John,
In the final hours of his presidency, President Trump has once again turned an instrument of mercy into a tool of corruption. His pardons of Steve Bannon and Elliott Broidy are a shockingly corrupt act in a shockingly corrupt presidency—even Nixon didn’t pardon his cronies on the way out. Amazingly, in his final 24 hours in office, Donald Trump found one more way to fail to live up to the ethical standard of Richard Nixon.
President Trump’s abuses of the justice system for his own purposes and his own gain—aided by former Attorney General Bill Barr—have been appalling and unending. His use of the pardon process to reward his cronies and the well-connected have been one more way of undermining our justice system.
Late last night, President Trump also rescinded his ethics order, allowing members of his administration to immediately become lobbyists or represent foreign countries by nullifying their ethics pledges. You don’t do things you’re proud of in the middle of your last night in office--but President Trump, who pledged to “drain the swamp” has now taken a giant step towards filling it, in one last cravenly corrupt act. For more, read CREW’s statement and share on Facebook, Twitter, or by forwarding this email.
As we close the door on the Trump administration, it will take time to uncover all the abuses of power, to hold those responsible accountable, and to begin repairing our democracy. These pardons and the ethics order rescission highlight just how desperately we need comprehensive democracy reform. The good news is that we are now entering a time when real accountability and real reform, if we all work for it, may be attainable. If you want to help us keep holding this administration—and every administration—accountable, consider making a donation now.
In the coming days we will be in touch with more ways that you can pitch in to help restore our democracy and push for a better government. The fight will not be easy, but it could not be more important. We at CREW are thankful that after four years of unending corruption, there is now an opportunity to return power to the people.
Thank you for standing with us,
Noah Bookbinder
Executive Director, CREW
