July, 06 2020, 12:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
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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Privacy Defenders Decry 'Spy Draft' in Section 702 Renewal Advanced by Senate
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Apr 18, 2024
Civil liberties defenders on Thursday decried the U.S. Senate's advancement of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, which critics say lawmakers are trying to ram through without protection against warrantless surveillance and with a provision that would effectively make every American a spy whether they like it or not.
Senators voted 67-32 in favor of a cloture motion to begin voting on RISAA, a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which expires on Friday. FISA—a highly controversial law that has been abused hundreds of thousands of times—allows warrantless surveillance of non-U.S. citizens but also often sweeps up Americans' communication data in the process.
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This so-called "Make Everyone a Spy" clause would allow the attorney general or director of national intelligence to force electronic communication service providers to "immediately provide... all information, facilities, or assistance" the government deems necessary.
"This bill would basically allow the government to institute a spy draft," Seth Stern, director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, warned Thursday. "It will lead to significant distrust between journalists and sources, not to mention everyone else."
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Critics accuse Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and colleagues including Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) of trying to rush a vote on RISAA while disingenuously claiming Section 702's powers will expire with the law on Friday. That's a misleading claim, as a national security court earlier this month approved the government's request to continue a disputed surveillance program even if Section 702 lapses.
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Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)—who
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On Wednesday, the House also passed the Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act, which would prohibit the government from buying Americans' information from data brokers if it would otherwise need a warrant to obtain the data, which includes location and internet records. The Senate will now take up FANFSA.
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"We came to the Security Council today as an important historic moment, regionally and internationally, so that we could salvage what can be saved. We place you before a historic responsibility to establish the foundations of a just and comprehensive peace in our region."
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Even after dozens of students were arrested, hundreds "rushed to take the place of their classmates" and continued the protest.
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The arrests of dozens of Columbia University and Barnard College students on Thursday "galvanized" other supporters of Palestinian rights on the campuses, as hundreds of students occupied the school's western lawn after New York City police filled at least two buses with protesters who had been detained for setting up an encampment.
"Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest," chanted hundreds of students as they marched around the area where organizers had set up a tent encampment early Wednesday morning.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik informed the campus community on Thursday that she had authorized the police to clear the encampment.
As it has been in the past, the school has become a center of anti-war protests—and crackdowns by school officials and the police—since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza in October.
Pro-Palestinian students and alumni have demanded that Columbia divest from companies that profit from Israel's apartheid policies in the occupied Palestinian territories and cancel its dual degree program with Tel Aviv University.
In response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations, Columbia in November suspended the campus chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine—an action that pushed the New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal to file a lawsuit on behalf of the students last month.
On Thursday, police and Columbia employees took down about 50 tents that had been up for more than a day and disposed of them in trash cans and alleyways—but The New York Times reported later that "demonstrators repitched a couple of tents, and ... recovered the main signage from the encampment as well," while hundreds of students were "still gathered and chanting on the south side of the grass."
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U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whose daughter, Isra Hirsi, was among the Barnard students who were suspended on Thursday for participating in the encampment protest, questioned Shafik about whether antisemitic protests have actually taken place at Columbia, prompting the president to say there have not.
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"Correct," replied Shafik.
On Thursday, Omar posted on social media two images of protesters at Columbia: one from the encampment this week, and one from 1968, when students protested the U.S. war in Vietnam.
New York City Council member Tiffany Cabán was among those who condemned the university's crackdown on the protests on Thursday.
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