Executive Ethics

The Washington Post’s editors imagined what a responsible leader, faithful to his obligations under the Constitution, might have said. We’re pleased to share their musings here.

President Trump’s latest remarks to the New York Times concerning what he calls “the Russia thing” are an abuse of his power and his responsibility to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.”

America’s standing as the world’s leading ambassador for democratic, transparent government is in danger thanks to the ethical shortcomings of the Trump administration, the federal government’s top ethics officer argues in an interview published today.

Today Common Cause, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) supplementing a complaint filed by Common Cause on Monday. The expanded complaint alleges that Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort illegally solicited a contribution from a foreign national, and that Kushner, Manafort and Rob Goldstone illegally assisted Donald Trump Jr. in soliciting an illegal political contribution from a foreign national on behalf of the Trump 2016 presidential campaign.

If these e-mails are not a hoax, they are the smoking gun showing that Donald Trump Jr. illegally solicited a contribution from a foreign national—in the form of opposition research against Hillary Clinton—as our complaints yesterday alleged.

Today, Common Cause filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that Donald Trump Jr., in his role with the Trump campaign, illegally solicited information he was told was damaging to the Hillary Clinton campaign.