Category Archives: campaigns

Must-Read: “Secret donations are helping to boost President Trump’s agenda, fights with investigators”

July 30, 2017, 8:01 pmcampaignsRick Hasen

The great Fredreka Schouten of USA Today with this piece: Groups spending millions in anonymous donations are leading the outside efforts to either defend President Trump or sell his agenda with voters and Congress, despite the president’s repeated calls to… Continue reading

“5 Ways to Interfere in American Elections—Without Breaking the Law”

July 24, 2017, 12:40 pmcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Uri Friedman for The Atlantic.

Ronald Klain on Where Trump is Making His Mark: The Judiciary

July 21, 2017, 7:22 amcampaignsRick Hasen

Klain in WaPo: What about Trump? He not only put Neil M. Gorsuch in the Supreme Court vacancy created by Merrick Garland’s blocked confirmation, but he also selected 27 lower-court judges as of mid-July. Twenty-seven! That’s three times Obama’s total… Continue reading

“Hill investigators, Trump staff look to Facebook for critical answers in Russia probe”

July 20, 2017, 5:16 pmcampaigns, chicanery, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

CNN: There are two questions. One is: Was there coordination or collusion between the campaigns and these technology tools, which overwhelmed the search engine tools so that certain stories popped up at the top of your newsfeed. The second is,… Continue reading

Today’s Must Read: “Exclusive: Read the Previously Undisclosed Plan to Counter Russian Hacking on Election Day”

July 20, 2017, 7:44 amcampaigns, chicanery, election administration, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

Quite a wow from Time: President Obama’s White House quietly produced a plan in October to counter a possible Election Day cyber attack that included extraordinary measures like sending armed federal law enforcement agents to polling places, mobilizing components of… Continue reading

“Fake news microtargeting now part of Russia investigation”

July 18, 2017, 9:44 pmcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

KCRW- To the Point: “Hillary Clinton is running a child sex ring out of a pizza shop.” “Democrats want to impose Sharia law in Florida” These are just some of the headlines you may have seen online last fall. Among… Continue reading

“Yes. Violating Certain Campaign Finance Laws Is a Criminal Offense”

July 13, 2017, 12:36 pmcampaigns, conflict of interest lawsRick Hasen

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy for Bill Moyers.

“Trump Jr.’s Emails Gain Attention as FEC Eyes Foreign Influence Issue”

July 13, 2017, 7:09 amcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Ken Doyle reports for Bloomberg BNA.

Reuters: Trump Won’t Blame Trump Jr. For Taking Meeting with Russian Government for Supposed Dirt on Hillary

July 12, 2017, 3:01 pmcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Reuters: Trump Jr. eagerly agreed to meet the woman he was told was a Russian government lawyer who might have damaging information about Democratic rival Hillary Clinton as part of Moscow’s official support for his father’s presidential election campaign, according… Continue reading

Politifact Rates FOX News Eric Bolling Statement About Collusion “Mostly False”

July 12, 2017, 2:59 pmcampaignsRick Hasen

Here.

“Donald Trump Jr.’s Free Speech Defense: It’s as bogus as it sounds.”

July 12, 2017, 1:46 pmcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: Get ready for the latest defense for Donald Trump Jr.’s actions: He had a First Amendment right to collude with the Russians to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. This defense, which… Continue reading

Common Cause Files FEC and DOJ Complaints Against Donald Trump Jr.

July 11, 2017, 11:41 amcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

To read the DOJ complaint filed yesterday, click here. To read the FEC complaint filed yesterday, click here. To view the release online, click here.

Donald Trump Jr. Emails Paint Serious Case of Campaign Finance Violations

July 11, 2017, 8:28 amcampaignsRick Hasen

Just to recap where we are: It is illegal for a person to solicit a contribution to a campaign from a foreign individual or entity. To solicit: means to ask, request, or recommend, explicitly or implicitly, that another… Continue reading

Why Would Republican House Majority Leader Complain About Delay in Swearing in New Democratic CA Representative?

June 27, 2017, 4:00 pmcampaignsRick Hasen

LAT: Gomez, a current Democratic state assemblyman, told The Times after the election he would try to delay his Assembly resignation to vote on extending the state’s cap-and-trade program, which requires companies to buy permits to release greenhouse gas. Negotiations … Continue reading