Peter Overby
Peter Overby has covered Washington power, money, and influence since a foresighted NPR editor created the beat in 1994.
Overby has covered scandals involving House Speaker Newt Gingrich, President Bill Clinton, lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others. He tracked the rise of campaign finance regulation as Congress passed campaign finance reform laws, and the rise of deregulation as Citizens United and other Supreme Court decisions rolled those laws back.
During President Trump's first year in office, Overby was on a team of NPR journalists covering conflicts of interest sparked by the Trump family business. He did some of the early investigations of dark money, dissecting a money network that influenced a Michigan judicial election in 2013, and — working with the Center for Investigative Reporting — surfacing below-the-radar attack groups in the 2008 presidential election.
In 2009, Overby co-reported Dollar Politics, a multimedia series on lawmakers, lobbyists and money as the Senate debated the Affordable Care Act. The series received an award for excellence from the Capitol Hill-based Radio and Television Correspondents Association. Earlier, he won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton for his coverage of the 2000 elections and 2001 Senate debate on campaign finance reform.
Prior to NPR, Overby was an editor/reporter for Common Cause Magazine, where he shared an Investigative Reporters and Editors award. He worked on daily newspapers for 10 years, and has freelanced for publications ranging from Utne Reader and the Congressional Quarterly Guide To Congress to the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post.
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The American system of financing campaigns is changing, as post-Watergate reforms crumble beneath a crush of unregulated money.
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Lawyers for Maryland and the District of Columbia argued in court Thursday that President Trump is violating the Constitution's Emoluments Clause. They left the preliminary hearing feeling confident. -
Over the past year, three lawsuits have alleged that President Trump is failing to obey the Constitution's anti-corruption clauses. One suit has been dismissed. Now another is about to get a hearing. -
Several lawsuits filed last year allege Donald Trump violated the Constitution's Emoluments Clause as he entangles the presidency with his businesses. One suit has been dismissed.
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Attorney Jeffrey Lovitky took it upon himself last year to sue Trump. "It is intimidating," he says. Still, he's suing again, saying he has a duty to push for compliance with various ethics rules. -
A federal judge in Manhattan has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that President Trump is violating the Constitution's foreign emoluments clause. The judge said the plaintiffs lack standing to sue.
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Judge George Daniels said it's up to Congress, not citizens, to enforce the Foreign Emoluments Clause. "Congress is not a potted plant," he said. -
Almost one year after President Trump took office, an international watchdog has found that Americans are much more cynical about corruption in the White House and government. -
Big-money donors can already donate anonymously through social welfare groups. If Congress keeps a provision in the House tax bill, it would allow charitable organizations to play politics. -
Ninety miles west of the White House, the National Park Service was selling Trump Wine at Shenandoah National Park — raising questions about Park Service rules and presidential influence.
