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Trump’s Crypto Czar David Sacks Blasts NYT “Hit Piece” — Calls Conflict Claims “Nothing Burger”

White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks has pushed back sharply against a New York Times investigation questioning whether his policymaking role in the Trump administration overlaps with his private investments.

In a post on X, Sacks accused the outlet of pursuing a predetermined narrative and ignoring months of evidence he said disproved its claims.

Sacks Rejects NYT Conflict Claims, Calls Narrative “False” and “Misleading”

The New York Times published its report on Sunday, outlining how Sacks’s wide portfolio of technology and crypto investments could benefit from policy decisions he has helped shape as a special government employee.

Source: New York Times

The article detailed Sacks’s involvement in the administration’s artificial intelligence strategy, his meetings with Silicon Valley executives, and his long-standing ties to major tech founders.

Sacks responded by calling the story the result of a five-month effort to construct a “hoax.” In his post, titled “INSIDE NYT’S HOAX FACTORY,” he said a team of reporters repeatedly shifted the focus of their accusations after he provided evidence disputing earlier claims.

INSIDE NYT’S HOAX FACTORY

Five months ago, five New York Times reporters were dispatched to create a story about my supposed conflicts of interest working as the White House AI & Crypto Czar.

Through a series of “fact checks” they revealed their accusations, which we debunked… pic.twitter.com/o67ls3RmC6

— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) November 30, 2025

“Today they evidently just threw up their hands and published this nothing burger,” Sacks wrote.

According to Sacks, the Times’ allegations included a “fabricated dinner” with a major tech executive, supposed promises of presidential access, and claims that he influenced defense contracts.

Each, he said, was “debunked in detail,” yet the investigation continued. He also criticized the paper for including only selected portions of responses he and his team had provided over several months.

Sacks said the Times ignored key information that contradicted its framing. “At no point… was NYT willing to update the premise of their story to accept that I have no conflicts of interest to uncover,” he wrote.

The Crypto Czar said he eventually hired the law firm Clare Locke, known for its defamation work, after concluding the Times was not pursuing a fair process.

He attached the firm’s letter to the newspaper, saying the document provided “full context” for the exchanges.

NYT Highlights Sacks’s Expanding Influence in Trump Administration’s Tech Agenda

Sacks is best known as a co-founder and partner at Craft Ventures, a firm with hundreds of technology investments across software, crypto, and artificial intelligence.

His government role, unpaid and structured under the “special government employee” designation, has faced scrutiny since early this year.

In May, Senator Elizabeth Warren said Sacks was “financially invested in the crypto industry,” which she argued could allow him to benefit from policy changes developed inside the White House.

Source: United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs

While The Times report described Sacks as one of the most influential technology figures in the Trump administration and highlighted his role in drafting the administration’s AI Action Plan and hosting high-profile industry forums, the report detailed concerns raised by some officials about an AI summit Sacks helped plan in July.

The event was initially expected to be hosted by the “All-In” podcast, which Sacks co-anchors.

According to the Times, some White House staff were worried that sponsorship packages connected to the podcast would create the appearance of selling access. The arrangement was later changed, the report said.

The Times also examined Sacks’s broad investment portfolio, which includes his long-standing network within Silicon Valley, where he has invested alongside figures such as Elon Musk and Peter Thiel for more than two decades.

His ethics waivers, issued in March, noted that he had sold or begun selling many of his crypto and AI assets.

💰 Trump's AI and Crypto Czar @DavidSacks confirmed he sold all direct crypto holdings before the President’s administration began.#DavidSacks #CryptoRegulationhttps://t.co/TpZaVpYl1J

— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) March 3, 2025

The waivers also said his remaining holdings were “not so substantial” as to influence his government work. However, the Times said the filings do not provide details on the timing of those divestments.

Notably, Sacks’s own spokesperson said the narrative of conflicts of interest was “false,” adding that his work for the government has cost him financially rather than benefited him.

The post Trump’s Crypto Czar David Sacks Blasts NYT “Hit Piece” — Calls Conflict Claims “Nothing Burger” appeared first on Cryptonews.

What to Watch for in Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Visit to Washington



EXPERT INTERVIEW — President Trump is welcoming Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the White House today with an announcement that he plans to approve the sale of F-35 fighter jets to the Kingdom, signaling a policy shift by the U.S. Administration.

The visit to Washington marks one of the most consequential moments in decades for the U.S.–Saudi relationship. Both governments see the meeting as a chance to cement the expansion of the U.S.-Saudi partnership from one focused on energy and security to include advanced technology, AI, critical minerals and defense cooperation.

The trip follows President Donald Trump’s high-profile visit to Saudi Arabia in May, when both countries announced a multibillion-dollar deal that could potentially give Riyadh access to advanced U.S. AI technology. While sources tell The Cipher Brief that many of the details of those deals remain in various stages of negotiation, the Crown Prince’s Washington visit aims to build off of that momentum.

More widely, the visit comes at the end of a year of rapid geopolitical and technological change for the Middle East. Through these shifts, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf leaders like the United Arab Emirates are positioning themselves as centers for AI infrastructure, diversified cheap energy, and global supply chains.

To help unpack the stakes and expectations behind the Crown Prince’s Washington visit, The Cipher Brief spoke with Norm Roule, who spent more than 34 years in the Intelligence Community and has been following regional developments for 43 years - including his time as a business consultant. Roule is in frequent contact with Gulf leaders on energy, security, finance and technology issues and travels frequently to the region. Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly began by asking Roule to summarize the expectations going into this visit. Our conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

THE INTERVIEW

Roule: The visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Washington will likely represent a transformational moment in Saudi-American relations that will stand out among the most important events in the 80-year relationship between the two countries. Each side will likely seek to use this visit to change the traditional relationship from one of oil and security to one that is more of a blend of advanced technology, mining, and energy, which includes nuclear, and defense.

Each side now sees the other as an indispensable partner and views this visit as a way of establishing an architecture that will ensure that periodic political difficulties don't destabilize a critical relationship that needs to last decades. The Saudis seek this more predictable relationship and assets that will allow them to accelerate their evolution toward becoming a global power center.

Washington seeks to revitalize and cement ties with a rising middle power that will certainly have considerably more influence in the Middle East and the Global South and will become an important link in the global energy and supply chain. Regional issues will be discussed during the visit, but I don't think it's likely we're going to see significant shifts outside of the ongoing trends.

Kelly: This visit, of course, does follow the visit by President Trump to Saudi Arabia in May of this year where some signficant deals were announced with regard to technology sharing and investment opportunities.

Roule: That is correct. In essence, what you're looking at is the other side of the coin from those visits. President Trump and a team of unprecedented stature of American cabinet members and highly consequential American business leaders traveled to the Kingdom and concluded a vast array of business deals over the months since that time. American diplomats and business leaders have met to finalize and further expand upon those deals. And now we're looking at a meeting that will, in essence, conclude those agreements or take them to the next stage of developing memorandums of understanding. These are very complicated agreements that in and of themselves will take months, if not years, to play out. But they are indeed transformational for the economies of each of the two partners.

This is exclusive Subscriber+Member content


Saudi Arabia and its neighbor, the United Arab Emirates are drawing on an unprecedented and historic combination of very focused policy decisions, massive domestic and global investment flows that they are developing with themselves and partners, and domestic social engineering that's been something that is unique in the world based upon AI and multiculturalism to redefine themselves from hitherto reliable energy suppliers into world-class members of the global supply chain - architects of the next generation of AI manufacturing and new nodes of political influence in a non-polar Middle East.

Each of these two countries is positioning themselves as models of rule of law, stable governance, and an oasis of multicultural life, open for business, open for boldness. And these two countries have a strategy that relies upon a tight weave of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), chemicals, energy infrastructure, data centers, and finance. But each country also requires a deep, unprecedented and sustained access to the most advanced US AI technology.

So for this to happen, we're watching the Saudi Crown Prince come to Washington to build this new relationship with the United States. They know that this relationship brings tremendous benefits to the United States as well. It not only helps us build out our infrastructure, our employment at a time when we're having our own challenges, but in a way, it also sends a powerful message. They believe in us. They believe in the American future. They know that we will win, and often in ways that we sometimes don't express in ourselves.

Lastly, they're doing all of this in a way that means that they're not having to cut their commercial ties with China or offend Russia. In return for what they will give, they will receive technology that makes them global AI powers. And with the cheap energy that they are able to attach to that AI, they will be incredibly successful.

Kelly: Clearly, we're going through a dramatic shift in the Middle East right now. How important is this relationship to the United States?

Roule: It's critical. The Middle East remains vital to America's interest. The Middle East, as they say, it's in the middle. You look at any map and the Middle East is in the center of global trade, global transportation, multiple shipping routes move through the region, 80% of the data between Europe and Asia transit the region. You have global energy centered in the region. You have several of the world's major religions in the region. You have crossroads of multiple U.S. national interests.

At the same time, you're now looking at the development of an artificial intelligence infrastructure that is starting to blossom. And our ability to partner with that and to ensure that that technology does not threaten America's interests, and indeed sustains America's interest as that region partners with the Global South. It just protects our interest and expands our influence at a time when China would very much like to replace us.

Kelly: You talked about some of the ambitions of the Kingdom and the UAE, both in investment and AI. We've talked a lot in the past about their efforts and trying to lead when it comes to green energy. What do you think is driving their strategy?

Roule: Their strategy is driven by changes in the world that are just inevitable. If we were to go back one year and I were to tell you that knowledge is power, you would agree completely with me. But today, the adage is now, power is knowledge. The artificial intelligence system is inherently an energy system in and of itself. And artificial intelligence requires access to inexpensive, reliable 24-hour energy. And in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates and the other Gulf Cooperation Council states have access to tremendously inexpensive energy, and the prospect of additional inexpensive energy through their expansion of solar power and nuclear energy, which they're seeking. Those with access to such tremendous cheap energy and artificial intelligence have access to the benefits of artificial intelligence, which will bring them enormous economic advantage in the future.

Now, look at the other end of that stick. In Sub-Saharan Africa, at least 600 million Africans lack access to a reliable source of electricity. Imagine the social and economic disadvantage of those various societies. But let's go forward, just thinking about where the world is moving. By 2040, data center energy needs will rise fourfold. 1.5 billion people are estimated to move to cities. That means 2 billion new air conditioners will come online. And when you're in Saudi Arabia, a large portion of their oil needs, their oil production, is actually used for air conditioners in the summer. And you see their oil production move up in the summer for air conditioners. Global fleets of aircraft are expected to double from 25,000 to 50,000 aircraft by 2040. Jet fuel demand will be up by 30%. Six million kilometers of electrical transmission lines are needed by 2040. Imagine what that means in terms of copper.

So if you're looking at something like this, we're now looking at $4 trillion of investment needed annually for this energy architecture. We can't do this without partners with capital - like Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates - and the many partners they bring together into their ecosystem.

So now let's look at energy. In recent years, you've had this great contest between the people who correctly talk about the need for us to battle climate change, and those who have talked about the need for more energy. Both issues must be dealt with. Well, now we realize oil demand is not going to drop. In fact, oil demand is expected to remain above 100 million barrels a day through 2040. This demand is going to be needed for materials and petrochemicals. LNG demand is expected to grow by 50%. Renewables will double. In essence, the world needs more energy, not replacement for these other energy sources.

Saudi Arabia and the Emirates and Qatar and Kuwait see themselves as becoming islands of cheap energy working with the United States. They see themselves at this moment in history - where, if they can capture a certain amount of extraordinary technology and a strategic relationship with the United States, and this ecosystem of multicultural partnership with the world - they can become a very different society. It's a fascinating dynamic. It's a very exciting time in history.

Kelly: Do you think falling oil prices are going to impact this strategy?

Roule: Well, we're watching that play out. So in essence, what we've seen is very prudent decision making. They have slowed some of the execution of major projects, but they have not stopped the projects themselves. They have extended timelines. They have delayed the rollout of certain large programs. If it has to do with their visions of Vision 2030 or Vision 2040, they have different visions in the Gulf, the projects remain on track. And it's because those projects are critical to where they need to go. If you look, for example, at the city of Neom that is often talked about, well, the port of Oxagon, which is critical to the infrastructure of trade in the Northwest Arabian Peninsula, that’s still functioning, it’s still out there. They're just going to slow the build out of that city because it's reasonable to say to slow the build out to the city. It's just not reasonable to think that you can slow the build out of trade and infrastructure in the Arabian Peninsula. That's going to happen on a different timeline.

Now, we've also seen reports that the Saudis have withdrawn some of their capital from not less productive, but maybe investments in the United States that aren't as relevant to the core vision of equities as in the past. That I think you may see a little more of, but I don't see a massive withdrawal of those investments unless we saw oil prices drop into say the low $50s or $40s. So what we're watching is prudent focus. We're watching attention to timelines. We're watching attention to anti-corruption. I'm impressed. I've not seen anybody waste money or do anything that is injudicious. And I've not seen anybody make allegations that such things have been noted by others.

Kelly: What will make this a successful visit to Washington, both on behalf of the Saudis and on behalf of the U.S.?

Roule: Architecture. And what you're looking for is something that lasts beyond one month, one deal. You're looking for something that binds us together over time. I think what you're going to hear will be announcements of MOUs. You will hear announcements of deals. And as important as it is to focus on the numbers associated with the deals, and there will certainly be focus on that and questions regarding that, it's really more important to focus on the industries, the sectors associated with those deals, and then the depth that each of those MOUs brings to the various societies.

For example, let's say that we see an aviation deal that might bring employment to the United States but will set up a manufacturing node in Saudi Arabia. If something like that were to happen, that would make Saudi Arabia part of a global supply chain. So 20 years from now, we would have a more reliable source of parts or an alternative source of parts. If mining is developed within the kingdom, well, it takes years to develop a mine, but we will have an alternative source of minerals, and Saudi Arabia is a rich source of multiple minerals that are important to the United States. Or if the Saudis invest in minerals in the U.S., it may take years for those to play out. So the architecture associated with those deals will mean employment but it's the depth and the timelines with those deals that will determine the depth of that relationship.

In terms of defense deals, I don't want to downplay that, but America has always stood with Saudi Arabia. People have often asked, 'If there's a single attack did we respond in as well or to the extent that we should have?' That's open to question. But there is no doubt in my mind, nor in the minds of regional leaders, that if there were a serious attack on Saudi Arabia by Iran or another country, we are absolutely going to be there. And do we need a defense deal to say that? I'll leave that to others, but not in my mind. But in any case, we will see some sort of defense architecture develop.

Should the Saudis have nuclear energy? Why not? Every other country does. They're looking for additional technology and there's no reason we can't provide that to them to assist them. But again, it's that architecture and the relationship over years that you seek, vice one delivery, one deal, and the announcements that go with it.

Kelly: Where do you see the region going in 2026? What will be the big headlines and the big drivers next year in the Middle East?

Roule: There's a lot of good news in the Middle East. The U.S. remains the dominant great power. Americans are not and likely will not be the target of a major military confrontation in the region. But the region itself continues to lack a strong cohesive narrative that pulls it together.

The biggest point in the region is that it remains a non-polar region. There's no reason to believe that this administration will cease its vigorous focus on the region. And we must applaud this administration for, in its first 11 months, having multiple emissaries and making visits and sending many cabinet ministers to the region. If you look at the recent conferences that have taken place in Manama, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, we've had cabinet level representation at all of those events to include during a government shutdown, which is no small thing, with representatives from multiple government departments. America is back and Russia and China are not.

Gaza is going to sputter along, and the U.S. commitment remains and CENTCOM is performing marvelously as a key force bringing things together. I think we're going to see that continuing. Neither side, Israel or the Palestinians, have a reason to return to war, but violence will continue. The largest or most significant political shifts in the region likely would come from a change in the Israeli government.

Iran is fragile. Iran nuclear talks are unlikely to begin until the administration sees evidence that the talks will not be a waste of time. Right now, the Iranians seek talks, but that doesn't mean they want to do anything other than have talks, because if they have talks, the rial will be strengthened and the Iranians don't have to bring anything up. The Quds Force will remain active. They will continue to deliver weapons to the Yemenis. But it's unlikely they're interested in looking for a conflict. We can't rule out a sudden collapse of Iran in case of an environmental disaster such as an earthquake, but the regime appears fragile at present.

Syria continues to make progress and I think we're going to see the progress continue in its current trend. Arab infrastructure investment continues to progress. I would watch for telecommunications and port investment work. And the reason that's important is that you're watching the Biden administration IMEC plan in essence or IMEC cooperation be realized as Gulf states put their lines up through Europe and through Syria.

Lebanon will likely remain a greater challenge. I think we're watching a lot of Saudi quiet diplomacy with Yemen and that will continue. GCC infrastructure will continue to develop. I would be surprised if we didn't see more Saudi work with Bahrain and Saudi work between the GCC and the West.

Oil will remain stable likely and soft in coming months. I think you're going to see a lot more natural gas come online. OPEC will continue to do everything it can to prevent oil from falling into the 50s while maintaining a relatively soft position so they can recapture market share from India and other places lost to Russia.

Read more expert-driven national security insights, perspective and analysis in The Cipher Brief because National Security is Everyone’s Business.

When the FAR gets a revolutionary overhaul and the government shuts down, who’s reading the fine print?

Interview transcript: 

Eric White Let’s start from the FAR overhaul perspective. They were able to get that out right before the shutdown occurred. I wanted to see what your initial thoughts were and what you’re hearing from industry folks who are going to have to comply with these new rules.

Emily Murphy So it’s really interesting, very last minute, obviously they got everything out, they wanted to meet that deadline. And I’ve got to commend the folks at OFPP, GSA, NASA, DoD, who all got that out and they worked really hard to get that out so that it would be out there before, frankly, many of them ended up getting furloughed. They got Part 15 out, Part 16 out, so they’ve got a lot of stuff out at the very last minute, and there’s a lot there to still digest. Part 16, which is type of contracts, was really interesting because it created BPAs against GWACs, which was something we haven’t seen before. Lots of sections came out with even just PDFs, and they’ve now been updated to include the actual downloadable, the actual text. But there was a lot there. One thing that contractors should be paying attention to right now is that even though these have all gone out, if you go to the Revolutionary Far Overhaul site, you’ll see that not all of them have been adopted at every agency. And so that’s something that you should be very, very aware of, depending on where they’re contracting. So, some of the deviations have only been adopted by two, three agencies. Others have more than 30 agencies that have adopted them. But when you consider how many agencies there are, that still isn’t a very large number, and so it becomes a question of, are the agencies considering these to be just adopted by, in absence of them taking any action, is it that they are still thinking through the deviations, they need to do some additional modifications to a deviation they would be doing, because these were model deviations, they were not agency-specific deviations. And then, this was the FAR Council putting these out with the intention of doing it as a deviation that agencies could adopt and start implementing right away as they started an official rule making process. And the expectation was that official rule making would start sometime mid-November. Now, I don’t know if that’s gotten slowed down by the shutdown or not. But it raises a lot of questions. You still can go on to the acquisition.gov website and give informal comments. And I would suggest anyone who’s thinking of doing so do that, but then start coming up with what they want their real comments, their official comments to be on those rules. What did the FAR Council get right? And then, where are there areas that need changes, that need some adjustments? And I trace it with both, because frequently, at least back in the days when I was actually working on the FAR Council stuff in the Bush administration, we would frequently get comments back from people only about what they disliked. They wouldn’t tell us what was good. And when you don’t tell agencies what is good, they may actually get rid of what it was that you liked in the FAR changes because they’re not hearing people step up and say, that was a good change, that’s going to make things better, please keep that. If all they hear from is people saying we don’t like anything, you never know what’s going to then survive that comment period. So it’s very important to comment, not just on what you think needs to be changed, but also on what needs to be retained.

Eric White I think any Amazon reviewer will cite the same experience if they have that. They only tell me what they don’t like. They titled it the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul. Is that, I want to get your opinion, is that an inappropriate title? Is this really revolutionary or is this a bit of labeling that we’ve seen from the Trump administration in the past?

Emily Murphy I’m not sure that they could be truly and utterly revolutionary in terms, because there were statutory constraints, but they did about everything they could within that statutory framework. They got rid of a third of the clauses that affect commercial contracting. They got rid of the reps and certs, lots of them, and it’s going to be much easier to register as a federal contractor going forward. The commercial type contracting, they broke it down into commercial type contracting for under simplified procedures versus non-commercial, so we’re dividing the world there. It’s the only place where we saw new regulations coming in. Part 15 got rid of the old discussions and replaced it with negotiations. There is a lot of change. Part 8, taking the schedules ordering procedures out of the FAR and putting them back into the GSA Acquisition Regulations, that’s pretty revolutionary. So there’s a lot in there that is very much worth noting and is going to change how agencies operate and how vendors have to comply. It should streamline things, it should speed things up. It really does push decision-making down to the lowest level possible. And it will be interesting to see, since the FAR Council noted on the website that things that require a statutory or regulatory statutory changes or changes to executive order would be addressed with the second round of this, with the official rule making. So whether there’s even more up their sleeve, if there’s going to be more that happens. But I think that they did a lot to make this fairly momentous and they did it really fast. You remember the last time they tried to rewrite Part 15, it took years. They did it this over the course of a summer while they did every other part of the FAR as well.

Eric White We’re speaking with Emily Murphy, former GSA administrator and senior fellow at George Mason University Baroni Center for Government Contracting. Let’s get to the vendors themselves. Shutdown is still ongoing, as of this recording. What are you hearing and seeing from those vendors that have long-term contracts that are coming to a close, or they’re going to need some help operating in this new FAR environment and they may not have the necessary guidance that they could use at a time like this?

Emily Murphy So the first thing I’d say to companies that are operating, have a contract that’s about to lapse, read your contract, make sure you know what’s in it. Most contracts have a provision in there — it’s usually in 52.217, sometimes dash eight, sometimes dash nine — on how to extend that work. Make sure you know which clause you have or what clauses you have, what options are there. I’m hearing some talks about taking a no-cost extension. And that’s a decision agencies and vendors are going to have to make. But the vendors should be aware of when they do that, they’re performing at risk. That there is a good chance that they may not ever have that option exercise. They may not have that ability to get reimbursed for that. They certainly won’t get reimbursed for a no-cost extension, but they may not have something happen once the government shutdown is over. So it’s got to be a business decision they’re making at that point in time. But ultimately, know what’s in your contract, know to the greatest extent possible who it is you’re dealing with at the agency, what set of rules they’re following at this point in time, and have options in a strategy you’re willing to propose to the government to make it easier for them, because whether we’re back from the shutdown by the time this airs or we’re still on a shutdown, you’ve got a very small workforce dealing with a lot of work. And the easier you can make it for them, the better it’s going to be.

Eric White We’ve seen these shutdowns now popping up every couple of years or so, usually right around this time of year. Do you see any adjustments coming down the pipeline by vendors of putting provisions into contracts or taking necessary precautions, maybe waiting until they are messing with the extensions or deadlines before they hear whether or not there is going to be one or not? Especially, like I said, around this time of year when shutdowns seem to occur.

Emily Murphy Well, the last major shutdown that happened happened December of 2018, and it went through January of 2019, so it was the 35-day shutdown, it was the longest shutdown we’ve ever had. So while in the past it was fairly, you thought right after the fiscal year there being a risk of shutdown, the fact that it was a long shutdown that didn’t start until just before Christmas, I remember because I was at GSA at the time and people had gone home for the holiday before the shutdown happened. That made it a tough time. There’s never a good time for a shutdown, so I shouldn’t say that, but that was a tough time for people to be shutdown on Christmas. I don’t know that they’re trying to time a shutdown. It’s sort of reading tea leaves or trying to do some fortune telling. I think that smart companies, though, are planning to know that government shutdowns do happen and they have a plan for their workforce when that’s going to happen, whether it’s mandatory training that they need their employees to be taking, to maintain certifications, to comply with a government requirement, whether its the upskilling of that workforce, whether it’s working on strategic planning documents or other things, they’ve thought about how they’re going to use their workforce if the workforce isn’t able to show up. We talk a lot about what’s going to happen to federal employees and will they be paid for the work for this time that they have been furloughed. The contractors don’t get paid, and good contractors try to do everything in their power to keep paying their employees, but they’re never going to be made whole for that. And there’s a limit to how long a small business and midsize business can continue to pay people to not work. And we need to be very aware that this hits the industrial base, not just the federal employee base, and that both sides of this are feeling a lot of tension right now and a lot stress.

Eric White Wanted to finish up here by getting your thoughts on the East Wing renovation happening at the White House. People were obviously going back and forth about the actual move itself, but people like you and I were probably thinking, huh, I wonder how that contract was structured. What are your thoughts, and who do you think was handling it? We’ve got really three choices, the Executive Office of the President, GSA, your former camp, or even the Park Service, as the White Houses i actually designated as a national park.

Emily Murphy It is, and what’s interesting is when I was the GSA administrator, we were looking at doing renovations in the West Wing and that very much would have been a GSA contract. It would have in the Public Building Service doing that work. The East Wing, though, probably it’s going to fall into either the National Park Service or the [Executive] Office of the President that would be doing that work. It’s not a GSA building once you hit the East Wing. It’s fascinating when you look at the White House complex. There is an agreement that tells you down to what brick along the sidewalk is managed by GSA versus by Interior versus whoever else and who’s got responsibility for what. East Wing would definitely be either the, what they call room one or would be a National Park Service.

Eric White And when a private donor enters the picture, I imagine that that can add some complications to the paperwork, as you shake in your head now for those of us not watching on video. What does that entail, and did you ever have any experience with a private donor paying for something that the government usually does?

Emily Murphy I never had that experience at GSA. When I was at SBA, SBA had a lot of gift authority and we did occasionally get sponsorships or things along those lines that would come into play. It will allow them to go a lot faster because they’ve got private funds. But my recollection is that when they did the renovation at the White House years ago under Jackie Kennedy, that that was also funded a lot through private donations. And so there is precedent for private donations going in and assisting with paying for these things. And it’ll be interesting to see when the contract details come out, and I’m sure they will, how it’s all been structured and how it’s proceeding. And you look forward to getting a chance to look through those documents someday.

The post When the FAR gets a revolutionary overhaul and the government shuts down, who’s reading the fine print? first appeared on Federal News Network.

© Amelia Brust/Federal News Network

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