While coronavirus is dominating the headlines, another illness is crippling the future of congressional oversight.

On Friday, a panel of judges in DC fundamentally changed our system of checks and balances – for the worse. The DC Circuit held that Congress cannot enforce its subpoena of former White House Counsel Don McGahn for testimony. The impact is to effectively ratify the Trump administration’s stonewall of congressional oversight. Why would you obey a subpoena that can’t be enforced?

This is a watershed moment and it couldn’t come at a worse time. Since impeachment, the president has been retaliating against perceived enemies and acting with impunity on a number of issues ([link removed]) .

While the dust is still settling on the decision, one thing is clear: American Oversight’s work has never been more critical. We can still get courts to enforce our Freedom of Information Act requests, meaning our lawsuits may be the only way the truth about the Trump administration will see the light of day. You can see the results yourself below.

At this moment, we need your help to carry on this work ([link removed]) . The court literally just took away Congress’s subpoena power. If you care about accountability, it’s time to make sure the Trump administration knows we are all watching and that its emails, texts, and documents will come out for the public to see.

Last Friday, the Department of Defense released 238 additional pages in response to our Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking records of the withholding of military aid to pressure Ukraine to announce an investigation into presidential candidate Joe Biden. One of those pages contained an email from a senior DOD official about the frozen aid funds stating clearly: “Final decision rests with POTUS.” This email was never given to Congress during the impeachment process, and would not have become public now except for our FOIA lawsuit.

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Help Us To Uncover More Hidden Communications ([link removed])
This month marks our three-year anniversary. Look out for updates over the next few weeks as we look back on three years of investigations and what questions are left unanswered in 2020. Consider a $30 gift today ([link removed]) supporting our three-year anniversary. To address corruption at the top, we need to galvanize support for accountability from the bottom-up.

We cannot afford to be distracted now. The future of Congressional oversight is in serious danger — and, thanks to you, we are able to keep up the pressure and hold our government accountable.

Sincerely,
Austin

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