Category Archives: chicanery

“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

“FACT CHECK: Trump’s Misguided Defense Of Cohen Payments”

August 23, 2018, 7:35 amcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Peter Overby for NPR.

“The Campaign Finance Case Against Donald Trump is a Strong One: Just Ask John Edwards’ Prosecutors”

August 23, 2018, 7:18 amcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Paul Ryan for Just Security.

“Cohen charges: Federal investigation implicates others close to Trump”

August 22, 2018, 4:42 pmcampaign finance, chicaneryRick Hasen

USA Today reports.

“Georgia County Can’t Back Up Its Excuse For Plan To Disenfranchise Black Voters”

August 22, 2018, 2:00 pmchicaneryRick Hasen

Sam Levine: Officials in a majority-black Georgia county accused of trying to close almost all polling places to make it harder for black people to vote claimed last week that the locations couldn’t be used because of accessibility problems for… Continue reading

“DNC calls FBI after appearing to thwart hack of its voter database”

August 22, 2018, 1:32 pmchicaneryRick Hasen

CNN: The Democratic National Committee contacted the FBI on Tuesday after it detected what it believes was the beginning of a sophisticated attempt to hack into its voter database, a Democratic source tells CNN. The DNC was alerted in the… Continue reading