“There’s going to be scandal involved in this bailout”: Former Chief Inspector General Warns Following Passage of The CARES Act. Posted on April 7, 2020 (May 19, 2020) Challenging Corruption Neil Barofsky, Former head of SIGTARP – the watchdog that oversaw a historic $750 billion dollar bailout during the 2008 recession – recently appeared on Moyers On Democracy to discuss government accountability and the CARES Act. The former Chief Inspector General stressed the importance of accountability for the $2.2 trillion stimulus package Congress recently passedRead More
President Trump Must Step Aside Posted on March 13, 2020 (May 19, 2020) Challenging Corruption In the past several days, it has become increasingly clear that President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus crisis is not merely incompetent, but actively making the problem worse. While the president can be credited for early action restricting travel from China, his behavior since then has been reckless, erratic, and injurious to public health. TheRead More
FSFP Board Chair Ben Clements Discusses The State Of Our Democracy & The DOJ’s Roger Stone Intervention on WGBH Posted on February 13, 2020 (May 19, 2020) Challenging Corruption FSFP Board Chair Ben Clements recently appeared on WGBH to discuss the current state of democracy and the Department of Justice intervention in Roger Stone’s sentencing. Stone, a former aide to Donald Trump, was convicted last year for lying to Congress and witness tampering, among other crimes. This week prosecutors recommended a seven to nineRead More
Statement from Free Speech For People on House Impeachment Vote Posted on December 18, 2019 (May 29, 2020) Impeachment Free Speech For People first called for an impeachment investigation on January 20, 2017, the day that President Trump took office, based on his refusal to separate himself from his businesses in violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clauses. Since then, we and our allies have led a movement demanding that Congress fulfill its constitutional dutyRead More
EPA gifts a domestic emolument to Trump’s golf courses Posted on October 22, 2019 (June 12, 2020) Challenging Corruption Today, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers finalized a rollback of a 2015 clean water protection known as the “waters of the United States rule.” While this has been expected since Trump ordered it early in his presidency, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s a violation of the Constitution’s DomesticRead More
Bill to close presidential pardon loophole sent to New York governor for signature Posted on October 11, 2019 (July 27, 2020) Challenging Corruption UPDATE: On October 16, 2019, New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law. The New York state legislature has sent a bill to Governor Cuomo that would close New York’s presidential pardon loophole. Background New York state’s double jeopardy statute may currently allow certain defendants pardoned by the president for their federal crimesRead More
FSFP to Court: FEC Must Investigate Trump’s Involvement in Hush Money Payments Posted on September 27, 2019 (June 18, 2020) Challenging Corruption Free Speech For People has filed a brief in its lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission for failing to investigate a $150,000 “hush money” payment made in 2016 to Karen McDougal, one of President Trump’s former mistresses, as a potential violation of federal campaign finance law. The investigation is necessary because, even after federal prosecutors have investigatedRead More
EPA rolls back clean water protections, and Trump’s golf courses stand to benefit Posted on September 13, 2019 (June 12, 2020) Challenging Corruption The Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers finalized a rollback of clean water protections. The rollback will mean higher profits for many private golf courses. And in the case of President Trump’s golf courses, that violates the Constitution. Background The details of the regulation are somewhat complicated. The federal Clean Water ActRead More
Government Watchdogs Call on the New York Attorney General to Dissolve Trump’s Company and Revoke Its Corporate Charter Posted on July 18, 2019 (June 12, 2020) Challenging Corruption (NEW YORK, NY) – Free Speech For People (FSFP), a non-partisan legal advocacy organization, delivered today a letter to New York Attorney General Letitia James, calling for an investigation into whether to revoke the corporate charter of the Trump Organization under a New York law that authorizes her to dissolve a corporation for persistently illegal conduct or abuse of its powers.Read More
Congressman Al Green and Ron Fein in The Hill: Trump’s racist abuses demand impeachment Posted on July 17, 2019 (June 18, 2020) Impeachment Rep. Al Green of Texas and Ron Fein have an op-ed in The Hill today entitled “Trump’s racist abuses demand impeachment.” The op-ed argues: The House of Representatives has passed a resolution condemning President Trump’s racist comments directed at four members of Congress, telling them to “go back” to other countries. But the House must do more thanRead More