{"id":169717,"date":"2015-08-30T10:08:09","date_gmt":"2015-08-30T10:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/article\/us-groups-call-for-releasing-results-of-probe-into-lawmakers-azerbaijan-trip\/"},"modified":"2021-10-29T12:34:08","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T08:34:08","slug":"us-groups-call-for-releasing-results-of-probe-into-lawmakers-azerbaijan-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/us-groups-call-for-releasing-results-of-probe-into-lawmakers-azerbaijan-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"US groups call for releasing results of probe into lawmakers\u2019 Azerbaijan trip"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/az\/32739\/\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-32739\"\/><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/az\/32739\/\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-32739\"\/><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\n  On August 26, a coalition of civic organizations and academics sent a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ethics calling for releasing the results of an investigation into all-expense-paid trips to Azerbaijan taken by 10 congressmen in 2013, Washington DC-based non-profit organization<br \/>\n  <b><br \/>\n    <i><br \/>\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizen.org\/pressroom\/pressroomredirect.cfm?ID=5622\"><br \/>\n        Public Citizen<br \/>\n      <\/a><br \/>\n    <\/i><br \/>\n  <\/b><br \/>\n  reported on August 26.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  In May,<br \/>\n  <i><br \/>\n    <b><br \/>\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/investigations\/10-members-of-congress-took-trip-secretly-funded-by-foreign-government\/2015\/05\/13\/76b55332-f720-11e4-9030-b4732caefe81_story.html?hpid=z1\"><br \/>\n        The Washington Post<br \/>\n      <\/a><br \/>\n    <\/b><br \/>\n  <\/i><br \/>\n  <i><\/i><br \/>\n  reported that the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (\u201cSOCAR\u201d) funded an all-expenses-paid trip in May 2013 to a Baku conference for ten US congressmen and 32 staff members.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The US newspaper obtained a confidential<br \/>\n  <i><br \/>\n    <b><br \/>\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/oce.house.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n        Office of Congressional Ethics<br \/>\n      <\/a><br \/>\n    <\/b><br \/>\n  <\/i><br \/>\n  report claiming that three former top aides to US President Barack Obama appeared as speakers at the May 2013 event, titled \u201cU.S.-Azerbaijan Convention: Vision for the Future.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Lawmakers and their staff members allegedly received hundreds of thousands of dollars\u2019 worth of travel expenses, silk scarves, crystal tea sets and Azerbaijani rugs valued at $2,500 to $10,000, according to the ethics report. Airfare for the lawmakers and some of their spouses cost $112,899, travel invoices reportedly show.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Earlier in August, the Ethics Committee cleared the deputies of wrongdoing following an extensive investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) and refused to release the findings.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The letter signed by ten US watchdog groups read the following: \u201cWe are concerned about the Committee\u2019s unprecedented decision not to release the OCE\u2019s findings in circumstances where the Members under investigation remain within the Ethics Committee jurisdiction. This decision is especially concerning because the Committee itself played a decisive role in approving the Members\u2019 travel to Azerbaijan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>  The letter is signed by the Campaign Legal Center, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Common Cause, Demand Progress, Democracy 21, the National Legal &amp; Policy Center and Public Citizen as well as scholars Thomas Mann, Norm Ornstein and James Thurber.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The letter concludes: \u201cIt is unknown whether the OCE\u2019s findings shed any light on the role of the Committee in approving these trips. \u2026 It appears on the basis of the information contained in the Committee\u2019s Report that the Committee did not comply with the applicable law and rules pertaining to its request that the OCE \u2018cease and refer\u2019 the Azerbaijan matter.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On August 26, a coalition of civic organizations and academics sent a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ethics calling for releasing the results of an investigation into all-expense-paid trips to Azerbaijan taken by 10 congressmen in 2013, Washington DC-based non-profit organization Public Citizen reported on August 26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":32739,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-169717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - 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