When President Donald Trump said counter protestors at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, should share the blame for violence there, the backlash was fast and furious. Among Trump’s most outspoken critics: corporate CEOs, who resigned from White House advisory councils and issued vehement statements breaking with the president. But when the Center for […]
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Posted inCopy, Paste, Legislate
The network behind state bills ‘countering’ Sharia law and terrorism
A lawmaker in Idaho introduces legislation to prevent traditional Islamic law from infiltrating U.S. courts. This story also appeared in USA TODAY In Florida, a legislator proposes striking at the foundations of terrorism with a bill bolstering victims’ ability to sue its supporters. The lawmakers’ efforts are seemingly unrelated, their statehouses almost 2,000 miles apart. […]
Posted inDemocracy
Meet the GOP congressman who wants to overturn ‘Citizens United’
Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., speaks in front of the U.S. Capitol in March 2014. Cliff Owen/AP First elected to Congress in 1994 as part of Newt Gingrich’s Republican revolution, Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina now proudly marches to his own beat. To wit: The staunch Christian conservative frequently works with Democrats on the […]
Posted inDemocracy
Mercer family’s charitable giving skyrocketed in 2015, new filing shows
Robert Mercer with his wife Diana Mercer and daughter Rebekah Mercer at the 2014 World Science Festival Gala. Sylvain Gaboury/PMC (©Patrick Mcmullan) The megadonor Mercer family — one of President Donald Trump’s top patrons — dramatically increased its philanthropic giving in 2015 and routed millions of dollars to charities closely associated with the conservative movement, […]
Posted inInequality
Local developer, wealthy investors pave different paths in Opportunity Zones
This article was co-published with Mother Jones. The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates betrayals of public trust. Sign up to receive our stories. AUSTIN, Texas — Real estate developer Jim Young moved to Austin more than 20 years ago and has watched the gentrification of its east side. Once home to mostly […]
Posted inState Politics
Meet the 10 shadowy groups that snuck into your state races
Jan. 5, 2017:This story has been updated. The bromide says all politics are local. But if examined closely, state politics are looking quite national these days. Some independent groups ensconced in offices around D.C. and New York have been running their own shadow campaigns to affect the outcomes of races for governor, legislators, state supreme […]
Posted inImmigration
Tragic immigrant deaths fuel drive to ‘flip’ California GOP congressional district
Updated, Nov. 28: More than three weeks after Election Day, Democrat T.J. Cox claimed an upset victory on Nov. 28 in California’s 21st congressional district. Cox came from behind to apparently defeat three-term GOP incumbent David Valadao by more than 520 votes with more votes to be counted in counties where trends favored Cox. The win takes Democrats […]
Posted inState Politics
Redistricting explained: All eyes on state races in 2018
State legislative races attract little or no national attention on a typical Election Day. But toward the end of each decade, they rise to national prominence. That’s when voters, in the vast majority of states, elect those who will redraw boundaries for congressional districts. This is one of those years. Voters will decide on more […]
Posted inGrowing Food, Sowing Trouble
Lake Erie turns toxic every summer. Officials aren’t cracking down on the source.
This story was published in partnership with Grist and The World. OREGON, Ohio — It was sunny and 82 degrees, a perfect August day for a trip to the public beach just outside Toledo. But hardly anyone was here. And no one was swimming. “DANGER,” warned a red sign posted in the sand near the edge of Lake […]
Posted inAsk Immigration Decoded
Trump justifies shutdown, wall by bashing immigrants’ role in economy. What’s true?
This post is part of our new community-driven reporting project, Ask Immigration Decoded. Submit your questions, and we’ll answer the most popular questions on our blog, Immigration Decoded. In this post, we’re answering a question we received from Callie: Please provide evidence-based facts, not just statements, about how undocumented people benefit the U.S. economy. Blaming immigration […]
Posted inDemocracy
Best of the Center for Public Integrity’s 2016 election coverage
Without question, the 2016 presidential election will go down as one of the strangest in history. From the emergence of socialist U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont as a viable opponent to Hillary Clinton to the stunning takeover of the Republican Party by Donald Trump, this cycle everything we thought we knew about money in […]
Posted inDemocracy
Reclusive mega-donor fueling Donald Trump’s White House hopes
In March, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was vehement: Super PACs are a “disaster” and “very corrupt.” With his opponent, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, gazing expressionlessly at him from the next podium during a Republican primary debate, Trump added, “Ted has super PACs, and you have to look at the people that are […]
Posted inBuying of the President, Democracy, Elections
Pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC accepted illegal contributions
Pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC Correct the Record accepted $250,000 in illegal contributions from a charity backed by a Boston-based construction firm already in trouble this year for its political donations. Suffolk Cares Inc., a nonprofit charity registered under section 501(c)(3) of federal tax code, gave Correct the Record $100,000 on Sept. 8 and another $150,000 […]
Posted inThe Mueller Report
The Trump team’s persistent lying about Russia creates counterintelligence challenge
Two personal characteristics drew Donald Trump to employ problematic characters like Roger Stone and Paul Manafort during his presidential campaign, producing a counterintelligence problem for the United States over the past two years as well as fresh fodder for criminal prosecutors. As a political neophyte, Trump desperately needed veteran political operators with unconventional views who […]
Posted inDemocracy
Campaign mega-donors spill on why they open their wallets
AUSTIN, Texas — A small group of campaign super-donors agreed that the campaign finance system in the U.S. needs reform, but said in the meantime, they are following the rules of the current system and using their donations to fund campaigns that advance causes they support. This was the message delivered by a panel moderated […]
Posted inBuying of the President, Democracy, Elections
By the numbers: Election 2016
304: Number of Electoral College Votes won by Republican President-elect Donald Trump 2.8 million: Number of votes by which Democrat Hillary Clinton beat Trump in the national popular vote $2.17 billion: Estimated amount spent by the presidential candidates and groups supporting them in the 2016 White House race $242 million: Amount by which Clinton’s campaign […]
Posted inCopy, Paste, Legislate
Adoption centers: the latest battleground for religious freedom
Aimee Maddonna, 34, a South Carolina mother of three, was turned away by a state-funded foster care agency because she is Catholic. Maddonna went to Miracle Hill Ministries in Greenville, the state’s largest foster care outlet, asking to volunteer in hopes of one day becoming a foster parent. But the initial screening was cut short […]
Posted inBuying of the President, Democracy, Elections
Hillary’s big money machine steams toward Election Day
Before Democrat Hillary Clinton “overturns Citizens United,” curtails “secret, unaccountable money in politics” and ends “the stranglehold that the wealthy and special interests have on so much of our government,” she has some business left to do. Namely, obliterating Republican Donald Trump with her historically massive, big-dollar, lobbyist-loaded campaign cash machine — one she says […]
Posted inDemocracy
By the numbers: a 2018 money-in-politics index
The Center for Public Integrity’s reporters crunched a lot of numbers during 2018 — a year that distinguished itself for record election spending and extreme political turbulence. This story also appeared in PRI Here are a few of those numbers that stand out from the rest: 30: Days after the 2018 general election when secretive, […]
Posted inPushing Plastic
As the world grapples with plastic, the U.S. makes more of it — a lot more
MUSTANG ISLAND, Texas — Jace Tunnell shuffled forward near the water’s edge, head bent. He was hunting for something that shouldn’t be on this beach near Corpus Christi, and he kept finding it. Hidden in the sand — white, tan, nearly translucent — were tiny plastic pellets. This story also appeared in PRI These are […]
Posted inDemocracy
Pro-Trump super PACs have already spent $1 million on Election 2020
President Donald Trump won’t face re-election for another three-and-a-half years. No matter. A pair of super PACs have together already burned through $1 million to boost Trump’s 2020 bid, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of federal campaign spending records. So much spending, so fast, is unprecedented in U.S. election history. Trump himself […]
Posted inDemocracy
FEC earning congressional attention — for the wrong reasons
The Federal Election Commission — an agency of clashing commissioners, seething staffers and key vacancies — may soon face congressmen who wonder: Why’s the agency a basket case? Such a trip under Congress’ microscope could come in the form of a Committee on House Administration oversight hearing, something the FEC hasn’t endured since 2011, when […]
Posted inDemocracy
You donated to kids with cancer. This Vegas telemarketer cashed in.
TAMPA, Fla. — The telemarketer asked Eric Thomas a question: Would he consider donating money to the Children’s Leukemia Support Network? Thomas himself was battling a rare and incurable form of leukemia. His wife, Rhonda, had endured two bouts with breast cancer. The Florida retirees had medical bills, but they were manageable, thanks to Thomas’ […]
Posted inInside Public Integrity
Pork barrel politics and more from the Center
The launch of the ninth littoral combat ship, the USS Little Rock, into the Menominee River in Marinette, Wisconsin, on July 18, 2015. U.S. Navy Pork barrel ship The great Washington tradition of pork barrel politics is alive and well if work from the Center for Public Integrity’s National Security team is any indication. […]
Posted inImmigration
TPS 101: What you need to know
What is TPS?TPS, or temporary protected status, is a designation Congress created in 1990. It allows individuals from certain countries to apply, if they are already in the United States, for temporary U.S. status if their home countries suffer a disaster — including armed conflicts or civil wars, environmental disasters, epidemics, or other extraordinary and […]
Corrections
The Center for Public Integrity is dedicated to ensuring that all material we publish is accurate. We also are committed to transparency and will correct errors of fact or substance and explain the correction. Minor errors of spelling or punctuation will be corrected on our website without notice. Please email us at corrections@publicintegrity.org if you […]
Posted inInside Public Integrity
Paying the piper, voter rights, bias and ‘Ratf**ked’
Who pays for it all? Our political funding work is at the center of the history of the Center for Public Integrity and no more so than in this election year — though the rise of a candidate “theoretically” less beholden to vested interests has made that approach to money and politics challenging. Michael Beckel […]
Posted inDemocracy
Democrats want reform — but court big money in the meantime
PHILADELPHIA — Political candidates should not “depend on large contributions from the wealthy and the powerful,” Democrats on Monday declared while kicking off their national convention. But the rest of the week made this clear: Democrats have a light year to go before ever reaching that goal. Banners decorating lampposts along major thoroughfares carried the […]
Posted inImmigration
‘Shocked and humiliated’: Lawsuits accuse Customs, Border officers of invasive searches of minors, women
Tameika Lovell was retrieving baggage at New York City’s Kennedy Airport when two female U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers stopped her for a “random search.” It was Nov. 27, 2016, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and the school counselor from Long Island had just arrived from a short Jamaica vacation. Lovell, who is black, had […]
Posted inBuying of the President, Democracy, Elections
Even some liberals fear Donald Trump’s Ohio appeal
Ohio is a perennial presidential battleground state, and Republicans are acutely aware of this as they host their party’s national convention there this week. So are Democrats. Hillary Clinton and her super PAC allies have run more than 8,500 television ads there since June 8, according to a Center for Public Integrity review of data […]
