INTERVIEW – TOM FITTON – President of Judicial Watch

• House Republicans drop plan to gut ethics office. (USA Today) — WASHINGTON — After public denunciations from watchdogs and criticism from President-elect Donald Trump, House Republicans on Tuesday reversed course and dropped plans to gut an independent agency that polices potential ethical wrongdoing by lawmakers.
• Judicial Watch Calls Upon House to Retain Congressional Ethics Office. (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton today made the following statement regarding the proposed change to House rules that would eliminate its Office of Congressional Ethics: “It is shameful that House Republicans are trying to destroy the Office of Congressional Ethics, the most significant ethics reform in Congress when it was established nearly a decade ago.  This drive-by effort to eliminate the Office of Congressional Ethics, which provides appropriate independence and transparency to the House ethics process, is a poor way for the Republican majority to begin “draining the swamp.”  The American people will see this latest push to undermine congressional ethics enforcement as shady and corrupt.  The full House should seriously consider whether it wants to bear the brunt of public outrage and go through with the rule change this afternoon.”