John,

Summer’s almost over, and here at CREW, we’ve continued to work full speed ahead. We’ve been busy holding GM accountable for their $72,000 in donations to help re-elect the Sedition Caucus, after our success last month getting Toyota to reverse course and stop donating to the members of Congress who voted to reject the election results. It’s time for GM to join Toyota and pledge to stop giving unless or until those members renounce their anti-democratic votes and recommit to our democracy.

But that’s not all we’ve been up to. Here are just a few of our recent investigations and legal actions:

• We filed a criminal complaint requesting an investigation into former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark for his reported participation in President Trump's and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Clark appears to have pressured DOJ officials to take steps designed to change the results of the election in order to help Trump win an election he had in fact lost, which may have violated several laws, including the criminal provisions of the Hatch Act. Like Trump and Meadows, Clark should be investigated and held accountable for his efforts to undermine our democracy.
• Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota has deep connections with First Western Bank, which was founded by his father—and those connections may violate Senate rules about conflicts of interest. Hoeven sits on First Western’s board, which appears to violate the Senate’s prohibition on serving on corporate boards, and owns a substantial interest in the bank. Hoeven’s committee assignments include the Agriculture Committee, where he has advocated for at least one federal program that affects First Western, which provides agricultural banking services. For more, read our full investigation.
• Former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s behavior since leaving office has raised a lot of alarms. Weeks after leaving the Trump administration, he announced the launch of a new investment fund that would seek funding from sovereign wealth funds and other investors in the Middle East. That timing raises serious questions about conflicts of interest, and highlights the current gaps in our conflict of interest laws. In addition, Mnuchin made several visits to the Middle East in his final months in the administration, including one just days before President Biden’s inauguration. We recently obtained documents exposing the cost to taxpayers for Mnuchin’s final trip: $310,000, all for a trip that appears to have served no discernible purpose other than strengthening Mnuchin’s ties to the region.

There’s a lot of work to be done to make our government more accountable and transparent and make our democracy as fair and equitable as possible. At CREW, we’re not stopping the fight anytime soon.

Thank you,

Noah Bookbinder
President, CREW

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