About - CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

CREW’s mission

With over 20 years of expertise, CREW is leading the fight to hold government accountable to the American people and to preserve the democratic institutions Americans count on. Using bold legal actions, we target corrupt officials who sacrifice the common good for personal gain and who undercut our system of checks and balances. Through in-depth investigations and public advocacy work, we demand accountability for undue political influence. And with innovative policy work and strategic communications, we advocate for ethics and democracy reforms to prevent future abuses of power.

25+

Ongoing lawsuits

970+

Records requests

3990+

Conflicts tracked

About us

CREW is a nonpartisan nonprofit government watchdog organization that takes on big fights—such as enforcing constitutional provisions like the Emoluments Clauses and Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Despite the long odds, we continue to win victories, large and small, thanks to our dedicated team of around 50 lawyers, researchers, communicators, operations professionals and policy advocates. We will never stop fighting for the functioning democracy Americans deserve.

CREW’s track record

We demanded accountability for unethical government officials.

CREW has tracked over 3,900 of Donald Trump’s conflicts of interest, and outlined the ways that his businesses and foreign developments stand to benefit from his administration’s policies.

But government corruption goes well beyond Trump and the presidency. CREW led the push for former Senator Robert Menendez, Representative George Santos and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to resign following ethics scandals. CREW also filed a complaint against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for failing to report valuable travel and gifts.

CREW filed numerous Hatch Act complaints against senior Trump and Biden administration officials after they used their official government positions for political activity. The Office of Special Counsel has confirmed legal violations alleged by CREW in more than a dozen cases.

CREW exposed and highlighted conflicts of interest and ethics issues involving several officials in the first Trump administration, including Betsy DeVos, Sonny Perdue, Ivanka Trump, Scott Pruitt, Ryan Zinke, Rick Perry, John Kelly and David Bernhardt and continues to track ethics issues with current officials.

We sued and won to secure transparency from the government.

CREW obtained the secret Department of Justice memo then-Attorney General Bill Barr pointed to in order to undermine the Mueller Report and justify not charging Donald Trump with obstruction.

CREW’s Freedom of Information Act requests and litigation have also revealed contacts between the Secret Service and the Oath Keepers, millions in Secret Service spending at Trump properties, communications between the Biden administration and private prison companies, records of a threat against Chuck Schumer on January 6th, other security decisions made around January 6th, and much more.

CREW continues to fight for transparency from the Trump administration on several fronts, including suing for records about DOGE’s operations, challenging the illegal closure of CDC FOIA offices and fighting to restore an Office of Management and Budget spending database.

We filed campaign finance complaints that have led to record-breaking fines.

In 2017, CREW secured a record-breaking fine in our lawsuit against the American Conservative Union and two other groups, which agreed to pay the FEC $350,000. In 2024, following a complaint filed by CREW in 2021, the FEC fined Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point Action $18,000 for failing to disclose its donors.

CREW continues to file complaints against dark money groups and political organizations that support Democrats and Republicans, and to seek enforcement, including through litigation, to ensure some limits on our runaway system of campaign finance.

We sued to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment against insurrectionists.

After the January 6th insurrection, CREW sued to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars people who have sworn an oath to the Constitution who then engage in insurrection from serving in public office. First, in New Mexico, CREW successfully removed and barred from office Couy Griffin, an Otero County Commissioner who engaged in the insurrection. CREW’s victory in securing Griffin’s removal overcame appeals to both the New Mexico Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court.

Then, in Colorado, CREW represented Republican and unaffiliated voters in a lawsuit seeking to enforce Trump’s disqualification under Section 3. The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Trump was disqualified and barred from the ballot. The US Supreme Court ultimately allowed Trump to remain on the ballot on a legal technicality, without disturbing the lower court’s finding that Trump had incited insurrection.

We recognized Trump’s violations of the Emoluments Clauses of the Constitution.

On January 23, 2017, just days after Trump took office, CREW sued Trump for his violations of the Emoluments Clauses of the Constitution by illegally receiving payments from foreign and domestic governments. CREW won at various stages in federal trial and appeals courts, but thanks to Trump’s strategy of litigation delay, cases were still going after four years and ended up getting dismissed as moot by the Supreme Court.

Trump has already proven himself to be the most corrupt president in American history, and because he again refused to meaningfully divest from his businesses, he is once again in violation of the Emoluments Clauses, posing serious and escalating corruption and national security threats.

CREW continues to track and expose these egregious violations.

We fought to protect democracy over the short and long term.

CREW is committed to fighting for a democracy that works for the people, not just the powerful. That means envisioning solutions to the pressing issues facing our democracy over the long term, and responding in real time to threats as they arise.

For example, in advance of the 2024 election, CREW filed a brief in the Georgia Supreme Court on behalf of the Cobb County Board of Elections, which ultimately blocked a rule mandating the hand counting of ballots. This rule would have created confusion and disorder in the post-election period, potentially disrupting the certification process.

We’ve worked with organizations across the political spectrum and led coalitions demanding urgent action to crack down on corruption, including leading organizations to support popular reforms like banning congressional stock trading and joining with more than 50 organizations to endorse the TERM Act.

Working with coalitions and state partners allows CREW to lend expertise to a wider array of issues as our democracy is tested from all sides.