This morning, in a surprise announcement, Special Counsel Robert Mueller made his first public remarks since the conclusion of his investigation.
He said that “if we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” He underscored that charging Trump directly “was not an option we could consider” due to existing Department of Justice policy. And he once again pointed to Congress as the appropriate body to hold Trump accountable, saying “the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.”1
Together, we can build a movement, grounded in a deep sense of justice, that will hold Trump accountable both in Congress AND at the ballot box in 2020.
– Team WFP
PREVIOUS MESSAGE:
All — Rep. Justin Amash just became the first Republican member of Congress to call for Trump’s impeachment.
In a series of tweets over the weekend, Rep. Amash (R-MI) asserted that Trump has “engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment.”2
Last month’s release of the nearly 500-page Mueller Report — even in its redacted form — laid out a pattern of presidential criminality, corruption, obstruction of justice, and attacks on our democracy that cannot be ignored by Congress. The report shows that Trump clearly collaborated with foreign entities during his 2016 campaign, then broke the law to try and cover it up. And the report specifically names Congress as the appropriate body to hold Trump accountable for obstructing justice.
We know by now that Trump has engaged in corrupt and criminal acts on a wide variety of fronts — including many outside the scope of this one investigation. We know that Trump’s hand-picked Attorney General is devoted to covering up his crimes and corruption. And we also know that no one in this country should be above the law.
That means the responsibility falls to the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives. With the first Republican member of Congress now indicating support for impeachment, the urgency is even greater.
Some in the Democratic establishment have been citing poll numbers, or potential harm to electoral chances, as a reason to abdicate their constitutional duty on impeachment.
But it is a false choice to suggest that progressives can’t both hold Trump accountable for his crimes AND forcefully articulate and rally the public behind our vision for the future at the same time.
We will only defeat Trump by building a multiracial, populist movement across differences grounded in a deep moral sense of justice. It is that same sense of justice that should compel all members of Congress, no matter their party, to take a clear-eyed look at the facts in front of them regarding all of Trump’s many corrupt acts, and respond accordingly.
This is not a situation anyone would choose, but it’s one that our elected officials can no longer run away from. We must stand firm, rooted in our values, to hold Trump accountable both in Congress AND at the ballot box in 2020.
I wanted to send you a note about our 2019 progress so far, friends.
Over the last five months, the Working Families Party team has been hard at work recruiting new candidates, growing our organizing team, training and mobilizing activists, and more. We’ve already racked up some really exciting victories in local elections in places like Milwaukee, Phoenix, Oregon, Texas, New York, and Chicago too.
We’re also facing some very real challenges — and we’re going to be level with you about them: our grassroots fundraising has dropped off these past couple of months. And as an organization whose average donation is only $18, we truly rely on supporters like you, reading emails like this one, to keep us going.
You don’t have to worry — we’re not shuttering our doors anytime soon. But these types of fundraising goals and monthly budgets are important, and whether we meet them or not has a big impact on the kind of organizing we’re able to do, both immediately and down the road.
The truth is, presidential politics can be like a magnet for energy and small dollar donations. But that can also end up putting a squeeze on groups like us who are focused on the critical work of electing grassroots progressive leaders and winning major gains for working families in places like city councils and state legislatures.
As I write this, WFP is coming off a landmark victory in Arizona, where we just elected Carlos Garcia, a local WFP leader and immigrant rights activist who took on Sheriff Joe Arpaio, to a City Council seat (by just 400 votes in a runoff). WFP organizers are also hard at work right now building a grassroots operation in New York to elect Tiffany Cabán, a groundbreaking criminal justice reformer, the next District Attorney of Queens. And in Colorado, we’re getting out the vote for progressive champions like WFP’s Candi CdeBaca, who is faces a runoff in her race for City Council in Denver in just a little over a week.
This is the future of our movement. Supporting efforts like these, day in and day out, is just one of the ways we put your grassroots donations to good use.
Thank you for being a continued part of this movement. Every single donation — from $1 to $100 — helps us elect more fearless progressives up and down the ballot. (And if you aren’t able to contribute financially today, know that we are still grateful for the many other ways you show your support every day.)
In solidarity,
Joe Dinkin
Working Families Party
Friends, our second monthly national WFP Assembly video meeting is coming up this Sunday at 8pm ET/5pm PT, and you won’t want to miss it!
Joining us Sunday will be WFP National Director Maurice Mitchell, as well as special guests including:
Ady Barkan, the fearless health care activist who has been leading the fight against the Trump administration despite his struggle with ALS. Coming off his moving testimony at the first-ever House hearing on Medicare for All last month, Ady will share his thoughts with the WFP community about why this fight is so critical, and what needs to happen next for our movement.
Tiffany Cabán, WFP-endorsed candidate, will also be joining us to talk about her race for District Attorney in Queens, New York happening next month, coming off the huge endorsement she received this week from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez!
Andy Cockburn and Zack Cruze, who were part of an incredible West Virginia WFP sweep this month in Morgantown, WV with seven of seven WFP candidates winning seats on the City Council!
We’re excited to hear from all of them — and from all of YOU — about how we can keep building this community and our movement together.
Please join us Sunday and help shape the next chapter of the WFP. RSVP now — you can join the WFP Assembly by phone or video and watch it alone or host a watch party:
It’s been an eventful month in the 2020 presidential race, with new polls, new policy proposals, and new candidates rolling out.
With so many recent developments, and with the first Democratic primary debate now just one month away, we wanted to take a brand-new temperature check to see where Working Families Party supporters stand as of today.
Don’t worry if you don’t have a clear favorite just yet. You can let us know your feelings about multiple candidates in our latest poll — and you’ll have opportunities to update your response in the future.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just endorsed WFP candidate Tiffany Cabán for District Attorney of Queens, NY!This is just AOC’s second endorsement since being sworn in to office, and if you read her message below, it’s not hard to see why.
This isn’t just any local race, y. DAs are some of the most powerful elected offices, and Queens alone has a population of 2.4 million people — larger than 15 states. Tiffany is running an incredible people-powered campaign against the establishment, on a platform of real reform of our criminal justice system.
(And join us this Sunday May 26th at 8pm ET/5pm PT to hear from Tiffany Cabán directly on our second WFP Assembly video call! Click here to RSVP.)
In solidarity,
Working Families Party
EMAIL FROM TEAM AOC:
Friends,
Right now, there are innocent folks sitting in Rikers because they can’t afford $500 to post bail. Maybe they have a family that needs them, or miss work as they wait for their court date — our system doesn’t care.
This reality emboldens the coercive power of prosecutors, who abuse poverty to convince even innocent folks to take plea bargains just to go back to their normal lives. But it also compounds an already pervasive problem with our justice system — it’s not working, and it doesn’t make people feel safe.
Our criminal justice system should protect people and rehabilitate others who’ve made mistakes. But when exorbitant fines for something as simple as jumping a subway turnstile can land you in jail, it’s hard to believe in the fairness of the system.
When you lose your license because you can’t afford to pay a fine, and then lose your job because you can’t make it to work, something’s wrong.
When kids are being stopped on the street and questioned by police because they “looked suspicious,” something’s wrong.
When members of the community are sitting behind bars for selling marijuana, but over 70% of Americans think that it should be legal, something’s wrong.
The system needs to change. New Yorkers deserve a seat at the table, and a champion who will fight to realign our priorities towards equal treatment under the law.
Now, we have a chance to fight for that change. Tiffany Cabàn, a career public defender with a powerful vision of a community-led justice system, is running for Queens District Attorney — and we’re incredibly proud to endorse her.
For too long, the Queens DA has stood by as mass incarceration has ravaged our communities. New York pays $143,000 every year to keep someone incarcerated — just imagine what we could do if we instead invested that money in health care, infrastructure, or education.
Tiffany sees it the way we do. She’s spent years as a public defender in the city — defending some of our most vulnerable communities against a criminal justice system that just wants to throw folks behind bars. Countless people that she’s defended would tell stories about how Tiffany would walk them through issues with immigration, research job opportunities, and build a stable life for themselves.
That is the model our justice system ought to aspire to. For those who make mistakes, hold them accountable, but don’t punish for punishment’s sake. Millions of people encounter the criminal justice system, but they don’t need to be forever defined by that interaction.
If Tiffany wins, things are going to change. Instead of criminalizing poverty, we’re going to dedicate resources towards prosecuting abusive landlords. Instead of targeting people who use marijuana, we can go after the drug companies that took advantage of working-class folks for profit. We can end broken windows policing and rebuild the relationship between our communities, and the justice system that’s supposed to work for us. We can end cash bail, so that rich or poor, you are held equal in the eyes of the law.
Already, we’ve seen the impact of progressive District Attorneys on the lives of everyday Americans. In Philadelphia, Larry Krasner declared an all-out war on mass incarceration — ending criminal prosecution for marijuana possession, cash bail for low-level misdemeanors, and spearheaded a lawsuit against major pharmaceutical companies.
Across the country, others are following suit — with city-level DAs chipping away at the cash bail system, fighting for stronger rehabilitative services, working with community activists, and fundamentally shifting their local systems to focus on rehabilitation and restitution, instead of retribution and punishment.
We can win a justice system that embodies social, racial, and economic justice for all. It just starts with you.
Pa’lante,
Team AOC
Friends,
Shameless and unprecedented levels of corruption. Families separated and children in cages. Massive tax cuts for billionaires and Wall Street. All while our rights, our health, and our lives are threatened every day.
Since the day Trump took office, fealty to the billionaire class, pain for working families, and cruelty to targeted groups has become the standard for this administration. Now, Trump is laying the groundwork for his next corrupt scheme.
Tomorrow, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are set to head to the White House to ask Trump how he plans to pay for his $2 trillion infrastructure plan — specifically, who will end up paying for it.1Trump and EVERY member of Congress needs to know that the people will NOT stand for another plan that benefits the wealthy and corporations on the backs of working people.
We’ve seen time and again how Trump, Republicans, and the billionaires who try to buy both parties in Congress approach major legislation, from repealing Obamacare to the Trump tax scam and more: massive giveaways for them and their cronies, and pain for working families. They’re about to try the same thing again.
Let’s be clear: A massive investment in infrastructure is urgently needed. Last month, Congressional Democrats challenged Trump to tell them how he would pay for his proposal. Here are just a few options for an infrastructure plan that would make the rich and corporations pay their fair share:
Repeal the parts of the Trump-GOP tax giveaway that benefit the wealthy and corporations to raise more than $2 trillion.
Assess a small tax on people with extraordinary wealth above $50 million to raise $2.75 trillion, as proposed by Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Tax wealth more like work — so the tax rate paid by the rich on their income from investments matches the much higher tax rate paid on wages and salaries — to raise more than $2 trillion.
Close corporate tax loopholes and subsidies — such as those received by the fossil fuel industry — to raise at least $1 trillion.
Repairing, improving and expanding our nation’s infrastructure ― including roads, bridges, mass transit, water systems, broadband, clean and renewable energy systems, energy-efficient buildings, and more ― could create millions of good-paying green jobs, provide more livable communities, and protect our climate for future generations.
All — A Republican member of Congress just became the first to call for Trump’s impeachment.
In a series of tweets this weekend, Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) asserted that Trump “engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment.”1
Last month’s release of the nearly 500-page Mueller Report — even in its redacted form — laid out a pattern of presidential criminality, corruption, obstruction of justice, and attacks on our democracy that cannot be ignored by Congress. The report shows that Trump clearly collaborated with foreign entities during his 2016 campaign, then broke the law to try and cover it up. And the report specifically names Congress as the appropriate body to hold Trump accountable for obstructing justice.
We know by now that Trump has engaged in corrupt and criminal acts on a wide variety of fronts — including many outside the scope of this one investigation. We know that Trump’s hand-picked Attorney General is devoted to covering up his crimes and corruption. And we also know that no one in this country should be above the law.
That means the responsibility falls to the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives. With the first Republican member of Congress now indicating support for impeachment, the urgency is even greater.
Some in the Democratic establishment have been citing poll numbers, or potential harm to electoral chances, as a reason to abdicate their constitutional duty on impeachment.
But it is a false choice to suggest that progressives can’t both hold Trump accountable for his crimes AND forcefully articulate and rally the public behind our vision for the future at the same time.
We will only defeat Trump by building a multiracial, populist movement across differences grounded in a deep moral sense of justice. It is that same sense of justice that should compel all members of Congress, no matter their party, to take a clear-eyed look at the facts in front of them regarding all of Trump’s many corrupt acts, and respond accordingly.
This is not a situation anyone would choose, but it’s one that our elected officials can no longer run away from. We must stand firm, rooted in our values, to hold Trump accountable both in Congress AND at the ballot box in 2020.
Friends, our first national Working Families Party Assembly video meeting was such a hit last month, that we’re super excited for round two.
And we have good reason, because for our second WFP Assembly, we will be welcoming an extra-special guest:
Ady Barkan, who has been a fearless health care activist during the Trump administration despite his struggle with ALS, will be joining us on Sunday, May 26 at 8pm ET/5pm PT. Coming off his moving testimony at the first-ever House hearing on Medicare for All last month, Ady will share his thoughts with the WFP community about why this fight is so critical, and what needs to happen next for our movement.
In addition to Ady Barkan, we will also be welcoming other progressive champions who have been leading the fight for their communities, and we will discuss how each one of us can play a critical role in bringing forth a progressive wave across the country.
We will also have time to break out into small groups to meet fellow WFP members across the country.
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