Abuse of Power

On Thursday, Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn said in a release that documents revealed “that the plan to add the citizenship question was hatched by the Republicans’ chief redistricting mastermind to create an electoral advantage for Republicans and non-Hispanic whites.” She said the documents contradict testimony by administration officials that they sought to add the question to benefit Latino voters.

Previously undisclosed documents obtained by Common Cause in its North Carolina partisan gerrymandering lawsuit were filed today in the federal action challenging the addition a citizenship question to the 2020 Decennial Census. The documents, which were filed by the private plaintiffs in Department of Commerce v. State of New York, reveal for the first time the secret role played by the longtime Republican redistricting expert, the late Dr. Thomas Hofeller, in orchestrating the addition of the citizenship question and the Justice Department’s Voting Rights Act rationale for it. The documents further show that Dr. Hofeller concluded in a 2015 study that the citizenship question would significantly harm the political power of Latino communities and be “advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites.”   

Today, Common Cause urged Special Counsel Robert Mueller to testify publicly before Congress so that the American people can hear in his own voice of the gravity of his findings and of the ongoing threat to the integrity of our elections from hostile foreign powers. The open letter to the Special Counsel emphasizes that very few Americans have had the time to read the dense and complex 448-page report and none have seen the underlying documentation behind the “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.”

Enough is enough. The American people can see through Trump's game-show style governing that makes high school student government look effective and efficient. The president’s latest attempts to bully, intimidate and obstruct justice are a violation of the oath of office he swore on the steps of the Capitol. There are real opportunities right now for the White House to work with Congress to improve our nation's infrastructure, increase election security and lower prescription drug prices, but it will require the president to work with all members of Congress on issues important to the American people. It is long past time for Trump put the country's interests before his own.

Today, Common Cause called for immediate oversight hearings on reports that the Trump Administration is shifting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) staff from its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to the border with Mexico. In letters to the House Committee on Homeland Security and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Common Cause urged Congress to ensure that DHS and all government agencies continue to devote necessary staff and resources to protect our election infrastructure in the wake of well-documented and continuing attacks on our election infrastructure by Russia and other hostile foreign nations.

Congress must hold former White House Counsel Don McGahn in contempt. McGahn’s refusal to testify is in deliberate defiance of a House Judiciary Committee subpoena, and he, and the White House, must be held to account. The Committee must move expeditiously to issue a contempt citation and the full House must follow suit in short order.