December, 13 2020, 11:00pm EDT
Watchdog Calls on President-Elect Biden to Immediately Reverse the Trump Administration's Damage to Public Lands
Accountable.US is urging the Biden administration to start reversing the Trump administration's corrupt decisions to hand over protected public lands to special interests immediately after President-elect Biden is sworn in on January 20.
WASHINGTON
Accountable.US is urging the Biden administration to start reversing the Trump administration's corrupt decisions to hand over protected public lands to special interests immediately after President-elect Biden is sworn in on January 20.
"As long as the reduction of protections for these places is allowed to stand, Trump-allied special interests will benefit at the expense of local communities -- Native American tribes most all," said Chris Saeger, spokesman for Accountable.US. "Donald Trump's administration put the profits of the extractive industry ahead of protecting sacred lands that community members demand to protect. Starting on day one, the Biden administration must put an end to these giveaways and start to fix the damage of the last four years, beginning with restoring protective boundaries to places like Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments."
Accountable.US is encouraging the Biden administration to restore these critical protections for our land and waters:
Restoring protections for two million acres of land in Utah that had been protected under the Antiquities Act by the Obama and Clinton administrations, respectively, by reversing Trump's reduction of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments and blocking big oil and ranchers from developing there by reversing the Trump administration's Approved Management Plans for both monuments.
Protect the Boundary Waters Conservation Area from the mine President Trump authorized a foreign company, which has close ties to his allies, to develop in northern Minnesota.
Accountable.US is a nonpartisan watchdog that exposes corruption in public life and holds government officials and corporate special interests accountable by bringing their influence and misconduct to light. In doing so, we make way for policies that advance the interests of all Americans, not just the rich and powerful.
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A campaign finance watchdog on Wednesday filed a Federal Election Commission complaint accusing former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, affiliated political groups, and an accounting firm of violating U.S. law in a scheme "seemingly designed to obscure the true recipients of a noteworthy portion of Trump's legal bills."
The Washington, D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center (CLC) said that "evidence appears to show an illegal arrangement between several Trump-affiliated committees and a compliance firm named Red Curve Solutions that is designed to obscure the identities of those providing legal services and how much they are being paid."
"Voters have a right to know how the presidential campaigns and other committees supporting presidential candidates spend their money."
CLC alleges that the Trump campaign, Trump's political action committee (PAC) Save America, and three affiliated organizations "violated federal reporting requirements based on a scheme in which the committees reportedly paid over $7.2 million—described as 'reimbursement for legal' costs or expenses"—to Red Curve.
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Red Curve is a domestic limited liability company that offers compliance and FEC reporting services but does not appear to offer any legal services. It is managed by Bradley Crate, who also serves as the treasurer for each of the five Trump-affiliated committees concerned in this complaint, as well as over 200 other federal committees.
According to filings with the FEC, Red Curve appears to have been fronting legal costs for Trump since at least December 2022, with Trump-affiliated committees repaying the company later. This arrangement appears to violate FEC rules that require campaigns to disclose not only the entity being reimbursed (here, Red Curve) but also the underlying vendor. By not disclosing the vendors that actually provided legal services, the Trump-affiliated committees effectively blocked the public from knowing which attorneys and firms are being paid—and how much they are being paid—through this arrangement.
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Trump—who is the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee—faces 91 federal and state felony charges related to his role in the January 6 insurrection and his organization's business practices. He is currently on trial in New York for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 election cycle. The twice-impeached former president has been open about his use of campaign donations to pay his legal costs.
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