President Donald Trump's actions have led to an atmosphere in which members of his administration may feel allowed to skirt ethics rules, according to Norman Eisen, a former ethics lawyer for President Barack Obama.

"President Trump has created the environment for these kinds of serial ethics problems through his own contempt for ethics and law," Eisen wrote Friday in USA Today.

"He has kept his highly conflicted personal business interests, and used the Oval Office to promote them," Eisen wrote, noting that Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin had requested to use a government jet for his honeymoon.

"We cannot blame Mnuchin alone for all of this," Eisen wrote.

"No wonder Mnuchin may feel entitled to use public office for private gain. Improper use of government jets is small beer compared to the emoluments the president is collecting," Eisen wrote.

Eisen is now the chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group that sued the Treasury Department in August for records about a Kentucky trip made by Mnuchin and his wife, according to The Hill.

"American officials do not fly government jets — especially not for personal travel like a honeymoon," Eisen wrote.

Trump needs to set a better example, Eisen wrote in USA Today.

"We should insist that Trump return to the 40-year bipartisan tradition of presidents divesting from their business interests and instilling a culture of responsibility and ethics in their administrations. Reining in his Treasury secretary would be a start, and Trump setting an example himself would be better still," Eisen wrote.