WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Biden’s top officials have previously revealed links to large corporations, including tech giants Microsoft Corp., Google and Facebook Inc. Alphabet, the White House’s financial revelations.
According to documents submitted to the Office of Government Ethics, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was a member of an advisory board for Microsoft from 2017 until May last year. He was paid $ 45,000 last year, according to his disclosure, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.
Sullivan, who oversees an interagency response to the January cyber attack on Microsoft Exchange e-mail software, owns between $ 50,000 and $ 100,000 in both Microsoft and Alphabet and owns between $ 15,000 and $ 50,000 in shares. Facebook is shown in the disclosure.
The White House said in a statement Sunday that officials like Sullivan are “experienced government leaders whose past experience in the private sector is part of a broad and diverse set of skills they bring to government services.”
A White House official said Sullivan is not involved in decisions that directly affect Microsoft, has had no contact with the company and is consulting with NSC attorneys to stay in line with ethical requirements.
The official said that Sullivan is detached from all his actions.
A Microsoft spokeswoman said that “people across the political spectrum provide ideas and advice on a variety of national policy issues” to the company.
Press Secretary Jen Psaki was paid at least $ 5,000 as a communications consultant for Lyft Inc. The White House official said the consultation involved drafting a plan and took place for about six months.
The revelations were first reported by the Associated Press.
Key Trump administration officials have ties to Wall Street, the oil and gas industry and the real estate sector.
Reporting by Nandita Bose; Edited by Daniel Wallis