Category Archives: campaigns

“Trump to appear at fundraiser for allied super PAC”

May 30, 2018, 8:52 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Politico: President Donald Trump is plunging into the big-donor game, planning an appearance at a six-figure-a-head fundraiser benefiting his allied super PAC. Trump is expected to address America First Action’s leadership summit, according to the super PAC’s president, Brian Walsh.… Continue reading

“What Happened to Jill Stein’s Recount Millions?”

May 30, 2018, 7:35 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Daily Beast: But the opacity surrounding the expenditure of money—combined with the fact that a good chunk of the spending has come after all efforts to recount the vote were terminated—has fed criticism that Stein was more interested in boosting… Continue reading

“What Facebook’s New Political Ad System Misses”

May 29, 2018, 7:16 amcampaignsRick Hasen

ProPublica has this report, with the subhead: “Facebook announced a new system to make political ads more transparent. It’s got holes”

Today’s Must Read: “Inside the Pro-Trump Effort to Keep Black Voters From the Polls”

May 29, 2018, 6:46 amcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Bloomberg: Breitbart News landed an election scoop that went viral in August 2016: “Exclusive: ‘Black Men for Bernie’ Founder to End Democrat ‘Political Slavery’ of Minority Voters… by Campaigning for Trump.” If the splashy, counterintuitive story, which circulated on such… Continue reading

“Israeli Intelligence Firm’s Election-Meddling Analysis Comes Under Mueller’s Scrutiny”

May 26, 2018, 11:52 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

WSJ: Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators have obtained a presentation prepared by an Israel-based private intelligence firm that outlines ways in which Donald Trump’s 2016 election was helped by fake news and fake social-media accounts, according to people familiar with… Continue reading

“Russian Facebook ads inflamed Hispanic tensions over immigration after Trump election”

May 25, 2018, 8:03 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

USA Today: In the months after Donald Trump rode to victory while calling for mass deportations, Russian operatives bought dozens of Facebook ads targeted at the Hispanic community seeking to further inflame tensions already roiled by the campaign’s racially charged… Continue reading

Giuliani: Russian Emails Helping Trump Campaign “Sort of Like a Gift”; But Campaign Acceptance of Things of Value from Foreign Nationals is Illegal

May 22, 2018, 7:13 pmcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Oh my: In a recent interview with HuffPost, Giuliani initially disputed the notion that Trump’s daily citing, in the final month of his campaign, of Russian-aligned WikiLeaks and its release of Russian-stolen emails constituted “colluding” with Russia. “It is not,” … Continue reading

“Dem Super PAC Spending To Elevate GOP Hardliner In California House Race”

May 22, 2018, 4:45 pmcampaignsRick Hasen

TPM reports.

“Trump Jr. and Other Aides Met With Gulf Emissary Offering Help to Win Election”

May 20, 2018, 1:31 pmcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: Three months before the 2016 election, a small group gathered at Trump Tower to meet with Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son. One was an Israeli specialist in social media manipulation. Another was an emissary for two wealthy… Continue reading

“Senate intelligence leaders: Russians schemed to help Trump”

May 17, 2018, 7:54 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Politico: Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday endorsed the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 presidential election to help President Donald Trump and hurt Hillary Clinton. It’s a powerful bipartisan endorsement… Continue reading

Gorsuch-Backing, Garland-Fighting “Judicial Crisis Network” Conduit for Large, Anonymous Donation to Trump Inaugural Committee

May 16, 2018, 7:20 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

It‘s not just the Federalist Society. Turns out that the group with big, dark money supporting the nomination of Justice Gorsuch and blocking Judge Garland was vehicle for giving large, unreported donation to Trump inaugural committee. Read the … Continue reading

2016 Russian Facebook Election Ads Overwhelmingly About Race

May 13, 2018, 9:21 pmcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

USA Today: The Russian company charged with orchestrating a wide-ranging effort to meddle in the 2016 presidential election overwhelmingly focused its barrage of social media advertising on what is arguably America’s rawest political division: race. The roughly 3,500 Facebook ads… Continue reading

“Facebook is Banning Foreign Ad Buys Around an Irish Referendum. Could it Do the Same in the US?”

May 11, 2018, 8:33 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Corporate Counsel reports.

“Firm Tied to Russian Oligarch Made Payments to Michael Cohen”

May 9, 2018, 7:13 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: A shell company that Michael D. Cohen used to pay hush money to a pornographic film actress received payments totaling more than $1 million from an American company linked to a Russian oligarch and several corporations with business before… Continue reading