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Citizens for Ethics

9 Dec, 10 tweets, 2 min read

President Trump has claimed that he’s the most transparent president in history. His administration’s secrecy about who visits the White House, abuse of security classifications and recordkeeping failures prove that’s a lie.

Here’s how to fix what he’s broken:

1. Create clear enforcement measures for the Presidential and Federal Records Acts so there can be real consequences for law breaking (like failing to create records that could link families separated at the border).

2. Ban the use of apps that automatically delete messages for government work. Remember Jared Kushner’s WhatsApp messages with Mark Zuckerberg and MBS?

3. Modernize the way Freedom of Information Act requests are processed, so people don’t have to wait years for records.

CREW has learned a lot of important things from the FOIA, but there’s still way too much we are still waiting on. For example:

Mike Pompeo’s “Madison Dinners” cost taxpayers more than $40k
citizensforethics.org/reports-invest…

ICE spent $20 million expanding its private detention center network after Congress told it to stop citizensforethics.org/reports-invest…

Trump lied about his reasons for attempting to host the G7 at his club
citizensforethics.org/reports-invest…

4. The president should issue an executive order requiring the Office of Legal Counsel to proactively disclose its binding interpretations of law.

This would be *huge* for transparency.

5. Congress should require the White House to disclose information about official visits to the White House, Camp David, and other places frequented by the president.

Don’t you wish you knew who visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago? And who had the president’s ear?

No matter who is president, transparency is what allows the American people to keep tabs on their government. It could not be more important to reverse course from the Trump administration’s transparency abuses.

Here’s how:
citizensforethics.org/reports-invest…

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More from @CREWcrew

Citizens for Ethics

@CREWcrew

14 Dec

Our government is facing a legitimacy crisis. People are taking note of widespread, race-based disenfranchisement, the disproportionate power of certain voters in certain states, and the broken process of Supreme Court nominations.

Something’s got to change, and soon.

1. Guarantee every American’s right to vote.

2. Grant statehood to the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, ensuring that their citizens have real representation.

3. Twice in the last twenty years, the presidential candidate who won the support of the most Americans did not win the most electoral votes. States should consider assigning electors based on the national popular vote instead.

Read 6 tweets

Citizens for Ethics

@CREWcrew

11 Dec

At least the executive branch and the legislative branch have *some* binding ethics requirements, even if they need serious reforms. The federal judiciary has none. It’s time to change that.

Here's how:

1. The single most important step to a more accountable judicial system is to create an independent ethics commission to create an ethics regime, publicize potential conflicts, police violations and enforce consequences. It’s wild this doesn’t already exist.

2. Federal judges must be required to disclose potential conflicts of interest.

Judges don’t have great track records on this. Look at Justice Thomas, who failed to disclose that his wife worked for the Heritage Foundation. Or Justice Sotamayor, who didn't disclose major gifts.

Read 6 tweets

Citizens for Ethics

@CREWcrew

10 Dec

Fixing ethical problems in Washington doesn't end with the White House. Congress needs an ethics overhaul. Here's how to do it:

1. Angry that Members of Congress and their spouses are getting rich from curiously timed stock trades? Let’s ban them from trading stocks.

2. If we really want to deal with the problem, let’s also ban Members of Congress and their senior staff from holding individual stocks.

3. Many Members of Congress are outrageously rich, but we don’t know much about their holdings beyond that. We need to require more in depth financial disclosures.

Read 7 tweets

Citizens for Ethics

@CREWcrew

8 Dec

You don’t need us to tell you that the Trump administration has been a disaster for government ethics.

Reforms like these should be a no-brainer:

1. End misuse of government offices for private gain by expanding recusal rules and requiring all high level executive branch officials to divest their financial interests.

(we’re looking at you, Wilbur Ross, Louis DeJoy, Ryan Zinke and Marc Short)

2. Give the Office of Government Ethics more power to actually enforce ethics laws, or create a different centralized office that can do so.

Read 7 tweets

Citizens for Ethics

@CREWcrew

7 Dec

Our elections have become a competition for money almost as much as they are a competition for votes. It’s time to change that. Here’s how: citizensforethics.org/reports-invest…

1. Limit undisclosed political spending by passing the DISCLOSE Act and the Stand By Every Ad Act. Pass the Honest Ads Act to address ads on the internet.

2. Empower ordinary Americans to be heard over big money by funding small-dollar matching programs for federal elections.

3. Crack down on “straw donor” donation schemes.

Read 6 tweets

Citizens for Ethics

@CREWcrew

7 Dec

Every day for nearly four years now, you’ve been reading bad news from the most corrupt administration in recent memory. We wouldn’t blame you for being exhausted, so here’s some good news for your timeline.

CREW got three huge wins for accountability in just one afternoon:

After we filed a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel about the Interior Department apparently creating pro-Trump propaganda, OSC told us today that they opened a case file on the matter.
citizensforethics.org/legal-action/l…

CREW sued the State Department for records about Mike Pompeo’s notorious “Madison Dinners,” taxpayer-funded dinners that appear to be an effort to boost his political ambitions.

Today we published $40k in receipts we obtained through that lawsuit:
citizensforethics.org/reports-invest…

Read 5 tweets

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