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jamie raskin
Dems Say Big Oil Execs Failing to Come Clean on Trump's $1 Billion Quid Pro Quo Offer
"The behavior of Donald Trump and the oil and gas industry has added to evidence of possible misconduct," said three U.S. lawmakers.
Sep 10, 2024
A trio of senior congressional Democrats on Tuesday admonished fossil fuel executives to comply with a request for "information regarding quid pro quo solicitations" from former U.S. President Donald Trump, who earlier this year promised to gut climate regulations if they donated $1 billion to his Republican presidential campaign.
In May, Trump reportedly told Big Oil executives at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida that he would sign executive orders and take other action to boost the fossil fuel industry if they raised nine figures for his campaign. Executives from ExxonMobil, Chevron, Occidental Petroleum, and other corporations reportedly attended the dinner.
A May analysis by the green group Friends of the Earth Action found that the fossil fuel industry would reap an estimated $110 billion windfall from tax breaks alone under Trump's proposed policies—an 11,000% return on Big Oil's billion-dollar investment.
Following the revelation of Trump's quid pro quo offer, House Oversight and Accountability Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Senate Budget Committee Chair Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote to the head of the American Petroleum Institute—the leading Big Oil lobby—and the CEOs of eight companies seeking answers about whether they accepted what Raskin called "Trump's explicit corrupt bargain."
Nearly four months later, the lawmakers are still awaiting satisfactory answers.
"Not only was your response to our inquiries insufficient; tellingly, none of the responses we have received to date refute the accuracy of the reporting, renewing our concern that Donald Trump is actively seeking to sell out American energy policy to the highest bidder," the trio wrote on Tuesday.
"In the weeks since our initial letters, the behavior of Donald Trump and the oil and gas industry has added to evidence of possible misconduct," the lawmakers continued. "Campaign finance records show that following Trump's quid pro quo solicitation at least one company made a significant contribution in support of Trump's presidential run."
"Specifically, on April 29, 2024, Continental Resources Inc. contributed $1 million to Make America Great Again, Inc.—a super PAC dedicated to Trump's reelection," they added. "Continental's CEO, Harold Hamm, who is also an informal adviser to Trump, has reportedly given $1.6 million to aid Trump's reelection so far this year, and he has raised millions more from independent oil producers operating in Texas and Alaska."
According to a Washington Postarticle published last month, Hamm's top priorities are "opening up more federal lands to drilling, easing the Endangered Species Act, and curbing numerous regulations at the Environmental Protection Agency."
During his first White House term, Trump rolled back regulations protecting the climate, environment, and biodiversity, resulting in increased pollution and premature deaths and fueling catastrophic planetary heating.
In addition to sounding the alarm over Trump's climate-wrecking policies, campaigners have expressed concerns about the GOP nominee's selection of Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate. Like Trump, Vance is a climate denier. He also has strong ties to the fossil fuel industry, his top donor.
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Dems Want to Know If Trump DOJ Covered Up Alleged $10 Million Egyptian Bribe
"Surely you would agree that the American people deserve to know whether a former president—and a current candidate for president—took an illegal campaign contribution from a brutal foreign dictator."
Sep 03, 2024
Congressional Democrats on Tuesday launched an investigation in response to recent Washington Postreporting on a closed federal probe into whether Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi gave former U.S. President Donald Trump $10 million to illegally help his 2016 campaign.
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Congressman Robert Garcia (Calif.), a leader on the Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, revealed their investigation in a letter to Trump, the Republican nominee for the November presidential election.
In addition to generating suspicion about a cash bribe from el-Sisi, Raskin and Garcia wrote to Trump, "this detailed news report has also triggered serious speculation that your handpicked political appointees at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), including Attorney General William Barr, subsequently blocked efforts by career prosecutors and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate the political and financial corruption that has been described."
"Surely you would agree that the American people deserve to know whether a former president—and a current candidate for president—took an illegal campaign contribution from a brutal foreign dictator," the pair continued, requesting that Trump turn over information necessary to assure the panel and the public that he never took money from the Egyptian leader or government.
"We are certain you can see how significant troubling questions still haunt our country about the origins of your $10 million campaign contribution."
The letter summarizes the Post's early August reporting, which was based on thousands of pages of government records and interviews with over two dozen people who spoke on the condition of anonymity and shared emails, texts, and other documents.
As the newspaper detailed: "Investigators identified a cash withdrawal in Cairo of $9,998,000—nearly identical to the amount described in the intelligence, as well as to the amount Trump had given his campaign weeks earlier. A key theory investigators pursued, based on intelligence and on international money transfers, was that Trump was willing to provide the fundsto his campaign in October 2016 because he expected to be repaid by Sisi, according to people familiar with the probe."
Michael Sherwin, the then-acting U.S. attorney who closed the case, told the Post that he stands by the decision. The Egyptian government, Trump campaign, Central Intelligence Agency, DOJ, FBI, U.S. attorney's office in Washington, D.C., and key individuals including Barr declined to answer the newspaper's questions, though some sent statements.
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung called the story "textbook Fake News," while Ayman Walash of Egypt's Foreign Press Center stressed that the DOJ probe ended without charges and said that "it is inappropriate to comment or refer to rulings issued by the judiciary system or procedures and reports taken by Justice Departments" in other nations.
Both the Post and the congressmen highlighted Trump's remarks and policies regarding Egypt and its leader, who seized power in 2013. Noting the Republican's meeting with el-Sisi shortly before the 2016 U.S. election, Raskin and Garcia wrote:
While others at the time "emphasized the importance of respect for rule of law and human rights to Egypt's future progress," you called President el-Sisi a "fantastic guy" and praised his tactics for taking "control" of Egypt. As president, you continued to praise President el-Sisi and drastically shifted U.S. policy in ways to benefit the reviled Egyptian leader. While calling President el-Sisi your "favorite dictator," you released $195 million in military aid in 2018 that the United States had previously withheld because of human rights abuses committed by the Egyptian government, and later released an additional $1.2 billion in military assistance.
"We are certain you can see how significant troubling questions still haunt our country about the origins of your $10 million campaign contribution, the source of any repayment, and the credible allegations that it was all funded with cash provided by President el-Sisi through his grim intelligence services," they added. "These questions are especially alarming given that the allegations appearing in The Washington Post are silhouetted against several proven patterns of corrupt practices exhibited by both the Egyptian government and by you, of course, as a convicted felon, fraudster, and corrupt politician."
As an example, the congressmen cited the corruption case of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.). The Post reporting was published just weeks after a federal jury found the senator guilty of accepting bribes from three businessmen and acting as a foreign agent for the Egyptian government. He finally resigned in mid-August.
Trump, in May, was convicted of 34 felony charges in New York over the falsification of business records related to hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 election. He also faces cases at the federal level and in Georgia for his efforts to overturn his 2020 loss. Although a Trump-appointed judge recently dismissed another federal case related to his handling of classified materials, it could soon be revived by an appellate court.
Raskin is a longtime critic of Trump. He led the historic second impeachment of the ex-president and earlier this year launched a probe into the Republican's quid pro quo offer to Big Oil executives: $1 billion in campaign cash for killing climate policies. Some have even floated Raskin for U.S. attorney general if Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris beats Trump in November.
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Climate Leaders Like This Idea: Jamie Raskin for Attorney General
"A growing number of cities and states are investigating Big Oil for misleading the public about climate change," said the Sunrise Movement, emphasizing the need for a DOJ leader "who's ready to do the same."
Aug 30, 2024
Just over two months away from the U.S. presidential election, one progressive organizer on Friday suggested Congressman Jamie Raskin for attorney general if Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris wins—and some climate leaders enthusiastically welcomed the proposal.
"I know, I know, it's bad luck to talk about personnel decisions before an election," Aaron Regunberg wrote for The New Republic, acknowledging the tight contest between Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump. "And yet, in the wake of last week's Democratic National Convention, discussions about appointments in a potential Harris-Walz administration are already picking up steam, with one position in particular getting attention: attorney general."
"DOJ will be one of the most powerful tools we have to take on Big Oil in a Harris administration, so it's not too early to start thinking about who we'd want to lead the department."
Regunberg cited recent Politicoreporting that the Democratic Party's "political-legal establishment is already buzzing about who might replace" President Joe Biden's attorney general, Merrick Garland. He described Garland's leadership of the U.S. Department of Justice as "disastrous," arguing that "he has acted more like a judge than an advocate and prosecutor," and "consistently prioritized his own personal desire to look apolitical over his duty to, as the DOJ seal requires, 'prosecute on behalf of justice.'"
"The most obvious example is the DOJ's catastrophic handling of Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election," he declared.
By contrast, Raskin (D-Md.) is "a brilliant legal scholar" who managed Trump's historic second impeachment, after the Republican's efforts to reverse his loss culminated in him inciting his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, Regunberg noted. He was also "a prominent leader" on the select committee that investigated the attack.
Raskin is now the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. Regunberg argued that although he wasn't mentioned in Politico's reporting—which had some "promising names" alongside options that "fail to inspire much confidence"—the former law professor "would be an inspired and inspiring choice to lead the DOJ."
As Regunberg—an advocate of holding fossil fuel giants criminally responsible for extreme weather-related deaths—wrote:
Who better to redeem Garland's failure to hold Trump accountable for January 6 than the lead impeachment manager who prosecuted Trump's high crimes and misdemeanors? Who better to ensure the DOJ stops bowing to fossil fuel industry pressure than the head of the House Oversight Committee's push to hold Big Oil accountable? And who better to tackle the challenge of out-of-control extremist judges and Supreme Court justices than Congress' leading constitutional expert?
Of course, Raskin doesn't cut a moderate profile like Garland does, and all appointment decisions will be shaped by whether Democrats retain control of the Senate—though it's worth noting that he has a record of collaborating effectively with Republicans, and he managed to win the votes of seven Republican senators during Trump's second impeachment.
While, as Regunberg noted, "it's also not clear that Raskin would even want the job," climate advocates still embraced the idea.
"DOJ will be one of the most powerful tools we have to take on Big Oil in a Harris administration, so it's not too early to start thinking about who we'd want to lead the department," said Fossil Free Media director Jamie Henn, a co-founder of the international climate group 350.org.
It's quite clear where Raskin stands on the oil and gas industry's decadeslong efforts to delay action on the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency. With Senate Budget Committee Chair Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Raskin led a three-year investigation into the sector's "denial, disinformation, and doublespeak," resulting in their joint call for Garland to launch a criminal probe of oil and gas giants.
Sharing Regunberg's piece on social media Friday, the youth-led Sunrise Movement highlighted that "a growing number of cities and states are investigating Big Oil for misleading the public about climate change."
"Harris has campaigned on her own record of doing so," the group continued, referencing her time as California's chief lawyer. "We need an attorney general—like Jamie Raskin—who's ready to do the same."
Sunrise hasn't endorsed Harris, but it's part of the Green New Deal Network, which has, like various other green groups. The movement announced Tuesday that it would work to reach 1.5 million young voters in key swing states to defeat Trump.
Trump, notably, told Big Oil executives in April that he would gut the Biden administration's climate regulations if elected, as long as they put $1 billion toward his campaign—provoking probes from Raskin as well as Whitehouse and Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
Since then, fossil fuel money has poured in for Trump—and as climate advocates have rallied around Harris, her campaign has warned that "oil barons are salivating" over the Republican's potential return to the White House next January.
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