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Trump Administration/Executive Ethics

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Common Cause, Allies Press Pruitt for Legal Fund Details

The embattled Environmental Protection Agency Administrator is the subject of at least 10 ethics investigations by an assortment of federal agencies.

Business Insider: Trump could be in a world of new legal trouble after New York's attorney general accused his charity of 'willful and knowing' crimes

Paul S. Ryan, the vice president of policy and litigation at the watchdog group Common Cause, told Business Insider that such coordination could be in violation of what is known as the "soft money ban," adding that the Iowa event and the distribution of the funds raised during it "were timed to create goodwill and earned media for the Trump campaign in the week leading up to the Iowa caucuses."

New York Times: Will the Justice Department Investigate the Trump Foundation?

“There are certainly grounds to open an investigation on the merits,” said Paul S. Ryan, vice president for policy and litigation at the campaign finance advocacy group Common Cause. “But the F.E.C. has been dismissing complaints that I think are much stronger slam dunks than this.”

Money & Influence 06.14.2018

Reuters: New York sues Trump, his foundation, over 'self-dealing'

Paul S. Ryan, head of litigation at Common Cause, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington, said the New York filing provides details of actions that could also violate a federal ban on campaigns funneling “soft money” through nonprofits. “This involvement of the Trump campaign in the foundation’s disbursements right before the Iowa caucuses may very well violate the campaign finance law soft money ban,” Ryan said in an interview.

IG Report Must Not Undermine or Distract from Mueller Investigation’s 23 Indictments & 5 Guilty Pleas   

The Inspector General’s report runs more than 500 pages but it clearly states that the investigation “found no evidence that the conclusions by Department prosecutors were affected by bias or other improper considerations; rather, we concluded that they were based on the prosecutors’ assessment of the facts, the law, and past Department practice.” The report will continue to be cherrypicked by President Trump and his defenders in an attempt to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, the FBI, and the Justice Department itself. But we must not lose sight of the fact that the Mueller investigation has already led to 23 indictments and 5 guilty pleas. This is a real investigation into real crimes and it must be allowed to run its course.

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