Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

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Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (English for: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) (CREW) is an American organization based in Washington, DC , whose declared aim to combat corruption in parliament and government circles of the United States is . CREW describes itself as "progressive" and works with other, more left-wing spectrum non-profit organizations.

CREW was founded in 2001 by Norman L. Eisen and Managing Director Melanie Sloan , a former advisor to two Democratic MPs ( John Conyers and Senator Charles Schumer ).

CREW is often referred to as the Democratic counterpart of Judicial Watch , a Republican organization that was instrumental in the impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton . According to the conservative Washington Times , there are close financial and personal ties between CREW and officials of the Democrats. Eisen stepped down from the board in February 2019.

activities

The most famous project of CREW is the "List of the most corrupt politicians in Washington":

President
House of Representatives
Four other members of the House of Representatives received “dishonorable mentions” in 2013:
senate

Naturally, this classification is highly controversial. The fact that in the past there were significantly fewer Democratic than Republican politicians on this list has been viewed by conservative critics as a maneuver of deception.

Trump administration

The CREW has aggressively targeted the Donald Trump administration and filed its first lawsuit against Trump three days after his inauguration as US President. Since then, according to New York magazine , daily action has been taken against the government and its allies in Congress, lawsuits and investigations have been filed, and complaints have been filed with authorities such as the Office of Government Ethics.

In January 2018, CREW published a 36-page report on Trump's presidency, calling it the "most unethical presidency" in US history. In February 2018, Environment & Energy Publishing wrote that it had more than 180 legal complaint procedures against Trump and his administration.

The cost of the trumps

The Trumps traveled more in one year than the Obamas in seven years. The taxpayer pays the bill, and some of the money is reaped by Trump's own companies. The Obamas traveled an average of 133.3 times a year. The Trumps travel in 1625 during the same period. The CREW investigation was based on the official figures from the US Treasury.

Donald Trump claims the Secret Service

The Director of the Secret Service , Randolph D. Alles warned of the extreme increase in the use of the service by the Trump family in 2017. He feared that his agency was headed for a bottleneck in terms of personnel and finances. In 2017, spending on protecting the President, Vice President and their families rose by $ 60 million, the Washington Post reported. This corresponds to almost a doubling of the agency's expenditures, whose total budget in 2015 was still at 80 million US dollars.

Everything is no longer in office, he was replaced by James M. Murray in May 2019 without giving reasons on May 1, 2019 . The problems persist.

Trump's family under the protection of the Secret Service

His family with the current First Lady with 5 children of the 3 wives in total cause the blatant increase in expenses for the protection of the presidential family. While with Barack Obama only two daughters with the same wife had to be protected, with Donald Trump it is all immediate family members:

  • Donald Trump Junior , eldest son and Vice President of the Trump Organization
    While other presidents before Donald Trump distanced themselves from their personal fortunes for the duration of their term in office and, for example, set up a trust company to temporarily manage their companies and assets, Donald Trump was against from the start refused to take this step. Instead, he simply handed the management of his company over to his two sons, Donald Trump Junior and Eric Trump.
  • Eric Trump , like his brother, vice president of the family business
  • Ivanka Trump , eldest daughter, works like her husband Jared Kushner as an advisor to Donald Trump in the White House.
  • Tiffany Trump , daughter by second marriage and currently a student at Georgetown University .
  • Barron Trump, the youngest son of the US President, who lives with his parents in the White House.
  • Melania Trump , current wife and therefore First Lady of the USA.

Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump out and about

In order to manage the business of the international company “Trump Organization”, a corresponding number of trips around the globe are necessary. Travel by the US President's children must be escorted by the Secret Service. This was the case, for example, in February 2017 when Eric and Don Jr. visited Dubai, where the two opened a Trump golf department. According to CREW, this business trip cost US taxpayers more than $ 200,000 and it is just one of a very large number of trips.

Mar-a-Lago

The cost of protecting the presidential family is also being driven up by the Trump's numerous weekend trips to Mar-a-Lago , Trump's golf resort in Florida. For arrival and departure, helicopters, Air Force One and car convoys are set in motion, bodyguards and local police officers are on constant duty. In addition to the increased work involved in securing the extensive facility, costs of around 3 million US dollars per trip add up. In accordance with their status, the accompanying staff will be accommodated in the luxury resort and billed to the taxpayer at the original prices. The matter is made even more piquant by the fact that part of the expenses turns into income for the "Trump Organization" - whenever the Secret Service officials stayed in one of Trump's luxury hotels.

Legal activities

On January 23, 2017, the organization filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump in a New York district court for his unresolved financial ties abroad.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andrew Rice: Is Trump Inc. the President's Greatest Vulnerability? In: Intelligencer. June 12, 2017, accessed April 14, 2020 .
  2. ^ CREW: CREW Statement on Norman Eisen. In: citizensforethics.org. February 12, 2019, accessed April 14, 2020 .
  3. ^ A b Two of the Most Corrupt US Former Presidents. 2019, accessed on April 14, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Lucy Pasha-Robinson: Trump presidency is the 'most unethical in modern history'. The Independent , January 17, 2018, accessed April 14, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Hannah Northey ed = E & E News: OFF TOPIC. Former Bush ethics czar on the 'nerd resistance'. In: eenews.net. February 2, 2018, accessed April 14, 2020 .
  6. ^ Daniel Dillmann: Donald Trump on trips. The Trump family causes the costs to explode. In: Frankfurter Rundschau - Politics. April 14, 2020, accessed April 14, 2020 .
  7. ↑ FY 2021. (PDF file) In: Congressional Budget Justification and Annual Performance Plan and Report. Department of the Treasury United States Secret Service, 2020, accessed April 14, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Lisa Rein: Secret Service says it will run out of money to protect Trump and his family Sept. 30. The Washington Post , August 21, 2017, accessed on April 14, 2020 .
  9. ↑ "Almost systematic cleansing": Trump also throws the head of the Secret Service out. In: tagesspiegel.de . April 8, 2019, accessed April 8, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Leadership. US Secret Service, July 30, 2015, accessed April 14, 2020 .
  11. ^ Trump International Golf Club, Dubai. Retrieved April 8, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Politics: Trump's next affront. Vacation worth millions - at state expense. In: merkur.de. January 5, 2012, accessed April 14, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Kevin Johnson: Exclusive: Secret Service depletes funds to pay agents because of Trump's frequent travel, large family. In: USA Today . December 15, 2019, accessed April 14, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Julie Bykowicz: Fact check. Do Trump's Mar-a-Lago trips cost $ 3 million? Chicago Tribune , April 12, 2017, accessed April 14, 2020 .
  15. ↑ What the Trump family costs taxpayers. In: Berliner Morgenpost . February 21, 2017, accessed April 14, 2020 .
  16. ^ Stefan Beutelsbacher: Private Club Mar-a-Lago. Here Trump takes $ 200,000 entry. In: The world . February 26, 2017, accessed April 14, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Linnaea Honl-Stuenkel: CREW SUES TRUMP OVER EMOLUMENTS. In: CitizensForEthics.org. CREW, January 23, 2017, accessed on April 14, 2020 (English, CERW website with a link to the lawsuit document).