Issue One Statement on President Trump’s nomination of Trey Trainor to the Federal Election Commission

In response to President Trump nominating Trey Trainor to be a commissioner of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Issue One Chief of Policy, Programs and Strategy Meredith McGehee released the following statement:

This nomination has White House Counsel Don McGahn’s fingerprints all over it. Issue One calls on the U.S. Senate to publicly and fully vet the nomination of Texas lawyer Trey Trainor to the FEC.

His prior stances on the regulation of dark money, his clashes with the Texas Ethics Commission and support for the Texas Senate defunding the body raise serious concerns as to whether he will be fully committed to enforcing the law, or like former FEC commissioner Don McGahn, more interested in nullifying long-standing election regulations and laws.

In addition, should Trainor be confirmed, it is imperative that he recuse himself from pending matters before the FEC involving the 2016 Trump campaign and any allied super PACs with which he may have been involved.

Issue One urges Congress to pass the bipartisan, bicameral Restoring Integrity to America’s Elections Act that would fix the gridlocked-by-design FEC. That measure would improve the nominating process for commissioners and establish a blue-ribbon advisory panel of unbiased experts to recommend qualified individuals to the president, with the intention of vetting the potential commissioners before they are nominated.