# CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) Founded in 2003 as the leading nonpartisan **government-ethics watchdog** focused on conflicts of interest, financial disclosure, lobbying violations, and abuse of public office. CREW pursues its mission primarily through **Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation**, **[[Inspector General]] complaints**, **IRS complaints over tax-exempt status violations**, and **direct federal court challenges** to specific official conduct. ## Leadership Transition **Donald K. Sherman** was appointed President & CEO in **January 2026**, succeeding Noah Bookbinder, who had led the organization through both Trump administrations. ## Trump 2.0 Track Record (2025–2026) CREW is one of the most active government-ethics litigators of the [[Trump 2.0]] era, often working alongside [[Democracy Forward]] and [[Protect Democracy]] but specializing in the **transparency and accountability** vector specifically. ### Notable 2025–2026 Cases **OMB transparency lawsuit:** Sued the Office of Management and Budget and Director [[Russell Vought]] after OMB took offline the website showing how it directs agencies to spend taxpayer money. **July 21, 2025** ruling ordered OMB to restore the website — a foundational federal transparency win. **Civil service protection (Schedule F redux):** Represented Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) challenging Trump's executive order that would convert tens of thousands of merit-based civil servants to at-will employees. The lawsuit functions as a counter to the [[Schedule F]] mass-conversion strategy at the heart of [[Project 2025]]. **Trump's $10B IRS lawsuit:** Filed Inspector General complaints in early 2026 over Trump's unprecedented $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury. Complaints raised attorney conflicts of interest and constitutionally prohibited emoluments concerns. **Trump's $230M FTCA claim:** Sued the DOJ for records on Trump's $230 million Federal Tort Claims Act claim — a separate financial demand by Trump on the federal government. **Pardon transparency:** Submitted FOIA requests on Trump's pardon of Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) (December 2025), part of a broader pattern of seeking records on presidential pardons that may involve quid pro quo or political-protection considerations. **Federal spending opacity:** Lawsuit over Trump administration's hiding of federal spending information from public access — a structural transparency case rather than a single-incident challenge. ## The Strategic Niche CREW's work fills the gap between **investigative journalism** (which can expose wrongdoing but not compel disclosure) and **prosecutorial action** (which requires DOJ cooperation that has been withdrawn under Trump 2.0). FOIA litigation, IG complaints, and tax-exempt-status complaints are the surviving accountability instruments when the executive branch declines to police itself and Congress lacks majority will. The instrument's limitation: FOIA wins produce documents but not consequences. The political utility of disclosed records depends on a functioning press ecosystem and a politically responsive electorate — both of which have weakened during the Trump 2.0 era. ## Long-Form Reporting CREW publishes **long-form investigative reports** on patterns of corruption that wouldn't surface in any single FOIA win. The "How President Trump Is Dismantling Our Democracy, One Piece at a Time" report series has become a key reference document for journalists and other resistance organizations. ## See Also - [[Resistance Hub]] - [[Pro-Democracy Movement]] - [[Democracy Forward]] — frequent co-counsel - [[Protect Democracy]] — structural-cases complement - [[Schedule F]] — the policy CREW's civil-service litigation targets