FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, February 13, 2020
Washington, D.C. — Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made it clear to his Republican colleagues that no amount of oversight of the executive branch is acceptable.
This Washington reality became crystal clear this week, when the president interfered in the sentencing of long-time political crony Roger Stone, lamenting that his sentencing recommendation was too harsh. Then, knowing that he would never be held to account, Attorney General William Barr instructed prosecutors in the case to change the sentencing recommendation for Stone — a deeply inappropriate abuse of the Justice Department for personal and political gain.
In fact it was such brazen political interference in our justice system that not one, not two, but four prosecutors working on the Stone case resigned or withdrew, rather than carry out an unjust order.
If this sort of thing was happening in any other country, our nation’s leaders would be sounding the alarm about the violation of democracy.
What does Mitch McConnell have to say about this? Predictably, nothing.
But Majority Leader McConnell could hold Trump accountable any moment he wants. And McConnell has been sitting on bipartisan bills that would strengthen the guardrails of our democracy for almost a year.
Last March, the House passed H.R. 1, the For the People Act of 2019, which would, among other things, fortify our election security, reduce the influence of big money in our politics, and crack down on foreign interference in our elections. All these common-sense reforms would strengthen our democracy and allow the will of the American people to be better reflected in our politics.
“With one hand Mitch McConnell is blocking the passage of anti-corruption legislation to strengthen our democracy, and with the other, he’s permitting Trump to continue to violate the rule of law with impunity,” said Joshua Karp of Fix Our Senate. “McConnell has sent the message loud and clear to the American people — and the President himself — that Trump is above the law as long as McConnell holds the reins in the Senate.”
➡ Demand Mitch McConnell stop turning a blind eye to corruption, defend our democracy and demand an end to the gridlock in the U.S. Senate at www.fixoursenate.org.
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