News Clips

“If you are just looking at Ukraine, there are significant crimes and wrongdoing that are left on the table,” said Aaron Scherb, director of legislative affairs at Common Cause, an advocacy group that works closely with staff of House committees.

“A whistleblower by nature is caught up in controversy. The inspector general makes sure he’s protected,” Beth Rotman, director of money in politics & ethics at Common Cause, said. Rotman and others cite instances where IGs have uncovered widespread abuse.“The stunning alleged misconduct of the president urging election interference by a foreign power was almost covered up until the IG stepped in,” said Rotman. “Who knows what other threats to our democracy are out there right now?”

Earlier this week the White House released a rough transcript of President Donald Trump’s July 25 phone conversation with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. Understandably, there’s been much scrutiny of the transcript. Is the transcript complete? What exactly did Trump ask Zelensky for? Was there a “quid pro quo” exchange? To be clear, the transcript is incriminating on its face. But this narrow and granular analysis on one conversation risks missing the big picture. The most important takeaway from the call transcript and the now-public whistleblower complaint is that President Trump seemingly orchestrated a months-long conspiracy to obtain Ukrainian government assistance in his 2020 reelection campaign—in violation of federal campaign finance laws and, perhaps, other statutes. The Department of Justice (DOJ) decision not to investigate these violations has no basis in law. And it turns out Attorney General William Barr had no business being involved in the matter, as he is implicated both in the whistleblower complaint and by the transcript of President Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president.

The nonprofit government watchdog group Common Cause also on Monday filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission and the Department of Justice on the matter. The organization accused Trump and Giuliani of illegally soliciting a political contribution from Zelensky and Ukranian officials by allegedly urging them to investigate Biden.

Americans deserve to know the full truth about the Trump administration’s efforts to obstruct the Mueller investigation into Russia’s campaign to help elect Donald Trump to the presidency. They deserve to know the full truth about the impact of the president’s denial of the past and ongoing Russian threat to the integrity of our elections. And they deserve to know whether the president and members of his inner circle committed felony campaign finance violations.It has become alarmingly apparent though, that without a significant course change, the American people will not be given the full truth. It is time for a congressional impeachment investigation because Americans deserve the truth.

After Hofeller’s death in August, his estranged daughter discovered hard drives in her father’s home and turned them over to Common Cause. “The Supreme Court saw through the explanations by the Commerce Department as pure pretext. The last-minute effort to add the question was clearly a cover-up to mask their true motives — to rig redistricting for partisan and racial gain,” Kathay Feng, Common Cause’s director of redistricting and representation, said in a statement after the opinion was released.