Press Release

Today, Common Cause strongly urged the United States Senate to obey the will of the people and vote for the motion to allow future votes on witnesses and evidence in President Trump’s impeachment trial. In a letter to every Senator, Common Cause emphasized that the American people expect and deserve a fair impeachment trial – not a show trial to excuse the abuses of office which led to the impeachment of President Trump.

Partisan operatives in Missouri have introduced a several pieces of legislation designed to roll back key elements of the bipartisan Clean Missouri initiative, which passed with 62% support of Missouri voters in 2018. The new plans put forth by Republican politicians in Missouri are a blatant attempt to create a new rigged way to gerrymander. The proposals will disproportionately silence the voices of youth and communities of color and strip communities of their fair share of resources.

Americans expect and deserve to hear from witnesses in Donald Trump’s impeachment Trial. The latest revelations that former Trump national security advisor John Bolton can provide direct evidence to expose President Trump’s lies about withholding critical military aide to Ukraine hammer home the need for the Senate to call witnesses. These new details add to a growing mountain of evidence that the President withheld the aide for his personal political gain, lied about it, and had his entire administration stonewall in an attempt to cover it up.  

Today, Common Cause filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging reason to believe that Our Revolution, a nonprofit political organization established by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in 2016 and now supporting his 2020 presidential campaign, violated the federal ‘soft money’ ban. Sen. Sanders has been a longtime critic of super PACs and so-called “Dark Money” groups. The complaint documents that Our Revolution has solicited contributions explicitly to elect Sanders president, received contributions far in excess of the applicable $5,000 contribution limit and spent funds in connection with federal elections, including current voter mobilization efforts supporting Sanders in Iowa.

Americans expect and deserve a fair and transparent impeachment trial. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is attempting to deny the country even the pretense of a fair trial. The Senate owes the nation a legitimate trial of President Trump who was impeached by the House of Representatives for abusing the power of his office to deny critical military aid to an U.S. ally in an attempt to coerce them into launching an unwarranted investigation of his political rival Joe Biden. The trial proposal floated by Sen. McConnell would amount to nothing more than a fact-free sham trial perpetrated in the dead of night.

Americans expect and deserve federal agencies that are able to do their jobs free of White House intimidation. Today’s Government Accountability Office (GAO) report is a simple interpretation of the law, stating that the White House broke the law by withholding congressionally mandated military aid for Ukraine. But it took courage to issue that report in the face of a disturbing pattern of intimidation and retribution that the Trump Administration has unleashed against any and all critics.