John,

With the news from Capitol Hill changing by the hour, there’s one constant here at CREW: we’re in the fight to protect democracy for the long haul. From tracking corporate donations to insurrectionist members of Congress—the total is now up to more than $12.5 million—to advancing democracy reform in Congress, to taking legal action to get answers about the January 6 insurrection and Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the election—we’ve been hard at work on all fronts.

Here are a few more things we’ve been up to lately:

Records obtained by CREW show that the Drug Enforcement Agency approved more than 50 requests from state, local and federal law enforcement agencies to conduct covert surveillance during racial justice protests last summer. In Los Angeles, Tampa, Denver, St. Louis and dozens of other cities, federal agents infiltrated crowds undercover, and used aerial and vehicle surveillance to spy on protesters. Read more here.
Advancing Freedom Inc. has joined the long line of dark money groups that spend a majority of their budget to influence elections—in apparent violation of their tax-exempt status. CREW recently filed a complaint against the group, asking the IRS to investigate. The IRS is a key line of defense against dark money groups violating the law and improperly influencing our elections—it’s time for the IRS to step up and investigate Advancing Freedom and other groups that violate the law.
It’s standard practice for the federal government to suspend contractors facing indictment. The Trump Organization, which was indicted on multiple counts this summer, and which has recently paid multi-million dollar settlements involving claims of fraud, is overdue for suspension. Recently, CREW, the Project on Government Oversight and government contracts expert Professor Steven L. Schooner sent a referral calling for the federal government to act. Read more here.

If you’d like to help CREW continue doing work like this, and you’re a federal employee or retiree, I hope you’ll consider supporting us via the Combined Federal Campaign. Our CFC number is 42218, and you can give here.

Also, whether you’re a federal employee or not, you can help CREW just by forwarding this email to friends who might be interested in our work and asking them to subscribe—spreading the word about CREW means a bigger pool of supporters who are ready to fight for democracy. Just share this link to subscribe for updates. >>

Thank you,

Noah Bookbinder
President, CREW

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