Category Archives: chicanery

“Trump waives millions in claims against Stormy Daniels in new fallout from illegal payoff”

September 10, 2018, 2:08 amcampaign finance, chicaneryJustin Levitt

LA Times: President Trump has agreed to give up his right to pursue millions of dollars in damages against Stormy Daniels in a move to kill litigation over an illegal payoff to the adult-film star. The maneuver marks a… Continue reading

“Beto O’Rourke Campaign Says Texts About Illegal Voting Were Sent by an ‘Impostor’”

September 6, 2018, 7:40 amchicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: Voters in Texas received a mysterious text message on Wednesday, one that purported to be from a campaign volunteer for Beto O’Rourke, the Democrat who is running against Ted Cruz for Senate this fall. “We are in search of… Continue reading

“Judge orders independent candidate off the ballot in Va. congressional race, citing ‘out and out fraud”

September 5, 2018, 1:20 pmcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

WaPo: A Richmond Circuit Court judge on Wednesday ordered independent candidate Shaun Brown removed from the ballot in Virginia’s 2nd District congressional race, finding that her qualifying petition was tainted by “forgery” and “out and out fraud.” Many of those… Continue reading

“A Republican congressman helped a rival collect signatures to get on the ballot. Some of those signatures were fake.”

September 4, 2018, 8:02 pmcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

WaPo: Rep. Scott W. Taylor (R-Va.) sat in the backroom of his campaign office in a strip mall. Mini-blinds closed, a modest “Scott Taylor U.S. Congress” sign taped to the door was all that identified his reelection headquarters. Inside, a… Continue reading

“Lobbyist Illegally Helped Russian Buy Trump Inauguration Tickets”

August 31, 2018, 2:19 pmcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: An American lobbyist who worked with Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs pleaded guilty on Friday to failing to register as an agent of a foreign power and disclosed to prosecutors that he helped a Russian political operative and a Ukranian… Continue reading

“Father of Alison Lundergan Grimes indicted in campaign finance conspiracy”

August 31, 2018, 2:09 pmcampaign finance, chicaneryRick Hasen

Kentucky.com: Longtime Kentucky Democratic operatives Jerry Lundergan and Dale Emmons were indicted by a federal grand jury in Lexington Friday for allegedly making illegal contributions to the 2014 U.S. Senate campaign of Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes and then… Continue reading

North Carolina–DOJ: “Nineteen Foreign Nationals Charged for Voting in 2016 Election”

August 24, 2018, 12:17 pmchicanery, election administrationRick Hasen

Press release: Robert J. Higdon, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina today announced that nineteen foreign nationals were charged with, among other crimes, voting by alien for their actions prior to and on November 8,… Continue reading

“Trump, Cohen and campaign finance: Who’s right and what you need to know about elections, money”

August 24, 2018, 8:34 amcampaign finance, chicaneryRick Hasen

Fredreka Schouten for USA Today.

“Trump says Michael Cohen didn’t commit crimes. He’s wrong.”

August 24, 2018, 8:23 amcampaign finance, chicaneryRick Hasen

Very nice explainer from Trevor Potter in WaPo.

“Those payments to women were unseemly. That doesn’t mean they were illegal.”

August 24, 2018, 8:20 amcampaign finance, chicaneryRick Hasen

Brad Smith writes for WaPo. See also this piece at Reason. I disagree with Brad, for reasons I’ve given most recently in this Slate piece from last week and my ELB Podcast with Bob Bauer.

“BREAKING: Elections consultant fired over proposal to close Georgia precincts”

August 23, 2018, 6:57 pmchicaneryRick Hasen

AJC: The elections consultant who proposed closing most voting locations in a majority African-American rural Georgia county has been fired ahead of a vote Friday on consolidating precincts. The proposal to shutter seven of the county’s nine precincts before… Continue reading

Will David Pecker Implicate Trump?

August 23, 2018, 10:07 amcampaign finance, chicaneryRick Hasen

Yesterday I suggested David Pecker might be next to take a plea deal, but it turns out he got something better: immunity. and it looks like he’s implicating the president (from the WSJ): David Pecker, the chief executive… Continue reading

ELB Podcast, Season 2, Episode 2: Bob Bauer: Unpacking the Trump Campaign Finance Allegations, From Michael Cohen to Trump Tower

August 23, 2018, 9:58 amcampaign finance, campaigns, chicanery, ELB PodcastRick Hasen

Does Michael Cohen’s guilty plea to campaign finance violations implicate the President in criminal campaign finance activity? What about the defenses that the President has raised to these charges? Did Trump or the Trump campaign violate the prohibition on soliciting… Continue reading