Democracy 21

April 20, 2020 – Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden announced in a press release yesterday that “A first priority of a Biden Administration will be to lead on a comprehensive set of reforms like those reflected in the For the People Act (H.R. 1) to end special interest control of Washington and protect the voice and […]

Oct. 1, 2019 – Democracy 21 filed a complaint today with Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz calling on the IG to investigate Attorney General William Barr’s activities relating to the recent whistleblower complaint concerning President Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Democracy 21 complaint to the Inspector General requested an […]

In a letter sent today to the Justice Department Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer wrote that Attorney General William Barr “must recuse himself from any supervision of, or other involvement in, the 14 active Justice Department matters that stem from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.” A […]

April 15, 2019 – In a complaint sent today to the Justice Department Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer wrote that Attorney General William Barr has violated Justice Department norms and standards of conduct by “publicly testifying, without any substantiation, that FBI and Justice Department officials had engaged in ‘spying’ on the Trump […]

July 9, 2018 – In a complaint filed today with the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer and former White House chief ethics lawyer Norman Eisen (2009-2011) called on the OCE to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the conduct of Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH). The complaint was filed based on the […]

June 28, 2018 – In a letter sent today to David J. Apol, Acting Director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), Democracy 21 and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) urged the OGE to investigate “whether Jared Kushner’s extensive and ongoing personal business interests, including by attribution the extensive business interests of […]

Feb. 12, 2018 – In a letter sent to House Speaker Paul Ryan, fourteen reform groups and watchdogs expressed their deep concern about Ryan’s failure “to take any action to prevent Russia from interfering in our elections in 2018, as Russia plainly did in 2016.” The letter charged that Ryan has “failed to protect the […]

Oct. 20, 2017 – In a letter sent to Senators today, 27 reform organizations and experts called on Senators to “to co-sponsor and support the Honest Ads Act, bipartisan legislation introduced by Senators Amy Klobuchar, Mark Warner and John McCain, to address the need for new rules to expose efforts undertaken by foreign interests to […]

Sept. 8, 2017 – In a letter sent today to Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the leaders of the House Intelligence Committee investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 election, Democracy 21 called on the Representatives to stop Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) from violating his public commitment to stay out […]

April 25, 2017 – In a letter sent to Jared Kushner today, Democracy 21 called on President Trump’s Senior Adviser “to publicly announce now that you are recusing yourself from any involvement in a number of policy areas in order to avoid conflicts of interest and the appearance of such conflicts.”  The letter pointed to […]

March 28, 2017 – Democracy 21, joined by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government (CREW),sent a letter today to the Office of Congressional Ethics asking them to conduct an inquiry into whether Rep. Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, disclosed classified information to the public on March 22, 2017 in violation […]

March 2, 2017 – Democracy 21 sent a second complaint this morning to the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) that called on OPR “to make immediate public findings that Attorney General Jeff Sessions must immediately recuse himself from any Department of Justice investigations and actions relating to the Russian role in the 2016 […]

February 6, 2017 – In a letter sent today to members of the House Administration Committee, a group of 38 organizations and individuals with expertise in governance issues strongly opposed bills being considered tomorrow by the committee to terminate the Presidential Election Campaign Fund and the Election Assistance Commission (EAC).  (See below for a full […]

Jan. 3, 2016 – In a letter sent yesterday to President-elect Trump, a bipartisan group of organizations and individuals with expertise in governance issues called on Trump to divest his business enterprises or face serious conflicts of interest and Emoluments Clause problems as president. The letter representing voices from all parts of the political spectrum […]