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For Immediate Release
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New White House Communications Director Represents the Corporate Interests Candidate Trump Ran Against

Statement of Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump has named Michael Dubke to be White House communications director.

Statement of Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen

Michael Dubke represents precisely the connected corporate interests and insider dealing that candidate Trump ran against. "The Swamp" may as well have been one of his former clients.

Through his past affiliations, Michael Dubke stands at the nexus of the Koch Brothers and Republican operative Karl Rove, and has facilitated and benefited from the worst dark money abuses in recent American history. He co-founded Americans for Job Security, a dark money front organization that has been enmeshed in the Koch network and tied to Dubke's consulting firm, as well as subject to campaign finance and tax code complaints by Public Citizen. (The Federal Election Commission's general counsel later found "reason to believe" that Americans for Job Security had violated election law by not registering as a political committee). Dubke's consulting firm, Crossroads Communications, has run the media operations of Karl Rove's Crossroads outfits.

Some White House staff reportedly are complaining about the hiring of Dubke, who did not work on the Trump campaign.

But there is a sense in which he is a perfect fit for the Trump administration: With his self-enrichment from purportedly nonprofit organizations driving a corporate agenda, he embodies the administration's signature amalgam of personal and political cronyism and insider dealing.

Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.

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