Watchdog requests investigation of Paul Ryan for allowing Trump to use State of the Union feed...

[DonViejo]

Source: RawStory




Watchdog requests investigation of Paul Ryan for allowing Trump to use State of the Union feed for fundraising

The watchdog group Public Citizen on Wednesday requested that the U.S. Congress launch an immediate investigation into Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) after President Donald Trump was allowed to use live video of the State of the Union address to raise funds for his campaign.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Public Citizen said it had filed a complaint to have the House Ethics Committee and Office of Congressional Ethics to “investigate whether Speaker Paul Ryan violated House rules by allowing the Trump campaign to use a broadcast of the State of the Union address for campaign fundraising purposes.”

According to the statement, Trump’s use of the live feed may run afoul of House rules.

Rule V of the Rules of the House of Representatives states that the speaker is responsible for administering official broadcasts and recordings of floor proceedings and that these official audio and visual transmissions shall not be used for partisan campaign activities. The State of the Union address was broadcast from the floor of the House, which was then livestreamed on Trump’s reelection campaign Facebook page and Twitter feed. New donors were encouraged to make a campaign contribution in exchange for having their names listed in a crawl at the bottom of the screen.

“Donald Trump commercialized and corrupted yet another national institution, making this just the latest disgraceful degradation by Trump of the presidency and our public institutions,” Public Citizen President Robert Weissman said. “This blatant selling of the presidency also appears to violate rules, which is why we are filing today’s complaint. Putting donors’ names on the screen essentially says, ‘This presidency is brought to you by Goldman Sachs, Dow Chemical, Koch Industries and Murray Energy.’”

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Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/watchdog-requests-investigation-paul-ryan-allowing-trump-use-state-union-feed-fundraising/

[Hermit-The-Prog]

1. looks like a clear violation

Haven't seen any more about Trump soliciting contributions from foreign nationals, e.g. members of foreign parliments, via emails during the campaign. I don't expect to see this latest violation punished, either.

[Pacifist Patriot]

2. Yep

Here we are again, and again, and again.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. Ethics? Hahahahahaha. Shouldn't this be in the DU Lounge, as it is comical? NT

[FSogol]

23. +1 n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

13. Took EXACT words outta my mouth!

[sheshe2]

26. All about the money

And Ego.

[BumRushDaShow]

29. Yuppers!

[sheshe2]

32. Perfect songs

For Donnie and the GOPpers.

[lagomorph777]

21. Straight up violation.

Lock him up!

[ffr]

3. Complete swamp dwelling behavior from this corrupt administration!

LOCK THEM UP!

[SunSeeker]

4. K & R for exposure.

[C Moon]

5. Violation after vioation with this bastard and his freaks

Every god damned week there are new allegations against him, but nothing is done. So why the hell shouldn't the criminal keep stealing? If they never get caught, they'll just keep going.
Just like our screwed up voting system: it's broken; it compromised our democratic voting, and nothing—nothing—has been done.

[jmowreader]

6. I should get upset about this, but cant

After all the other fund-diverting atrocities he’s committed (forcing the Secret Service to pay him to rent a whole floor of Trump Tower to guard his wife while she lived apart from him, and forcing them to rent golf carts from him to watch him abuse the great game of golf come to mind) this seems not all that bad.

Of course, if Obama would have done this the GOP would already be building a guillotine in the Rose Garden.

[Hekate]

7. Good luck with that.

DTs puts drug-addicted sex-workers on Skid Row to shame.

[Plucketeer]

8. Anyone have any figures

as to how many pitchforks are advancing towards DC? Or are posts on DU the extent of it?

[barbtries]

20. there's definitely a movement with a website at the very least

for a general strike. http://strike4democracy.com/

you may find others, a fb page and this seem dated and may have been abandoned. lonely voices now, but watch out because with every outrage there's a few more people ready to revolution.

also you probably know about this, but you can rsvp on this page and find out where to go within hours of the firing of mueller, and i believe, rosenstein going down may trigger it as well:

https://act.moveon.org/event/mueller-firing-rapid-response-events/search/

[ancianita]

9. Great move. The integrity and honor of this office needs restoration.

[world wide wally]

11. Lock him up

[NewJeffCT]

12. Since Republicans control the House, Senate and White House, this will be their reaction

to the lawsuit...

[japple]

14. Ethics, schmethics. We don't need no stinkin ethics.

Ethics are for wimps.

[LakeArenal]

15. TRUMP FOR PRISON

[DFW]

16. When I first read about that, I thought it was Andy Borowitz or The Onion

No WAY that could be legal.

But apparently IOKIYAR is now an official (if unratified) 28th Amendment to the Constitution. There is no other explanation for allowing this. If Obama had tried it, the Republicans would have impeached him within hours, and probably rightly so. The difference is, of course, that as a constitutional scholar, Obama would never have even thought of trying such a disgraceful stunt.

[Bromwell]

17. Until Dems take back control...its almost pointless to file a complaint or anything else

As mentioned already they break rules, laws and norms EVERY SINGLE day....and nothing is done.

[LiberalBrooke]

18. No, the complaints need to be filed again and again.

Not even filing is just what they want us to do. Make them spend their time responding to them.

[barbtries]

22. agreed.

EVERY infraction, every outrage, even though it absolutely exhausting, needs to be recorded, reported, and scolded at the very very least.

i'm so tired. fucking republicans they never stop. i'm feeling increasingly alarmed that democracy will be lost in the USA.

[BigmanPigman]

19. The price to see your name on the screen was $35

and was announced two days ago. I forget what the limit was on the campaign donations. I bet they will get away with it like everything else. Unbelievable.

This is a marriage of two greedy, immoral crooks...Ryan and the Fucking Moron.

[djg21]

27. No wonder it was so fucking long

And the idiot-in-chief was talking so slowly.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

28. OMG, that's a great point I hadn't seen made.

Gotta remember to look for the grifting in everything he does.

[YOHABLO]

24. That's all the SOTU speech was about: A campaign speech. What a sick ticket he is.

[Scruffy1]

25. nothing wil happen with the Republicans in charge.

Even Ryan knows one thing. The golden rule is those with the gold make the rule. Besides, what's the punishment? letter or something.

[bonniebgood]

30. Ryan doesn't give a F*K he's not

running for re-election.

[kentuck]

31. That's worse than Boehner handing out checks from tobacco industry on the floor of the House.

Remember that?

[MontanaMama]

33. Of course it's an ethics violation.

When is Tangeranus going to shoot someone on 5th Avenue? GOPers will excuse that too.

[Cold War Spook]

34. Have not watched the speech

nor I intend to. Wasn't there anything in the speech that could be used against him? I mean if Congressional Ethics Committee say what he did was okay, then it has to be okay for the Democrats to use it.