John,

This year has been a blur. We’ve been working remotely for nine months now, doing our best to juggle family and community responsibilities with the responsibility we have to each other to fight for a better government. If I said it was easy, I would be lying.

CREW’s victories have been a real source of hope for me, especially when the year has been challenging. I hope that we can be a source of hope for you as well, so we gathered some highlights for you.

As hard as it may be to believe, 2020 started with Trump’s impeachment trial in January. CREW dug into Library of Congress records and found that Trump’s impeachment trial was the first completed trial in US history in which the Senate called no witnesses. The data exposed the cowardice of congressional Republicans for refusing to even hear from people like Lev Parnas, John Bolton or others who may have had relevant facts.

In March, the pandemic changed everything...and nothing about corruption. We saw members of Congress dumping stocks after getting classified briefings about the real threat of the pandemic, so we filed a complaint and renewed the call for members to be banned from trading stocks. We saw a massive stimulus bill with potential to help people weather the storm, but also potentially huge tax benefits to the Trump and Kushner families, and members of Congress voting against transparency for the stimulus funds, and then taking money for their businesses. We saw Jared Kushner run a “shadow task force” on the coronavirus, and filed a complaint about the group’s failure to create records and use of private emails.

In April, we discovered that the Trump family took more trips last fiscal year that required Secret Service protection than the Obama family took in seven years. That’s important because so many of their trips involve staying at Trump properties, forcing taxpayers to spend money at the family business.

Trump fired Inspectors General left and right throughout the spring when they started asking tough questions. CREW found 25 actions that Trump took to undermine IGs and block accountability, including firing the IG who was investigating Elaine Chao’s ethics issues, and replacing him with someone who Mitch McConnell, her husband, had already vetted.

In July, we got President Trump’s financial disclosure, as well as Jared Kushner’s and Ivanka Trump’s. The forms showed that even though the family is passing up their taxpayer-funded salaries, they’re making millions more than that by (corruptly) keeping hold of their businesses interests. Ivanka Trump’s interest in Trump’s DC hotel alone made $4 million.

As the election got closer, members of the Trump administration completely abandoned the law and used any tool at their disposal to push for Trump’s re-election. During the RNC, Acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf performed a naturalization ceremony on air. The Interior Department created propaganda videos promoting Trump, and in the final month before the election, 16 members of the administration violated the Hatch Act to boost Trump. We filed complaints about it all—and the Office of Special Counsel has already found major violations by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Trump advisor Peter Navarro.

After the election, Trump allies mounted an anti-democratic effort to block the transition of power. The GSA administrator for weeks blocked the release of transition funds and Senator Lindsey Graham suggested tampering with votes in swing states. We’re still investigating those dangerous acts.

And now, CREW is looking forward. We just released a long report on all of our proposals to make our government more ethical and democratic, and we’re certainly going to continue pushing for accountability for all that happened this year, and the years before.

Throughout this long year, your support has been a key part of CREW’s success. Help CREW fight for a better government in the new year by making a matched contribution now, if you’re able.

Thank you for your support, and happy new year!

Donald Sherman
Deputy Director, CREW

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