OBAMA APPOINTEES ACTING BADLY:

Newly obtained records reveal that the head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics personally ordered several oddly enthusiastic tweets after President-elect Donald Trump’s recent claim that he planned to sever ties to his business operations to avoid conflicts of interest as president.

“We told your counsel that we’d sing your praises if you divested and we meant it!” read one of the gushing tweets issued by the department. Another read: “Brilliant! Divestiture is good for you, good for America!” The tweets were so unusual for the staid department that Twitter initially investigated to determine if the account had been hacked. The tweets also sparked controversy. Some readers thought they were too wildly positive, while others thought they were mocking Trump’s bombastic style and his overuse of exclamation points.

According to emails first obtained by National Public Radio and the Daily Dot as part of a Freedom of Information Act request, the tweets were among nine ordered by agency director Walter Shaub Jr. . . . Shaub, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2012, also followed up with a link to a legal document mentioned in one of the tweets and added: ‘Get all of these tweets posted as soon as humanly possible.'”

I look forward to the Trump Administration, when government officials’ use of social media will be more restrained and professional.