Executive Ethics

The failure of congressional leaders to staff an independent investigation is fast becoming the only question in Washington that matters. What will it take for Congress to make the Russia investigation the priority the American people believe it deserves?

Today’s revelations that the Pentagon Inspector General is investigating disgraced former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and that the White House is stonewalling congressional probes of Flynn’s ties to Russia underscore the need for a nonpartisan independent investigation of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

New Common Cause report reviews Trump's first 100 days, points the way to clean up the administration's ethical lapses.

President Trump “has presided over the most corrupt first hundred days in the history of the American presidency,” Common Cause asserts in a report released today.

Today, Common Cause filed a complaint with the office of Government Ethics and the U.S. Department of State calling for an investigation into the latter’s publication of an article promoting Mar-a-Lago, which the article refers to as the ‘Winter White House’ owned and operated by President Trump as a private club. The ethics complaint concerns an article the State Department’s ShareAmerica website published profiling the history of the Trump property and describing the Palm Beach club—which doubled its initiation fee to $200,000 after his election—in glowing terms. The article was subsequently circulated by multiple U.S. embassies, including on the website of the U.S. Embassy in the United Kingdom and on the Facebook page of the U.S. Embassy in Albania. Federal ethics rules prohibit government employees from endorsing “any product, service or enterprise.”

The House Oversight Committee has requested information from President Trump’s lawyer concerning the “implementation and timing of the Trump Organization’s announced plans to donate profits of foreign government payments to the U.S. Treasury.” The U.S. Constitution forbids government officers from receiving emoluments (gifts or money) from foreign governments and officials. The Trump Organization announced the plan in January but has offered no supporting materials to date.