Media

The House Oversight Committee has requested information from President Trump’s lawyer concerning the “implementation and timing of the Trump Organization’s announced plans to donate profits of foreign government payments to the U.S. Treasury.” The U.S. Constitution forbids government officers from receiving emoluments (gifts or money) from foreign governments and officials. The Trump Organization announced the plan in January but has offered no supporting materials to date.

Today, the Federal Communications Commission dealt a body blow to the public interest by votingvoted to entrench monopoly in broadcasting and business broadband, Common Cause said. The FCC majority eliminated price restraints on Business Data Services (BDS), allowing incumbent carriers to charge exorbitant rates on small businesses across the country. In a separate proceeding, the same majority voted to reinstate a legal loophole that broadcasters exploit to monopolize ever more of the airwaves.

Today, local Common Cause activists delivered a petition to Gov. Terry Branstad at the Capitol urging him to veto a new voter suppression bill passed by the legislature. House File 516 requires voters to show specific forms of government-issued identification at the polls and will roll-back early voting opportunities.

Media outlets are reporting that a number of federal agencies are withholding information from Democrats in Congress and in some cases informing them that federal agencies will only provide information requested by committee chairs.

In response to a complaint filed by the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and Common Cause with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging President Trump’s campaign was attempting to violate the contribution limits for his 2020 reelection, the latest campaign finance reports show the Trump campaign has redesignated thousands of entries to count against the contributor’s 2020 election limits and not, as originally reported, for the 2016 election.

Donald Trump is charged with doing the people’s business, but by keeping his visitors logs a secret, the people will have no idea who he is doing business with at the White House. This move is just the latest example of a disturbing Trump Administration pattern of withholding from the public information regarding everything from the president’s personal business dealings and tax returns to his late night White House visitors like House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes. With unprecedented conflicts of interest for a U.S. President, Trump should be working to restore public confidence, and his abysmal public approval ratings, by making his Administration more transparent, not less so.