Government Integrity Project

NLPC “blows the whistle” on government officials and interest groups engaged in questionable activities. NLPC has filed formal Complaints with a variety of authorities and regulators, including the Federal Election Commission, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Congressional Ethics Committees.

NLPC supports government integrity in two additional ways: by promoting the First Amendment as the basis for campaign finance reform, and by promoting use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Bureau of Prisons Asked to Investigate D.C.’s Scandal-Plagued Hope Village

Posted on by NLPC Staff

NLPC sent the following letter today to Hugh J. Hurwitz, Acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP):

We write to express serious concerns about the procurement process for a federally funded halfway house — or reentry center — in Washington D.C. Based on a review of news reports about the lone, federally contracted halfway house operator in the city, along with other publicly available information suggesting the process may be tainted by political interference, we urge the Bureau of Prisons to conduct a thorough review of this matter.

Hope Village’s decades-long contractual arrangement with the federal government is troubling – not to mention puzzling – given the litany of problems widely associated with the halfway home operator. Often referred to as “Hopeless Village” by local community members and returning citizens who have stayed there, the Southeast Washington halfway house has a long history of substandard care and a … Read More ➡

Youthful Socialists Ignore Inevitability of Corruption

Posted on by Carl Horowitz

It is one of modern history’s more famous quotes: “If a man is not a socialist at 20, he has no heart. If he remains one at age 40, he has no head.” These words (and variations thereof) have been attributed to everyone from Disraeli to Clemenceau to Churchill. Whatever the true source, they convey a wisdom that frequently is going unheeded in America. And we risk becoming an ever more controlled and corrupt society.

Consider recent survey data.

This January, the public relations firm Axios released the results of a SurveyMonkey online poll of nearly 2,800 U.S. adults. Respondents were asked how they felt about capitalism and socialism. Capitalism produced a favorable response among 61 percent of all respondents, yet socialism was well-received among a sizable 39 percent. Fully 58 percent of persons ages 18-24 and 51 percent of persons ages 25-34 viewed socialism in a positive light; a … Read More ➡

Injured Cop Can Sue Black Lives Matter Leader

Posted on by Carl Horowitz

The network of street and campus demagogues known as Black Lives Matter pretty much has operated with impunity since its founding. But a court ruling late last month could make these social media-based grievance peddlers think twice before targeting cops.

On April 24, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit unanimously ruled that an injured Baton Rouge, La., police officer has legal standing to sue DeRay Mckesson (he prefers not to capitalize the “k”), Black Lives Matter’s unofficial mouthpiece and most visible organizer. Mckesson, the complaint read, in coaxing a large group of demonstrators to block traffic on a highway back on July 9, 2016, created the conditions for the attack on the officer, identified only as John Doe. The decision overturns a district court ruling. And it is the right call.

Black Lives Matter (BLM), now with dozens of chapters across the U.S., … Read More ➡

Barr Must Release Document Describing Mueller Conflict of Interest

Posted on by NLPC Staff

During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this morning with Attorney General William Barr discussing the Mueller Report, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) pressed Attorney General Barr about whether President Trump committed obstruction of justice by ordering White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Special Counsel Mueller.

Barr responded that Trump merely ordered McGahn to contact Deputy AG Rosenstein to raise the issue that Mueller has a conflict of interest and that Rosenstein should decide whether that conflict justifies removing Mueller. Barr said that action by the President does not constitute an obstruction of justice. When asked by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to identify the conflict, Barr did not describe it but instead discussed the legal difference between firing a Special Counsel outright and removing him for a conflict to be replaced by another special counsel.

The answer to key question of what was Mueller’s conflict of interest will be answered in … Read More ➡

Democratic Candidates Line Up for Al Sharpton’s Call for Reparations

Posted on by Carl Horowitz

It’s hard to imagine a more ill-conceived idea than forcing one race of people to pay reparations to another race for acts occurring more than 150 years ago. Yet after decades of languishing on the margins in this country, the touchy issue of forcing whites to pay blacks reparations for slavery has taken center stage. Early this month, about 15 Democratic presidential hopefuls spoke at Manhattan’s Sheraton Times Square Hotel as part of the annual conference of Al Sharpton’s National Action Network. Coaxed by Sharpton and a partisan audience, the candidates happily obliged, oblivious to the high likelihood that a reparations program, far from repairing anything, would be a divisive, nonstop shakedown. Black “civil rights” demagogues such as Sharpton, most of all, would reap the benefits.

For decades, prominent black civil rights leaders and elected officials in this country have advocated the creation of a massive federal program to force … Read More ➡

Mueller Report: Trump Believed Special Counsel Had Conflicts of Interest

Posted on by Paul Chesser
Special Counsel Robert Mueller

The legacy media (of course) has focused on all the evidence Robert Mueller considered in his report about whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice during the Russian (non)collusion investigation, questioning whether the special counsel made the right decision not to prosecute the Commander-in-Chief.

Perhaps most significant among that evidence is the claim that Trump wanted former White House counsel Don McGahn to have Mueller removed as special counsel, because of conflicts of interest, then asked McGahn to deny to the media that the president asked him to fire Mueller.

There are disputes in the testimony between witnesses, which is why Mueller didn’t move forward with a “prosecutorial decision” on that point (or on any other). But setting aside the analysis about what happened, and interpreting it under the law, there is one question that is not being addressed:

What about Mueller’s conflict(s) of interest?

There was… Read More ➡

NLPC Sues Justice Department on Mueller Conflict

Posted on by Peter Flaherty

National Legal and Policy Center filed suit today against the Department of Justice to force release of a document specifying a conflict of interest for which Special Counsel Robert Mueller received a retroactive waiver.

In the wake of demands for “transparency” through the release of the Mueller report, we are also asking for transparency.

Justice Department foot-dragging on a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by NLPC in September 2018 necessitated the suit. We asked for all records pertaining to the appointment of Mueller to be Special Counsel by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on May 17, 2017. The Justice Department regulations governing appointment of Special Counsels require a “detailed review of ethics and conflicts of interest issues” of any individual who is under consideration.

NLPC has already received a Justice Department document confirming that Mueller had a conflict, but it is withholding another saying what the conflict was … Read More ➡

Did Rep. Ilhan Omar Use Campaign Funds for Personal Expenses?

Posted on by Carl Horowitz

Representative Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., doesn’t hesitate to express her scorn for America, Jews and capitalism – not necessarily in that order. Indeed, her most enduring legislative achievement to date has been to send a February 10 tweet referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as being “all about the Benjamins” (i.e., $100 bills). Yet it appears the Somalia-born Muslim freshman congresswoman, now 37, has ethics issues that are coming back to haunt her. They might not jeopardize her political career, but they just might dim the halo over her head in the eyes of her admirers.

At the start of this month, news reports surfaced that the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board has been zeroing in on Omar for possibly diverting nearly $6,000 from her campaign war chest to personal uses while serving as a member of that state’s legislature. Among the cited unauthorized purposes were travel to Boston and … Read More ➡

Special Counsel Needed Because Huber’s ‘Mystery’ Probe Is Going Nowhere

Posted on by Peter Flaherty
U.S. Attorney John Huber

Fred Lucas in The Daily Signal today reports on the investigation supposedly being conducted by John Huber, the United States Attorney for Utah. Instead of appointing another Special Counsel, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions a year ago appointed Huber to investigate the FISA warrant issued on Trump campaign aide Carter Page, as well as the Uranium One deal. From the story:

Since his appointment, Huber’s investigation has been a complete mystery, said Peter Flaherty, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative government watchdog group.

“There is no evidence a real investigation is taking place,” Flaherty told The Daily Signal. “We don’t have a grand jury. It doesn’t seem key witnesses were interviewed. There is certainly no evidence he has staffed up. What he is up to is a mystery.”

Flaherty said he agrees with Graham and others who support appointment of a new

… Read More ➡

The Kremlin Wanted Hillary

Posted on by Peter Flaherty

“I will tell you this about Russia, if they had anything on me, it would have come out a long time ago, probably a long time before I ran, because they would have been much better off,” President Trump said on Fox News on Wednesday evening.

Until Sunday, it was an article of faith among American liberals that Donald Trump somehow benefitted from the Russian interference in his election campaign. It is time to re-examine that theory.

There are many issues between the United States and Russia but the most fundamental is how much each spends to defend itself against the other. Trump would always favor more military spending than Hillary. This is much more consequential for Russia. America is such a prosperous country that it is not a choice between guns and butter. We buy both. The Russian economy, not well-diversified and reliant on commodity prices, is far more … Read More ➡