Acosta, Alexander

Adams, John

Alito, Samuel

Bork, Robert

Chertoff, Michael

Clinton, Hillary

Cohen, Michael

Collyer, Rosemary

DeVos, Betsy

Flynn, Michael

Franklin, Benjamin

Garland, Merrick

Gerry, Elbridge

Ginsburg, Ruth Bader

Hamilton, Alexander

Jay, John

Jefferson, Thomas

Johnson, Lyndon

Kennedy, Anthony

Kislyak, Sergey

Kobach, Kris

Koch Brothers

Kushner, Jared

Madison, James

Manafort, Paul

Mueller, Robert

Nixon, Richard

Obama, Barack

Page, Carter

Papadopoulos, George

Price, Tom

Reagan, Ronald

Roberts, John

Roosevelt, Franklin D.

Sater, Felix

Scalia, Antonin

Schiller, Keith

Sessions, Jeff

Steele, Christopher

Stone, Roger

Thomas, Clarence

Tillerson, Rex

Trump, Donald

Trump, Donald Jr.

Trump, Eric

Trump, Ivanka

Warren, Earl

Washington, George

Zinke, Ryan

Glossary of Terms

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Acosta, Alexander

Secretary of Labor under President Donald Trump

Acosta was dean of the Florida International University law school. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he clerked for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito when he was a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He served on the National Labor Relations Board under President George W. Bush, as the head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, and as U.S. attorney in Miami.

The son of Cuban immigrants, Acosta serves on the American Bar Association's Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities. He has defended the rights of Muslim Americans, including criticizing France when it introduced a ban on certain religious attire.

While at the Justice Department, Acosta wrote a letter to a federal judge in Ohio supporting a Republican voter caging effort just before the 2004 presidential election. Bush won Ohio.

When running the Justice Department's civil rights division, he was found by the department's inspector general to have ignored warnings about a subordinate accused of illegally using political affiliations to vet potential civil rights attorneys.

As U.S. attorney for Southern Florida, Acosta gave a plea deal to billionaire investor and political donor Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of having sex with dozens of underage girls. Under the plea, Epstein served about a year in prison. Epstein was a member of Mar-A-Lago - Trump's Florida home and golf club.

For more, read the Guardian story.

For more on Acosta's support of voter caging, read the McClatchy DC Bureau story.

For more on Acosta's issue with politically-motivated hiring at the Justice Department, read the Guardian report.

Adams, John

Second president of the United States.

Alito, Samuel

Supreme Court justice since 2006.

Bork, Robert

(Coming)

Chertoff, Michael

Michael Chertoff was the Secretary of Homeland Security 2005 - 2009.

In 2009 he founded the Chertoff Group lobbying company. One of the company's clients was OSI Systems - the parent company of Rapiscan Systems which makes one of the two types of body scanners used at U.S. airports. In 2011 all 250 Rapiscan scanners - which had cost $180,000 each - were removed from airports due to their inability to blur images that depicted passengers' bodies.

Clinton, Hillary

(Coming)

Cohen, Michael

(Coming)

Collyer, Rosemary

United States District judge. Appointed in 2003 by Pres. George W. Bush.

Click here to read more.

DeVos, Betsy

Secretary of Education under President Donald Trump.

She had no prior professional education experience. She is a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party.

She chaired the American Federation for Children, a dark money group that supports school voucher programs and charter schools nationwide, funneling donations from undisclosed sources to candidates who support school privatization, mostly at the state level. 

DeVos' father, Edgar Prince, co-founded the Family Research Council and the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, major financial backers of the religious right. Her husband, Richard DeVos Jr., is heir to the Amway multi-level marketing company fortune. The couple founded the Windquest Group investment firm.

DeVos and her relatives - including her brother Erik Prince, co-founder of the Blackwater private security company - have been major donors to the Republican Party for decades.

For more about Betsy DeVos, read the Washington Post story.

For more on the DeVos family donations, see this Center for Responsive Politics report.

Flynn, Michael

President Donald Trump's first National Security Adviser.

Resigned less than a month into the administration after revelations that he discussed foreign policy with Russia before the Trump had taken office.

Click here to read more on Flynn's connections to Russia.

Franklin, Benjamin

(Coming)

Garland, Merrick

In March 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who had died in February.

Garland is a justice on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals.

Republicans in the Senate refused to act on the nomination, stating it was too late in Obama's term and that Congress should wait for the next president to appoint Scalia's successor 10 months later.

For more, read the Lobby99 news section on the courts.

Gerry, Elbridge

Elbridge Gerry was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He also was a member of the Constitutional Convention that created the U.S. Constitution, but was one of three who refused to sign it.

My principal objections to the plan are, that there is no adequate provision for a representation of the people; that they have no security for the right of election; that some of the powers of the legislature are ambiguous, and others indefinite and dangerous; that the executive is blended with, and will have an undue influence over, the legislature; that the judicial department will be oppressive; that treaties of the highest importance may be formed by the President, with the advice of two thirds of a quorum of the Senate; and that the system is without the security of a bill of rights.

Nevertheless, he was elected to the first two Congresses.

He then was elected governor of Massachusetts, where he manipulated the state's redistricting to benefit his Democratic-Republican Party. The practice would take on his name - and now is called gerrymandering.

Gerry later became President James Madison's second vice president.

Ginsburg, Ruth Bader

Supreme Court justice since 1993

Hamilton, Alexander

The first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, appointed by Pres. George Washington.

He also was one of the authors of the Federalist Papers.

Jay, John

The first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, appointed by Pres. George Washington.

He also was one of the authors of the Federalist Papers.

Jefferson, Thomas

Third president of the United States.

Jefferson is generally recognized as the author of the Declaration of Independence.

Johnson, Lyndon

Lyndon Johnson was the 36th president of the United States.

Kennedy, Anthony

Supreme Court justice since 1988.

Kislyak, Sergey

Russian ambassador to the United States.

Kobach, Kris

Kansas Secretary of State 2011-present.

In 2017, Kobach was named by President Donald Trump to be vice chair of his Election Integrity Commission.

Kobach was one of the prime architects of Arizona SB-1070 - the 2010 Arizona law requiring police to determine the immigration status of someone arrested or detained when there is "reasonable suspicion" they are not in the U.S. legally.

Koch Brothers

Charles Koch and David Koch are the owners of Koch Industries.

The Kansas-based company makes much of its money in energy production, but subsidiaries also manufacture products with mainstream name brands, including Quilted Northern, Dixie, Brawny, Zee, Sparkle, and Stainmaster.

In 1980, David Kock was the Libertarian Party's vice-presidential candidate. The party's platform included abolishing...

The platform called for privatizing all public schools, roads, railroads, inland waterways, and "the distribution system that brings water to industry, agriculture and households."

It also called for eliminating these agencies...

The Koch brothers have continued that mission of achieving those goals by contributing and raising billions of dollars for conservative organizations and to help the campaigns of Republican candidates for law-making offices. They were expected to spend almost $1 billion in the 2016 presidential election.

They also are strong supporters American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). A Koch Industries rep has served on ALEC's Private Enterprise Advisory Council for more than 20 years, and the company is believed be on of ALEC's biggest funders (although the group is not required to disclose its donors).

For more understanding about the Koch brothers, read this BillMoyers.com story.

The company's website is www.KochInd.com.

Kushner, Jared

Ivanka Trump's husband.

Donald Trump made Kushner a senior adviser when Trump became president.

Madison, James

James Madison was the forth U.S. president.

Also...

Manafort, Paul

Former campaign manager for Donald Trump. He left the campaign in August, 2016 due to his connections with Russia.

Mueller, Robert

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director from 2001 - 2013.

In May 2017, after President Donald Trump fired FBI Direct James Comey, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller be special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election.

Nixon, Richard

(Coming)

Obama, Barack

Barack Obama is the 44th United States president. He was elected in 2008, and re-elected in 2012.

Page, Carter

Former member of Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

Papadopoulos, George

Foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

In Oct. 2017 he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about meetings he had with Russian contacts. He had said those meetings took place before his involvement with the Trump campaign.

He agreed to cooperate with the investigation into Trump's Russian connections.

Price, Tom

Representative from Georgia from 2005 - 2017.

Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 2017 under Pres. Donald Trump. Price resigned in Sept. 2017.

Reagan, Ronald

Ronald Reagan was the 40th president of the United States.

Roberts, John

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court since 2005.

Roosevelt, Franklin D.

(Coming)

Sater, Felix

(Coming)

Scalia, Antonin

Supreme Court justice from 1986 to 2016. He died in office on Feb. 13, 2016.

Schiller, Keith

President Donald Trump's former personal bodyguard.

Sessions, Jeff

Jeff Sessions was a U.S. senator from 1997 - 2017.

In 2017 he left the Senate to become Attorney General.

Steele, Christopher

(Coming)

Stone, Roger

Friend of Donald Trump and part of Paul Manafort's lobbying firm.

Thomas, Clarence

Supreme Court justice since 1991

Tillerson, Rex

Secretary of State under President Donald Trump from February 2017 to March 2018.

At the time of his nomination, Tillerson had no government or diplomatic experience. He spent his entire career at ExxonMobil - starting as an engineer in 1975 until being named Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in 2006.

He does, however, have strong business ties to leaders around the world, most notably Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two first met in 1999, while Tillerson was responsible for Exxon's holdings in Russia.

In 2011 the company signed an agreement to explore and drill in the arctic and Siberia with oil company Rosneft, which is majority owned by the Russian government. The deal - which could generate up to $500 billion for Exxon - was put on hold because of U.S. and European Union sanctions against Russia for its invasion of the Ukraine.

The State Department helps decide on and administer sanctions.

ExxonMobil has given nearly $2 million to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) since 1998. Exxon representative Cynthia Bergman has a seat on ALEC's Private Enterprise Advisory Council.

For more, read the New York Times story.

Trump, Donald

Donald Trump is the 45th United States president.

Trump, Donald Jr.

Donald Trump's oldest son.

Trump, Eric

Donald Trump's son.

Trump, Ivanka

Donald Trump's daughter.

Warren, Earl

Supreme Court justice from 1953 to 1969. Warren was Chief Justice.

Washington, George

George Washington was the first president of the United States.

Zinke, Ryan

Representative from Montana from 2015 - 2017. He previously had served in the Montana state Senate.

In 2017 he became Secretary of the Interior under President Donald Trump.

His previous record runs counter to the goals of the department he was named to run.

As a candidate for Montana Lt. Governor in 2012, Zinke is said to have signed the Montana Voter and Candidate Pledge. The pledge, among other things, demands opposition to Department of Interior agencies. Zinke has not acknowledged or denied signing the pledge. He has claimed that he doesn't remember signing it.

The oil and gas industry has contributed more than $345,000 to Zinke, who supports opening up public lands to oil and gas drilling.

The League of Conservation Voters has given Zinke a lifetime score of 3 percent. Zinke has supported...

His actions on climate change contradict his 2010 position in which he cosigned a letter to President Obama and Congress calling for "comprehensive clean energy jobs and climate change legislation." The letter also stated...

"Our nation's most respected military leaders recognize that climate change is a threat multiplier for instability in the most volatile regions of the world. The climate change threat presents significant national security challenges for the United States - challenges that should be addressed today, because they will almost certainly get worse if we delay."

He now claims to be skeptical of Global Warming. In a 2014 Congressional debate, he said "It's not a hoax, but it's not proven science either."

Zinke is a retired Navy SEAL.

For more, read the Los Angeles Times story.

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