Abuse of Power

Karen Hobert Flynn, the head of the advocacy group Common Cause, said "Congress cannot allow these abuses to stand." "Common Cause called for William Barr's impeachment in December 2019 and we renew that call today," she added. "Barr's attempted Friday night firing of Berman is yet another example of Barr's willingness to damage our nation's system of justice to protect President Trump and the Republican Party."

Last night Attorney General William Barr lied to the American people in an official Department of Justice (DOJ) press release announcing that Geoffrey Berman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, was “stepping down” from his position. Berman responded quickly with a statement explaining that he had just “learned in a press release from the Attorney General tonight that I was ‘stepping down’ as United States Attorney. I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position[.]” 

President Trump’s executive order on police reform is a small but woefully inadequate step toward addressing the huge problem of police brutality which has spurred national outrage in the wake of the ongoing violence against Black communities. The scope of the problem demands comprehensive reforms, not piecemeal gestures from a man who stoked the fires of civil unrest with his inflammatory rhetoric in response to nationwide protests. This is the same man whose administration ordered a violent police assault on peaceful protestors in Lafayette Square to accommodate a photo op for the President.

Today, Common Cause called on Congress to hold an emergency session to pass reform legislation to address law enforcement racism and abuses and to protect the rights of peaceful protesters. The letter comes in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers which inspired nationwide protests that in numerous instances led to police brutality against peaceful protesters exercising their First Amendment rights. Common Cause urges Congress to condemn President Trump’s threats to use the military to violently attack peacefully protesting Americans – including a disgraceful show of police brutality Monday in Lafayette Square in Washington to facilitate a photo opportunity for the President posing with a bible.

The murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police officers is a horrific tragedy that demands justice. It is a tragedy that plays out far too often in our nation and must end.  

Today, the President is expected to sign an Executive Order (EO) that attempts to police speech on social media platforms. The draft Executive Order comes after Twitter fact-checked inaccurate tweets from the President regarding processes for mail-in voting, despite the fact that Twitter enforced its policy to add warning labels to misleading tweets in violation of the platform’s community standards.