A ChapinBlog. … Continue reading
Category Archives: chicanery
The Chicago Tribune reports. … Continue reading
Courier Journal: The Bullitt County Clerk’s Office rejected claims from Rebecca Johnson’s campaign that her defeat was caused by voter fraud in Tuesday night’s special election. “There was no voter fraud,” Bullitt County Clerk Kevin Mooney told Courier Journal. “While … Continue reading
Release: Today, Common Cause filed complaints with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging reason to believe that American Media, Inc.’s August 2016 payment of $150,000 to former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal, to buy and bury her … Continue reading
I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: The Mueller indictment of 13 Russian nationals for interfering with the 2016 U.S. presidential election offers a remarkably detailed account of a complex plot to sow discord and influence the presidential contest in … Continue reading
More from the indictment: … Continue reading
Here’s the indictment, and a few snippets I’ve posted on Twitter: From the indictment (https://t.co/JFEIwHoJL4) pic.twitter.com/S5UAEkP7sF — Rick Hasen (@rickhasen) February 16, 2018 Election-law related charges pic.twitter.com/wnoiq94HIi — Rick Hasen (@rickhasen) February 16, 2018 Yet only some of these ads … Continue reading
NYT: But Mr. Cohen’s assertions left many questions unanswered, including whether the payment was truly a personal gift by him or whether he was reimbursed by some other party, like Mr. Trump or an associate of Mr. Trump. In a … Continue reading
WSJ reports. More at TIME. Still MORE from CNN. … Continue reading
Maggie Haberman for the NYT: Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, said on Tuesday that he had paid $130,000 out of his own pocket to a pornographic-film actress who had once claimed to have had an affair with … Continue reading
NYT: Russia is already meddling in the midterm elections this year, the top American intelligence officials said on Tuesday, warning that Moscow is using a digital strategy to worsen the country’s political and social divisions. Russia is using fake accounts … Continue reading
Politico on Mike Roman, of New Black Panthers and Koch Brothers fame. … Continue reading
Bryan Lowry for the KC Star: Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach sits on the advisory board of a Missouri-based veterans’ group that received a failing grade from the Better Business Bureau this week. Kobach, a candidate for Kansas governor, … Continue reading
The great Pam Fessler reports for NPR (before she goes on a year-long book leave): It was clear that many of those gathering in Orlando already have protections in place and are well aware of the risks. But some county … Continue reading
This is something from the Tampa Bay Times: IT’S BEEN MORE THAN A DECADE since South Florida Rep. Mark Foley was forced out of Congress for sending sexual text messages to teenage boys. But Foley tapped his congressional campaign fund to dine on … Continue reading
Release: Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) released a report detailing the vulnerabilities of American elections to foreign interference that were exposed in the 2016 presidential election. The report outlines solutions for addressing this most urgent issue, which would protect the integrity … Continue reading
AP: Gov. Roy Cooper wants the legal wheels to spin faster after the North Carolina Supreme Court tossed out laws governing the makeup of a combined state elections and ethics board, hoping that will let him seat a new elections … Continue reading
CBS News reports. … Continue reading
Details to RSVP. … Continue reading
BBC: Mike Pompeo told the BBC there had been no significant diminishing of Russian attempts at subversion in Europe and the US…. Asked if his concerns extended to the upcoming US mid-term elections in November, he replied: “Of course. I … Continue reading
Important analysis by Thomas Frampton at the Harvard Law Review blog: In August 2016, federal law enforcement and intelligence officials were alerted to an unsettling possibility: then-candidate Trump’s personal indiscretions might leave him susceptible to the threat of Russian blackmail. We … Continue reading
Letter. … Continue reading
WaPo: Russian operatives used Facebook to publicize 129 phony event announcements during the 2016 presidential campaign, drawing the attention of nearly 340,000 users — many of whom said they were planning to attend — according to a company document released by the … Continue reading
Evan Osnos for the New Yorker. … Continue reading
Philip Bump for WaPo: That idea was bolstered by a report from Yahoo News this week that investigators working with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III were talking to staffers for the Republican National Committee who worked with the Trump campaign on … Continue reading
Politico: States rushing to guard their 2018 elections against hackers may be on a waiting list for up to nine months for the Department of Homeland Security’s most exhaustive security screening, according to government officials familiar with the situation. That … Continue reading
NPR reports. … Continue reading
The judge’s order saying the court has no jurisdiction relies on Alabama Code 17-16-44, which says that courts don’t have jurisdiction to hear election challenges unless expressly provided for by statute. As I explained on election night, candidates for federal … Continue reading
Letter begins: I am writing to express my concern regarding public statements each of you have made regarding my work on the staff of the Government Accountability Board (G.A.B.) and as Interim Administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Specifically, each … Continue reading
Washington Post: The first email arrived in the inbox of CounterPunch, a left-leaning American news and opinion website, at 3:26 a.m. — the middle of the day in Moscow. “Hello, my name is Alice Donovan and I’m a beginner freelance … Continue reading
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill announced that the official certification of Doug Jones as the winner will be Dec. 28, allowing Jones to be sworn in when the Senate reconvenes on January 3. Roy Moore has not yet conceded … Continue reading
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: State Attorney General Brad Schimel said he will be taking “a more expansive look into whether there were other illegal activities going on” at the now-defunct Government Accountability Board. Schimel made his comments about the old GAB during a television interview … Continue reading
HuffPost: Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) asked Farr to clarify what he knew about the scheme, and Farr responded on Tuesday, disputing Hebert’s recollection. Farr acknowledged, however, that he participated in a meeting about “ballot security” just before the 1990 election. He said … Continue reading
FOX10: In a press release Thursday morning, Secretary of State John Merrill said the man who was the subject of a voter fraud investigation is, in fact, a registered voter in the state of Alabama. Read the full press release … Continue reading
NBC News: Thousands of Russian trolls targeted national events during the 2016 U.S. presidential election to infiltrate the online conversations of millions of Americans, according to a new analysis of a database of recovered troll tweets by NBC News. The … Continue reading
Release: Lawmakers in the Senate introduced legislation today that would help states prevent cyberattacks on election infrastructure and enhance confidence in vote totals from electronic voting machines. The bill comes amid ongoing revelations about Russia’s unprecedented attempts to interfere in … Continue reading
Oped from head of Wisconsin’s League of Women Voters: It is troubling to see the John Doe investigations and fallout back in the news, as it has escalated to the point where legislative leaders are calling for Elections Commission Administrator … Continue reading
Memo. More at Take Care: In all of the discussion about the political ramifications of yesterday’s special election in Alabama, let’s not lose sight of the most important point: there was an election. That shouldn’t be taken for granted. We were dangerously … Continue reading
Extensive WaPo report: Nearly a year into his presidency, Trump continues to reject the evidence that Russia waged an assault on a pillar of American democracy and supported his run for the White House. The result is without obvious parallel … Continue reading
Unconscionable. (more here) … Continue reading
The latest on Wisconsin’s never ending John Doe controversy. … Continue reading
David Keating and Paul Jossey in The Hill: Various interests have seized on Russian chicanery to push “reforms” lacking priority in less neurotic times. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) sent a “Dear Colleague” letter seeking new rules for online ads. The resulting bill … Continue reading
BuzzFeed: The Trump administration has rejected a sweeping Russian proposal seeking a mutual ban on foreign political interference, three senior US administration officials tell BuzzFeed News. Russia first broached the subject in July, when one of Vladimir Putin’s top diplomats arrived … Continue reading
What a lede on this NYT story; Vanessa Alarid was a lobbyist in New Mexico when she asked a lawmaker over drinks one night if she could count on his support for a bill that appeared to be coming down … Continue reading
The latest: It will be ten months in prison, a year of supervised released, 400 hours of community service and a $200,000 fine for Bloomingburg developer Shalom Lamm who pleaded guilty in June to conspiring to corrupt an election. As … Continue reading
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: State Attorney General Brad Schimel has recommended contempt proceedings for a prosecutor and eight other officials over their handling of material from a secret probe of Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign. In a 91-page report made public Wednesday, the Republican attorney … Continue reading
Greeley Tribune with the latest on this saga: Yet, Curtis said in court Wednesday, although he concluded he must have filled out the ballot and submitted it in an envelope with his ex-wife’s name on it, he had no memory … Continue reading
See pp. 31-32. … Continue reading
WAAY: Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill confirms some sample ballots in one Alabama county were marked for Democratic US Senate candidate Doug Jones. This comes after Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore’s campaign wrote an open letter to Merrill … Continue reading
Seriously? … Continue reading