Media Center

As President Trump prepares to deliver his first State of the Union later this week, Common Cause and Democracy 21 are releasing a new report, “The Art of the Lie,” which pulls together a dizzying series of events and provides an overview of this unprecedented presidency. The report bundles together the crises, conflicts of interest, and new lows of the last year in 20 distinct issue areas to capture Trump’s failed first year record on matters of government integrity and accountability.

Today, Common Cause called on Congress to uphold its oversight responsibilities and investigate what appears to be a hush money payment to an adult film actress arranged by President Trump’s personal attorney just prior to the 2016 election. The call follows complaints filed yesterday with the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission.

Americans expect and deserve an independent Department of Justice to enforce our nation’s laws free from political interference from the White House. Reported White House interference, including by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, offends the rule of law and must stop immediately. This interference is not appropriate at any time but certainly not when the Administration itself is under investigation.

Today, Common Cause urged the three congressional committees that interviewed Fusion GPS employees to release transcripts of the testimony by the opposition research firm. The letters to the Senate Judiciary and the House and Senate Intelligence Committees come in the wake of a New York Times opinion page piece by Fusion GPS founders Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch outlining a smear campaign against them by President Trump’s defenders, including misleading excerpts from their congressional interview transcripts.

The guilty plea of Michael Flynn to lesser charges is an encouraging sign that the investigation is continuing apace. The fact that he is not currently being charged with the rest of the laundry list of apparent violations that have come to light is a clear sign that he is cooperating with the Special Counsel’s investigation.

Today, Common Cause will release a new report - “Putin, Trump and Democracy’s Slippery Slope Toward Oligarchy”- that examines Russia’s attacks on the 2016 presidential election, the continuing threats to our democracy and solutions to address these threats. It also examines how the campaign and Administration of Donald Trump have harnessed our system’s weaknesses to their political and personal benefit.