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For Immediate Release
July, 06 2020, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Mike Stankiewicz, mstankiewicz@citizen.org
Darcey Rakestraw, darcey@2050strategies.com
Dozens of Lobbyists with Trump Ties Have Raked in at Least $10.5 Billion in Federal Aid During the Pandemic
Several Lobbyists Also Have Contributed to his Campaign; Ethics Complaint Filed for Possible Violations of Executive Order on Lobbying.
WASHINGTON
At least 40 lobbyists who are connected to President Donald Trump through his campaigns, inaugural committee, transition team or administration have lobbied on COVID-19 issues, according to a new Public Citizen report released today.
Trump-connected lobbyists collectively have represented at least 150 clients on matters relating to the pandemic, including at least 14 clients that are working on COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics or tests. Twenty-seven of these clients have received federal COVID-19 aid, totaling $10.5 billion in grants and loans - numbers that are likely a gross undercount due to lagging disclosure by the Trump administration.
Additionally, at least five of the lobbyists identified in the report may have violated a Trump executive order that restricts lobbying activities for those who leave the administration. Public Citizen today sent letters to the inspectors general of those lobbyists' former agencies, as well as to the Office of Government Ethics, requesting an investigation.
"Instead of public health, the Trump administration has prioritized private wealth," says Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen. "Insiders, donors and lobbyists are cashing in on the crisis at the same time Trump's cruelty, casual indifference to the loss of human life and utter incompetence are causing millions to get sick needlessly, and tens of thousands to die preventable deaths."
Trump fundraisers lobbying on COVID-19 issues include the national co-chairman of the Trump Victory Committee and two lobbyists who have combined to "bundle" more than $5 million for Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee for 2020. Beyond fundraising, Trump-connected lobbyists working on COVID-19 issues have contributed more than $1 million to federal candidates and the national party committees from their own pockets so far in the 2020 election cycle.
The lobbyists named in the report include at least 20 people who worked in the Trump administration or provided special services for the administration; 11 alumni of the Trump presidential transition team; eight members of Trump's campaigns; six people who raise money for Trump; and three vice chairs of Trump's scandal-ridden inaugural committee.
"The rush of Trump alums to cash in on the pandemic confirms our suspicions about how business is done in Trump's Washington," said Lisa Gilbert, executive vice president of Public Citizen. "The potential for favoritism is limitless. This report underscores the urgent need for comprehensive disclosure of where the trillions in public funds are going. Congressional oversight has never been more important to our democracy."
The report is available here.
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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Trump Floats 'Charges for Treason' Against Media Outlets Over Iran War Coverage
US Sen. Ed Markey warned that the Trump administration is engaged in a "blatant attempt to muzzle the free press."
Mar 16, 2026
US President Donald Trump late Sunday floated "treason" charges against media outlets that he accused of reporting false information about the Iran war as the human and economic costs of his illegal military assault continued to mount.
In a tirade posted to his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that media outlets he accused of circulating "fake news" should "be brought up on Charges for TREASON for the dissemination of false information." The maximum penalty for treason in the US is death.
Trump specifically called out the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal for reporting over the weekend that "five US Air Force refueling planes were struck and damaged on the ground at Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia." Citing two unnamed US officials, the Journal noted that "the tankers were hit during an Iranian missile strike on the Saudi base," and that the planes were "damaged but not fully destroyed and are being repaired."
The US president called the story "false reporting" without substantively refuting its content. Trump wrote that four of the refueling planes are "in service" and one "will soon be flying the skies"—none of which is inconsistent with the Journal's reporting.
Trump, who regularly uses his social media platform to circulate AI-generated videos and photos, also complained about an AI video purportedly showing the USS Abraham Lincoln on fire. The president claimed the video was "distributed by Corrupt Media Outlets," without offering any examples. AFP published a fact-check of the video last week, deeming it "fabricated footage."
Trump's latest attack on the US media came after his Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, threatened Saturday to pull the broadcasting licenses of media outlets he accused of "running hoaxes and news distortions." Carr did not provide specific examples.
The US president said Sunday that he was "thrilled to see" Carr's threat, railing against "Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic" news organizations.
Trump and other administration officials, including Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth, have openly whined in recent days about what they've deemed negative coverage of the Iran assault, now in its third week with no end in sight.
Aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump attacked a reporter as "a very obnoxious person" after she asked the president why he's sending 5,000 US Marines and sailors to the Middle East.
US Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) warned in a letter to Carr on Sunday that the Trump administration is engaged in a "blatant attempt to muzzle the free press" if outlets don't align their coverage of the Iran war "with Trump's preferred narrative."
"Your Saturday post follows that same logic but extends it to the coverage of an active military conflict, where the chilling effect on journalists and the damage to the public’s right to know are most severe," Markey wrote to Carr.
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Pope Leo to Iran War Architects: 'Cease Fire'
"Violence can never lead to the justice, stability, and peace that the people are waiting for,” the pope said during a prayer.
Mar 15, 2026
Pope Leo XIV called for a ceasefire in the Middle East on Sunday, in his most direct appeal for peace since the US and Israel launched a war on Iran on February 28.
While the pope did not mention either US President Donald Trump or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by name, he directly addressed those driving hostilities.
“On behalf of the Christians of the Middle East and all women and men of good will, I appeal to those responsible for this conflict,” Leo said, according to The Associated Press. “Cease fire so that avenues for dialogue may be reopened. Violence can never lead to the justice, stability, and peace that the people are waiting for.”
The remarks came following his recital of the Angelus Prayer from the Vatican at 12:00 pm local time.
“Some claim to involve the name of God in these deadly decisions, but God cannot be enlisted by darkness."
"The people of the Middle East for two weeks have been suffering the atrocious violence of war," he began.
He continued: “Thousands of innocent people have been killed, and many others have been forced to abandon their homes. I renew my prayerful closeness to all those who have lost their loved ones in the attacks that have struck schools, hospitals, and residential areas."
According to AP, the mentioned school strike likely referred to the US bombing of an elementary school in Minab, Iran on the first day of the war, which killed at least 175 people, the majority of whom were children.
Pope Leo also repeated concerns about the situation in Lebanon, and called for "paths of dialogue that can support the country’s authorities in implementing lasting solutions to the serious crisis underway."
Israeli attacks on that country have forced about 1 million people to abandon their homes and killed more than 800, The Guardian reported.
The pope's remarks came two days after a Israeli strikes killed 12 healthcare workers at the primary healthcare facility in Burj Qalaouiyah, Lebanon, an attack that the country's health ministry said "violated all international humanitarian laws.”
Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement Saturday: "WHO condemns this tragic loss of life and emphasizes that health workers must always be protected. According to international humanitarian law, medical personnel and facilities should never be attacked or militarized."
He continued: "The intensification of conflict in Lebanon and the broader Middle East increases the likelihood of such tragedies. Urgent action is required to de-escalate the crisis and protect the health of people throughout the region."
In Iran, meanwhile, US and Israeli attacks on the city of Isfahan killed at least 15 people Sunday morning, and the total death toll for the country is around 1,400, according to Al Jazeera.
Following his remarks during the Angelus Prayer, Pope Leo also addressed the war while conducting a pastoral visit to a suburb of Rome.
“Currently, many of our brothers and sisters in the world are suffering from violent conflicts, caused by the absurd claim that problems and differences can be resolved through war,” he said, as Agence France-Presse reported.
He also criticized those who use religion to justify violence: “Some claim to involve the name of God in these deadly decisions, but God cannot be enlisted by darkness. It is peace that those who invoke him must seek.”
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Israeli Forces Kill Parents and 2 Children in West Bank, Beat Surviving Children
"Targeting an entire family in this savage manner reveals the true nature of the Israeli occupation and its policies based on killing and extermination, destruction and displacement," the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Mar 15, 2026
The Israeli Defense Forces killed a Palestinian couple and two of their children in the West Bank on Sunday, on one of the deadliest days for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank in weeks.
The soldiers opened fire on a car in the village of Tammun in which 37-year-old Ali Khaled Bani Odeh, his 35-year-old wife Waad, and their four sons Mohammad, Othman, Mustafa, and Khaled were traveling. Odeh, Waad, 5-year-old Mohammad, and 7-year-old Othman were shot in the head and died, leaving behind two injured children.
"We came under direct fire, we didn't know the source. Everyone in the car was martyred, except my brother Mustafa and me," one of the surviving children, 12-year-old Khaled, told Reuters from the hospital.
He said that after the shooting was over, the Israeli soldiers pulled him out of the car and began to beat him, telling him, "We killed dogs."
"These crimes occur within a systematic policy pursued by the occupation authorities using lethal force against Palestinian civilians."
The soldiers also beat his other surviving brother, according to Al Jazeera.
The Israeli military said that it had been operating in Tammun to make arrests on "terrorist" charges and that soldiers had fired on a vehicle when it accelerated toward them, according to Reuters. It said it was reviewing the incident.
Al Jazeera journalist Nida Ibrahim said that the family had been totally shocked by the shooting.
“The extended family says the father and the mother did not know that Israeli forces were there as they were in a Palestinian car,” she said.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the killing on social media as a "terrifying arbitrary execution crime that targeted an entire Palestinian family inside their vehicle."
The Israeli soldiers also prevented Red Crescent workers from reaching the family, the ministry said, leading to the families' "deliberate and cold-blooded execution."
The ministry continued: "The Ministry affirms that targeting an entire family in this savage manner reveals the true nature of the Israeli occupation and its policies based on killing and extermination, destruction and displacement, amid a systematic impunity, and it further affirms that these crimes, concurrent with the escalation of settler crimes and their organized terrorism in the occupied West Bank, are not isolated incidents, but part of a comprehensive and systematic aggression aimed at exterminating the Palestinian people and displacing them, in clear exploitation of the escalation occurring in the region."
In a statement issued on social media, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) also blamed the deaths on the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, which has been deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice.
"This escalation in these crimes comes as a direct result of the expansion of shooting instructions in the Israeli army, the rising violence of settlers amid the prevalence of an impunity policy, and the entrenchment of ethnic cleansing amid unprecedented international silence," PCHR said.
It continued: "While the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights condemns the unjustified murder crimes committed by occupation forces and settlers, it affirms that these crimes occur within a systematic policy pursued by the occupation authorities using lethal force against Palestinian civilians, in flagrant violation of the principles of necessity and distinction that form fundamental pillars of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Moreover, they come as part of a pattern aimed at terrorizing citizens, intimidating them, and entrenching ethnic cleansing policies, and replicating acts of genocide, albeit in a less overt manner."
Also on Sunday, Israeli settlers killed a Palestinian man in Nablus Governorate, making him the sixth man killed by settlers since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran. Movement restrictions imposed due the war have emboldened setters to attack, knowing that ambulances will be delayed in reaching their victims, human rights advocates and healthcare workers told Reuters.
In total, Israeli settlers and soldiers have killed 25 Palestinians in the West Bank since the beginning of the year, PCHR said.
In Gaza, where Israeli strikes at first declined following the beginning of the Iran war, the death toll is rising again. On Sunday, Israeli strikes killed nine police officers in Zawayda and a pregnant woman, her husband, and son in Nuseirat.
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