Once again, House Republicans voted to shield President Donald Trump from public accountability, rejecting the latest effort to force the president to release his tax returns and White House visitor logs.
The chamber voted 230-193 against Rep. Katherine Clark's (D-Mass.) resolution that would have required Trump to provide the House with his tax returns from 2007-2016, key financial documents, and visitor logs for both the White House and Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach resort. In addition, it would have ordered the Office of Government and Ethics to notify lawmakers of any administration official who was granted a waiver from Trump's order banning lobbyists from serving in government positions and banning government officials from lobbying for five years.
The Hill reports that Rep. Walter Jones (R-S.C.) was the only GOP member to break with his party and call for the records to be released.
Clark tweeted after the vote: "230 in GOP decided they work for Donald Trump and not American families w/ their vote to let him keep his tax returns secret."
Democrats knew ahead of time that their salvo was likely to fail. But now, as Ed O'Keefe pointed out at the Washington Post before the vote, they can "begin attacking vulnerable GOP incumbents as supportive of Trump and his broken promises to 'drain the swamp' in Washington and revamp the federal government's ethics rules."
Indeed, between Thursday's vote and previous rebuffals, Democrats have more than enough fodder for that campaign--and a new tool launched Thursday helps the public keep track of the GOP's hypocrisy.
TrumpTruthHiders.com, a project of MoveOn.org introduced in concert with key members of Congress, provides a scorecard for each Republican House member based on their committee or full House votes on everything from Trump's taxes to ties to Russia.
"As we reach the 100th day of this presidency, it's clear that the Trump administration's conflicts and lies are destroying Americans' faith in our democratic institutions, and that House Republicans are overwhelmingly choosing to protect Trump instead of the truth," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), one of the lawmakers involved.
"Democrats have forced repeated votes on critical issues like the administration's Russia ties, business conflicts and ethical violations," he said. "With very few exceptions, the Republicans have voted to hide the truth and to quash Democrats' efforts to shine a light on these issues. Constituents deserve to know what their members of Congress are really doing on Trump's conflicts and lies, and this website will allow voters to see for themselves."
