Trump Administration/Executive Ethics

This month, through litigation challenging North Carolina’s blatant partisan gerrymander, Common Cause obtained critical documents revealing that Republican redistricting guru Thomas Hofeller encouraged party and Census Bureau officials to add the citizenship question because it would significantly harm the political power of Latino communities and be “advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites.”

The advocacy group Common Cause said in court documents submitted in Raleigh on Thursday that the Hofeller files include new evidence showing how North Carolina Republicans misled a federal court to prolong the life of their map of state legislative districts, which had been ruled unconstitutional.The Republicans told the federal court hearing the map case that they would not be able to draw new legislative districts and hold public hearings on them in time for a proposed special election in late 2017 or early 2018. In fact, Common Cause said, Mr. Hofeller’s files show that almost all the work was already done: proposed new boundaries had been drawn for more than 97 percent of the state’s proposed Senate districts and 90 percent of House districts.

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.

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.

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.