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Media Covers Anti-Trump Lawsuit, Fails to Disclose Liberal David Brock Organization Is Behind It

David Brock
David Brock / AP
April 18, 2017

Mainstream media outlets, including the Washington Post and the New York Times, reported on a new development in a lawsuit against President Donald Trump, but none disclosed that the nonprofit behind it is a left-wing legal advocacy group run by a controversial Clinton ally.

The Washington Post first reported Monday night that Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has added two new plaintiffs to its lawsuit aiming to force Trump into divesting from his business interests. The paper referred to CREW as simply "a D.C.-based watchdog group."

The New York Times likewise ran with the headline "Watchdog Group Expands Lawsuit Against Trump." In its lede, the paper described CREW as "a legal watchdog group."

Neither piece acknowledged that CREW is a left-leaning organization with a long history of targeting conservative politicians but only a handful of liberals. The nonprofit's partisan tendencies have only increased since 2014, when longtime Clinton ally and liberal operative David Brock was elected the chairman of its board of directors.

Brock oversees a vast network of pro-Clinton and left-wing organizations, including Media Matters for America, ShareBlue (in Brock's words, the "Breitbart of the left"), American Bridge, and CREW. Documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon at a January conference held by Brock reveal that CREW's ethics lawsuits are part of a coordinated Democratic effort to take down Trump.

Both news stories also failed to discuss the partisan nature of the organization joining CREW's lawsuit, the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC). The Post described ROC as "a nonprofit association that says its members include more than 25,000 restaurant workers, 200-plus restaurants, and thousands of people who eat in restaurants," while the Times simply called it a "restaurant organization."

But conservative critics note that ROC is a liberal activist group. At a March labor rally, ROC founder Saru Jayaraman told supporters that they should oppose any labor nominee Donald Trump puts forward, no matter how reasonable and qualified they are.

"It doesn't matter who else he nominates, we will still resist," she shouted. "It doesn't matter how reasonable the other person is, or how much less crazy they are, we're still going to resist."