Securing Our Elections & Democracy

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Manafort Sentencing Underscores the Need for Transparent Results of Mueller Probe

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During former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s sentencing hearing in federal court on Wednesday, his lawyers made a peculiar point: had it not been for Special Counsel Robert Mueller III’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and the possibility of the Trump campaign’s cooperation or President Trump’s obstruction of justice, Manafort’s many crimes—his financial crimes, as well as his unregistered lobbying , his conspiracy to obstruct justice, and his conspiracy against the United States exemplified by his sharing of polling data during the campaign with Russian associate Konstantin Kilminik—would likely have never been discovered.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson in the Washington, D.C. District Court did not find the argument convincing in the way Manafort’s attorneys had intended—to argue for lessened sentencing. But the lawyers were absolutely correct that the public would likely know little to nothing about the crimes of Manafort and other associates of the Trump 2016 campaign were it not for the Mueller probe. Unintentionally, these lawyers effectively made the case that the special counsel’s investigation has been invaluable in helping the American public understand what happened in the attack on our elections, and that therefore we have a right to know the full extent of Mueller’s findings.

At present, the Mueller investigation has led to indictments and/or plea deals from 37 known defendants—including Manafort, as well as Trump’s former personal lawyer Michel Cohen, his former campaign aides George Papadopoulos and Rick Gates, his former national security advisor Michael Flynn, and his longtime adviser Roger Stone. This has resulted in at least 199 criminal charges and five prison sentences already. The amount of criminal activity that the Mueller probe has uncovered and brought into public awareness is staggering.

It is clear that the special counsel’s office has been extremely effective in rooting out evidence of attacks made against the United States electoral system in the 2016 election as well as a number of other crimes. It is also clear based on what the public already knows about Mueller’s findings that the assault on our electoral system was massive, and we, the taxpayers who have funded the investigation, deserve to know the full scope of its findings. This, of course, may include evidence of whether or not our president knew about or took part in that assault, or acted to obstruct justice in covering it up—information which is absolutely critical for ensuring that our citizens feel they can trust our government.

Despite this, the president’s recently Senate-approved Attorney General, Bill Barr, has declined to commit to release the special counsel’s final conclusions in full to Congress and the public. Barr’s shakiness on this matter is not only morally indefensible—it is also deeply unpopular.

A recent poll shows that 81 percent of the public, including strong majorities of both Democrats and Republicans, support the public release of Mueller’s report. Thankfully, it appears that our members of Congress are listening to this public demand—today, a resolution to demand transparency on any final report made by the special counsel passed through the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 420-0. The implications are clear: the public deserves to know everything that the Mueller probe has turned up.

Now it falls to the Senate to respond to the immense demand of the American people. While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has obstructed previous efforts to protect the Mueller investigation, it is essential that he allow a vote on public transparency of Mueller’s findings. The Senate must vote on and pass the bipartisan Special Counsel Transparency Act introduced by Senators Blumenthal and Grassley.

Americans deserve to understand the details of Mueller’s findings without presidential spin. We deserve to know about the full scale of the assault on our electoral system, including details of President Trump’s possible criminal activity. We need to feel assured that in the United States, no one is above the law.

 

Photo Credit: Flickr user DonkeyHotey
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H.R.1. Marks a New Era in Congress

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Newly in the majority, U.S. House Democrats have made their stance abundantly clear — fighting corruption and protecting democracy is priority number one. Their inaugural bill is far-reaching, tackling reforms aimed at our elections, the campaign finance system, as well as ethics and lobbying all in the same piece of legislation. H.R. 1, dubbed the “For the People Act,” is the most sweeping and comprehensive anti-corruption bill of the last 50 years. It is a legislative antidote to many of the problems associated with the disastrous U.S. Supreme Court Citizens United decision and increased attempts at voter suppression

Passing this bill in the House is an important and necessary first step to set the stage for its implementation in the future and for building the public demand for anti-corruption legislation as a whole. It is truly remarkable to see so many transformative policies in one bill, and to see the overwhelming support for that bill inside and outside of DC.

The bill would:

  • Restructure campaign finance by creating small-donor funding for our elections, instituting a public financing system where federal funds will match small donations at a rate of 6 to 1, and ending secret political contributions—“dark money”– by forcing disclosure of all major election-related funders such as 501(c)(4) organizations. It would also require tech companies to disclose large campaign advertisement purchases and block ad buys by foreign entities.
  • Expand and protect voting rights by enacting automatic voter registration, making Election Day a federal holiday, and ending certain felons’ voting disenfranchisement upon release. Provisions of H.R.1 would also bring an end to congressional district gerrymandering by instituting nonpartisan state-level redistricting commissions for House elections.
  • Restore ethics and transparency in government by requiring presidential candidates to release 10 years of tax returns, prohibiting House members from serving on corporate boards, creating a code of ethics for the U.S. Supreme Court, and expanding foreign and domestic lobbyist registration and reporting laws.

Strengthening our democracy and fighting corruption have long been priorities of Public Citizen and for that reason we are proud to endorse the “For the People Act.” But we need YOUR help to pass this bill!  H.R. 1 currently has the endorsement of 225 House members and the number is growing every day In order to win these democracy reforms in the long run, we need to make sure your U.S. Representative is on the list. Please call your member of Congress and ask her or him to support H.R. 1 now!

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“Young, Wild And Free”?

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“Young,Wild and Free” is a song about young people “just having fun,” but being free means much more than that to today’s youth. It is also about being free to have a voice in our democracy. But, I ask this:  if we young people don’t go out to vote during the midterm elections today, are we really free?

Freedom has never really been something to take for granted—at least not for my ancestors, who weren’t guaranteed the ability to access their right to vote until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (and still face complications to this day). I personally think it would be a slap in the face to those African Americans before me, who fought day in and day out for everyone to have a say in electing those who call the shots in our country, if I didn’t exercise my right to vote and cast a ballot in every single election.

One of the most important levers of power young people can access in our democracy is the freedom to vote and choose our elected officials. Voters across America will decide who will control the House, Senate and numerous statehouses. In fact, the data from early voting in various states show that the youth vote has surged for this election. I myself, as a young adult, Howard University student, and activist in the LGBTQ Community, understand what is at stake if I don’t utilize my right to vote, but I want to make sure that all young people feel the same way—that true freedom only comes with exercising the right to vote.

Yes, it may take time and energy to go to a polling station and cast a vote. Yes, it is easier to just post a revitalizing tweet or Instagram post to show your political opinions, but why stop there? We can spend our time merely talking about the threats our communities face on social media, or we can go to the polls where our voices cannot be silenced. Only through elections can we actually change laws and the people signing off on them. We can and have used social media to push important matters to the forefront of public debate but we also have to put our phones down for just a few minutes and physically cast a vote that will be heard by our entire nation, rather than a social media post seen by just our followers. With the evolution of technology, we young people cannot blame anyone but ourselves if we are not informed of what is going on in the political world. We should all have a vast understanding of who, and what we are voting for because all of that information is literally at our fingertips.

Tuesday’s midterm elections will shape the future of U.S. politics over the next two years, and have reverberations that last far longer. In total, 35 of the 100 seats in the U.S. Senate and all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives will be selected in these elections.

The results of these elections will have a profound influence on the ability for this administration to continue its corrupt and anti-democratic practices unchecked. At both the state and the federal level, voters have an opportunity to stand up for accountability, ethics, and democracy. We also have a chance to stand up for the vulnerable communities we care about. If you value any of these things, your choice is clear: it’s time to put down the smartphone and head to the ballot box to exercise your right to vote.

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Donald Trump, Jr. Email Raises Host of Potential Criminal Violations

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The revelation that Donald Trump, Jr. jumped on an offer to meet with a person described as a “Russian government attorney” bringing the Trump campaign gifts of documents that would injure the image of Hillary Clinton and help sway the election for Trump not only has ethical ramifications, it also raises a host of potential criminal violations.

On the ethical front, the stories given by Don Jr. as well as former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and Trump adviser Jared Kushner keep changing. Neither Manafort nor Kushner declared that they had ever met with the Russian attorney on their mandatory disclosure forms.. As questions were raised, they later amended their disclosure forms to acknowledge such a meeting, as required by law. Donald Jr. was not required to file such a disclosure report, but he unequivocally denied any such meeting before it became public record. Earlier he told the New York Times: “‘Did I meet with people that were Russian? I’m sure, I’m sure I did,’ he said. ‘But none that were set up. None that I can think of at the moment. And certainly none that I was representing the campaign in any way, shape or form.'”

This week, Don Jr.’s own emails betrayed his earlier denials, as well as the non-disclosures of Manafort and Kushner.

On the legal front, federal campaign finance laws prohibit Americans from soliciting or accepting “anything of value” from foreign interests to be used to influence American elections. “Anything of value” has been broadly defined to include such things as polls and information that affect elections. This is precisely the type of information apparently promised by Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian attorney, for which Don Jr., reportedly agreed to a meeting, joined by Manafort and Kushner.

As Norm Eisen and Richard Painter, former ethics lawyers for Obama and Bush respectively, wrote for the New York Times, the meeting also raises questions of conspiracy with respect to espionage, “depending on how any illicit information was obtained and the level of their awareness of any spying.”

This whole sordid affair, once denied by the key players as ever having happened, now has the same players back-pedaling on their earlier misstatements – and all three have now hired personal attorneys.

Craig Holman, Ph.D. is currently Government Affairs Lobbyist for Public Citizen, focusing on campaign finance and governmental ethics.

Photo courtesy of Max Goldberg.

Latest SCOTUS decision delivers another disappointment (with a silver lining)

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"Craig Holman"In yet another disappointing decision by a slim majority of the U.S. Supreme Court, the justices have invalidated the “trigger provision” of Arizona’s campaign finance law. The trigger provision provides qualified candidates with additional public funds to match excessive spending by wealthy opponents.

While Public Citizen is disappointed with the ruling in Arizona’s Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett, we are heartened by the fact that the court did not attack the concept of public financing of elections. Those who brought the case against Arizona’s public financing program had hoped the Supreme Court would invalidate public financing itself, but the justices refused.

That means public financing programs – without a trigger threshold – remain firmly intact. The Fair Elections Now Act, legislation that would enhance small contributions with a robust public financing matching program in federal elections, is now the model for reducing the potentially corrupting influence of big money in politics. We heartily endorse this model and again express our appreciation to its key sponsors, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.).

Craig Holman is Public Citizens government reform lobbyist

Take action on Fair Elections Now Act!

 

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