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.
-
When President Trump said the money didn't come from his campaign, he was making the wrong defense. The problem is that it didn't come from the campaign. -
A 48-page indictment detailing how Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and his wife diverted campaign money for family trips and household expenses was released by the Department of Justice on Tuesday. -
The Trump campaign says former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman broke a nondisclosure agreement. But an employment lawyer says, "She's going to be able to continue with what she's doing." -
Kavanugh's decisions have effectively pulled the campaign finance system rightward, letting in more money with less regulation. -
Noah Bookbinder, of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the case "closes one of the loopholes that has allowed the system to get out of control." -
A group of high-profile lobbyists and lawyers who worked for Ukraine's former pro-Russian government maybe under investigation for violating a law requiring lobbyists for foreign governments to register with the U.S. government.
-
As a federal appeals judge, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh upheld some campaign finance laws while slamming their underlying principles.
-
A federal judge has rejected a motion from the Department of Justice to dismiss the suit. The lawsuit alleges Trump's businesses, especially his hotel in D.C., violate the Constitution. -
The Trump administration has weakened a donor disclosure rule for tax-exempt groups, possibly letting more foreign cash into U.S. politics — and complicating the confirmation of a new IRS commissioner.
-
Advocates say it's a First Amendment issue. Critics say it's opening the door to secret money from foreign sources.
