John -

If you can hardly keep up with the news of the latest Ukraine scandal revelation, you are far from alone. At CREW, we’ve been hard at work tracking and responding to President Trump’s latest abuses of power, as well as continuing to focus on other crucial conflicts of interest and corruption.

Last week, we once again called for Attorney General William Barr to be investigated, this time for his failure to recuse himself from investigations related to the Ukraine scandal. Because he was directly implicated in the whistleblower complaint, his failure to recuse may have violated conflict of interest laws and ethics rules. We sent a complaint to the Inspector General of the Department of Justice asking them to look into this latest instance in which Barr’s actions have undermined the integrity of the DOJ.

We’ve also begun an investigation into Rudy Giuliani’s role in the Ukraine scandal. CREW has filed Freedom of Information Act requests with agencies, including the State and Defense Departments, relating to Rudy Giuliani’s communications with officials about his Ukraine outreach, as well as documents relating to the withholding of military aid from Ukraine. As this scandal unfolds, we’ll continue our legal and investigative work to ensure that President Trump and his administration are held accountable for these serious abuses of power.

Those are just a few examples of our recent work. Here’s more you may have missed:

A few weeks ago, CREW Senior Advisor Walter Shaub testified in front of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure about the GSA’s mismanagement of the Trump International Hotel’s lease of the Old Post Office building in DC. Walt spoke about how the GSA failed to consider either the emoluments clause of the Constitution or a prohibition in the lease itself which prevents an elected official from holding the lease, when determining the legal implications of the lease. You can watch Walt’s full testimony here.

Recently, Lynne Patton, a senior HUD official, become the 13th Trump administration official to be reprimanded for violating the Hatch Act, and the 11th following a CREW complaint. Patton violated the Hatch Act by using her official government Twitter account for partisan political activity and by prominently displaying a Trump campaign hat in her government office. Read more about Patton’s violations here.

CREW recently uncovered that Secretary of Energy Rick Perry created an Artificial Intelligence Office within the Department of Energy while his wife holds stock in three companies with significant investments in AI. This connection between Perry’s personal financial interests and his endorsement of a new government project, amid significant cuts to other DOE projects and Perry's rumored departure, raises troubling ethics questions. Read more on our site.

These are just a few of the highlights of CREW’s recent work, which we couldn’t do without your support. You can also stay up to date on our work by following us on Facebook and Twitter, if you don’t already, or contribute to help us continue our legal and investigative work.

Thank you for your support,

The CREW Team

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