Today, a smorgasbord of actions on ethics investigations.

1. Attack on the press corps: “A national coalition of press groups urged a congressional ethics panel on Friday to consider disciplinary action against Montana's newly elected congressman, who is charged with throwing a reporter to the ground during a confrontation a day before the election.”  (Read more.)
   
   Write to the Office of Congressional Ethics and tell them that you agree and want a recommendation sent to the House Ethics Committee to enforce disciplining Rep. Gianforte.  We cannot normalize our legislators as assaulters.  Contact them here:  https://oce.house.gov/contact-us/.
   
   
2. Private prison profits, Trump and Sessions: GEO Corrections Holdings, Inc., a subsidiary of the private prison company GEO Group, donated to a pro-Trump super PAC during the 2016 election; a move which was arguably illegal, as federal contractors cannot make political donations (Read more). 
   
   A complaint was filed in November of 2016 by the Campaign Legal Group, a nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog, yet there seems to be no word of any progress being made since the filing. The GEO Group stands to profit immensely through the Trump Administration, with Jeff Sessions' reinstatement of the "War on Drugs" where people will be convicted and placed in prison for lesser crimes, ICE's rounding up of immigrants to be placed in detention facilities, and Trump's stated focus on "law and order."  Remember also that when Trump was elected, stocks in private prison companies surged on the expectation that Trump would rescind the Obama administration's decision to phase out use of private prisons, paving the way for more private prison profits. (Read more.)
   
   Send a message to the Federal Elections Commission that you expect them to follow through on Campaign Legal Group's complaint, and investigate the GEO Group. Email them at [email protected] and then sign Color of Change's petition to the FEC Commissioners: https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/no-pay-for-play/
   
   
3. Deflection on Russia: In a very unconventional move, “White House press aides since (last) Tuesday have been directing all reporters asking about any of the (Russia) probes to contact the president’s New York-based outside counsel, Marc Kasowitz.” In doing so, “They’re saying both that the government is no longer responsible for addressing these issues and someone who the president pays privately is. That’s new territory.” (Read more.)
   
   Tell the Office of Government Ethics that you do not think this is appropriate.
   
   Contact them here: https://www.oge.gov/web/oge.nsf/Organization/Contact%20Us?opendocument