Washington, D.C. -Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. John Sarbanes, Chair of the Democracy Reform Task Force, released a new “Sunshine Week" video detailing the cloud of secrecy surrounding the Trump Administration.
“In my opinion, House Republicans are aiding and abetting President Trump’s ongoing abuses," Cummings said. “Republicans are essentially walling off President Trump from any credible congressional oversight."
“President Trump is closing the blinds, locking the doors and blocking the public’s access to information," said Congressman Sarbanes. “The level of secrecy by this Administration and its Republican allies in Congress is unprecedented and deeply alarming. The American people deserve better."
Yesterday, Cummings commenced Sunshine Week with a broad review of the unprecedented secrecy of the Trump Administration by releasing a fact sheet -Sunshine Week: Shining a Light on Secrecy in the Trump Administration -chronicling just some of the actions taken by President Trump and his Administration to reverse many of the groundbreaking steps taken by the Obama Administration to improve government transparency.
The fact sheet included the Trump Administration’s refusal of the White House to respond to multiple requests from Congress, including for information about security clearances, payments from foreign governments, the use of private email accounts on nongovernmental servers, the response to the hurricanes in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the deadly ambush of four U.S. servicemembers in Niger.
