All posts by Rick Hasen

“Multiple Trump Witnesses Have Received Significant Financial Benefits From His Businesses, Campaign”

June 3, 2024, 6:44 amchicaneryRick Hasen

ProPublica: Nine witnesses in the criminal cases against former President Donald Trump have received significant financial benefits, including large raises from his campaign, severance packages, new jobs, and a grant of shares and cash from Trump’s media company. The benefits… Continue reading

“Courting Risk: Corporate Underwrites & State Attorneys General”

June 3, 2024, 6:39 amcampaign finance, political polarizationRick Hasen

New report from CPA. From the foreword by Jacob Hacker & Paul Pierson: Political spending to support controversial policies and leaders thrives in darkness. And no spending has defied necessary scrutiny more than the bigger and bigger donations that public… Continue reading

“A Felon in the Oval Office Would Test the American System”

June 2, 2024, 10:01 amelection subversion riskRick Hasen

Peter Baker for the NYT: The revolutionary hero Patrick Henry knew this day would come. He might not have anticipated all the particulars, such as the porn actress in the hotel room and the illicit payoff to keep her quiet.… Continue reading

“Investors, worried they can’t beat lawmakers in stock market, copy them instead”

June 2, 2024, 9:59 amconflict of interest laws, legislation and legislaturesRick Hasen

WaPo: Members of Congress hear a lot of secrets: classified briefings, confidential previews of pending legislation and the private opinions of constituents, regulators, corporate executives and world leaders. Watchdog groups have long believed that somelawmakers use that information to make… Continue reading

“News site editor’s ties to Iran, Russia show misinformation’s complexity”

June 2, 2024, 9:57 amcheap speechRick Hasen

WaPo: Recently unearthed documents reveal that leaders of an online news site aimed at Americans have received money from both Russian and Iranian government media outlets, showing how widening geopolitical alliances are making it harder to identify and trace foreign… Continue reading

“GOP Continues to Wage War on Mail-In Votes in Pennsylvania”

June 2, 2024, 9:40 amabsentee ballotsRick Hasen

Frank Wilkinson Bloomberg column: In Pennsylvania, one of the paramount states of our mortal combat electoral system, voting by mail is legal. It’s also safe and readily administered and documented. As in other swing states won by Joe Biden,… Continue reading

We Have Our First “Armies of Lawyers” Stories for the 2024 Voting Wars Season

June 2, 2024, 9:38 amThe Voting WarsRick Hasen

Here at Axios.

“You Think You Know How Misinformation Spreads? Welcome to the Hellhole of Programmatic Advertising”

June 1, 2024, 11:13 amcheap speechRick Hasen

Steven Brill in Wired: In 2019, other than the government of Vladimir Putin, Warren Buffett was the biggest funder of Sputnik News, the Russian disinformation website controlled by the Kremlin. It wasn’t that the legendary champion of American capitalism had… Continue reading

Greg Sargent Presses Sen. Whitehouse on Senate Hearings About Supreme Court Conduct

June 1, 2024, 11:02 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Listen, beginning around 10:30 in the podcast.

“Ohio Legislature Passes Bill Ensuring Biden’s Spot on the Ballot”

May 31, 2024, 8:09 pmballot accessRick Hasen

NYT: The Ohio General Assembly has passed a legislative fix that ensures President Biden will be on the state’s ballot in November, averting a crisis that had been brewing for weeks over what is typically a minor procedural issue. The… Continue reading

“Likely Trump Hush Money Appeal Could Center on New York Election Law Theory”

May 31, 2024, 8:03 pmcampaign finance, chicaneryRick Hasen

National Law Journal: Erica Hashimoto, who directs the Georgetown Law Appellate Litigation Program, said Trump’s appellate lawyers could challenge the three “unlawful means” that the jury was told to consider. These three are violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act,… Continue reading

Randy Eliason: “I Was Skeptical of the ‘Zombie’ Trump Case. I Stand Corrected.”

May 31, 2024, 7:56 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

NYT oped: When it came to the New York prosecution of Donald Trump, I was skeptical. I was among the commentators who criticized the case. It was old, the so-called zombie case that had been kicking around for years.… Continue reading

“Michigan testimony points to ongoing state, federal probes into false electors”

May 31, 2024, 4:58 pmelection subversion riskRick Hasen

Detroit News: Testimony in a Michigan court Friday revealed that both state and federal investigators continue to probe certificates that falsely claimed Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, five months ahead of the next presidential election. On the fourth… Continue reading

“How a Mysterious Tip Led to Trump Conviction; When The Wall Street Journal uncovered an illicit payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, the now-former president tried to brush it aside. It didn’t work.”

May 31, 2024, 3:44 pmUncategorizedRick Hasen

The WSJ has owned this story from the beginning. And this inside look at the tips that led to yesterday’s historic conviction of a former president is a must-read. Riveting.