multiple deadlines for signing required agreements governing the process. That has prevented Mr. Trump’s transition team from participating in national security briefings or gaining access to federal agencies to begin the complicated work of preparing to take control of the government on Jan. 20, 2025.

[...]

On Thursday, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said that President Biden’s chief of staff had reached out to the Trump transition team and that its officials “say they have an intent” to sign the agreements, but gave no indication of timing.

[...]

The Presidential Transition Act governs the complex process of handing over the byzantine operations of the federal government to a new executive in the two and a half months between Election Day and Inauguration Day.

In 2019, Congress amended that law to require candidates to create and publicly post an ethics plan before the election and to “include information on how eligible presidential candidates will address their own conflicts of interest during a presidential term.”

Hmmmm...2019. I wonder what happened to make that necessary.

That bipartisan law was born in part out of concerns about ethical issues during the first Trump administration.

"In part."

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group, has since identified more than 3,400 conflicts of interest tied to Mr. Trump during his first administration, among them holding political events and hosting foreign dignitaries at hotels and resorts owned by his company.

Yeah, and was anything done about that? No?

“He’s completely thumbing his nose at the idea that all Americans are participating in the same basic public enterprise,” said Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland...

Hard to imagine. So unlike him.

...who last month wrote to Mr. Trump and urged him to comply with the Presidential Transition Act’s legal requirements.

Pretty sure he wiped his ass on that. Or framed it. Whatever he did with it, he ignored the request.

By refusing to sign that agreement, Mr. Trump effectively faces no limit on contributions and does not need to name his donors publicly.

Rules don't apply to him.

A separate concern involves the other memorandum of understanding, with the White House. Among other things, it sets the conditions under which the current administration can share sensitive government information with the incoming president’s team.

Until the Trump transition signs that document, the Biden administration is legally barred from providing it with the security clearances needed to share classified intelligence and national defense briefings, Mr. Stier said. It also cannot give transition employees physical access to the 438 different federal agencies that they will soon control, and it cannot allow them to review their files.

He doesn't need any briefing. Nothing that is happening is of concern to him. He is going to do whateverr he does by the seat of his pants on a whim.

If neither side blinks, Mr. Trump’s team would be forced to assume control of the entire federal government cold.

He's fine with that.

That, Mr. Stier said, could leave the country vulnerable at a critical moment.

He's fine with that.

“The consequences are severe,” Mr. Stier said. “It would not be possible to be ready to govern on Day 1.”

No matter. He's not concerned with governing. He's already told us what he's going to do on Day 1: be a dictator. 

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 11/10/2024: