[EL] ELB News and Commentary 6/17/19

[Rick Hasen]

“Trump says supporters might ‘demand’ that he serve more than two terms as president”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105640>
Posted on June 16, 2019 9:14 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105640> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-says-supporters-might-demand-that-he-serve-more-than-two-terms-as-president/2019/06/16/4b6b9ae2-9041-11e9-b570-6416efdc0803_story.html?utm_term=.ace5faa25925>

President Trump on Sunday floated the possibility of staying in office longer than two terms, suggesting in a morning tweet that his supporters might “demand that I stay longer.”

The president, who will kick off his reelection campaign on Tuesday with an event in Orlando, has previously joked about serving more than two terms, including at an event in April<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-again-jokes-about-staying-on-as-president-for-more-than-two-terms/2019/04/18/05a5afce-6207-11e9-9ff2-abc984dc9eec_story.html>, when he told a crowd that he might remain in the Oval Office “at least for 10 or 14 years.”

The 22nd Amendment of the Constitution limits the presidency to two terms.
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


Must-read Politico Deep Dive into Brian Newby, a Kobach Protege Who is Causing Major Problems with Election Administration as Executive Director of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105638>
Posted on June 15, 2019 12:51 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105638> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Read this quite damning portrait<https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/15/federal-election-brian-newby-2020-1365841>:

 A tiny federal agency that plays a crucial role in assisting the nation’s local election supervisors is gripped by a leadership crisis that hassparked concerns that it is unprepared to play its role in protecting the 2020 presidential race from foreign interference.

Brian Newby, the executive director of the Election Assistance Commission, has blocked important work on election security, micromanaged employees’ interactions with partners outside the agency and routinely ignored staff questions, according to former election officials, former federal employees and others who regularly work with the agency.

In doing so, Newby has not only frustrated his own employees and helped create a staff exodus — nine EAC office directors have left since Newby arrived — but also angered cybersecurityexperts, election integrityactivists and state and local officials. His reputation in the elections community conjures up “the eye-roll emoji,” said one former election official. “Everybody kind of puts up with him.”

POLITICO’s seven sources — all of whom requested anonymity to speak candidly — described Newby, a Republican, as too beholden to the EAC’s GOP chairwoman, Christy McCormick, who masterminded his appointment and later spent years denying the reality of Russian interferencein the 2016 election. They also said that Newby alienated his agency almost immediately by wading into the issue of a citizenship requirement for voter eligibility — and that he has failed to regain their trust ever since.
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, election administration<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, Election Assistance Commission<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=34>, The Voting Wars<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=60>


“Top Trump Census Official Communicated With GOP Operative About Citizenship Question”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105636>
Posted on June 15, 2019 12:48 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105636> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Mark Joseph Stern <https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/06/hofeller-census-citizenship-trump-christa-jones.html> for Slate:

On Friday night, however, voting rights advocates released new evidence connecting Hofeller directly to the Census Bureau. The evidence comes from Hofeller’s hard drives, which his daughter gave to a voting rights group<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/05/thomas-hofeller-secret-gerrymandering-files-north-carolina.html> after his death. It reveals that Christa Jones, current chief of staff to Census Bureau deputy director Ron Jarmin, personally communicated with Hofeller, emailing him about the citizenship question in 2015—months before Hofeller authored the study explaining how the question would benefit white voters and disadvantage non-white ones.* Jones played a key role in the creation of the citizenship question, so these emails seem to disprove the administration’s claims that Hofeller had nothing to do with the manipulation of the census.

Jones and Hofeller’s relationship goes back to at least 2010. That year, Jones—then a civil servant at the Census Bureau—sent Hofeller an email<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6154261-167-19.html> from her private Hotmail account about a Sean Hannity segment. The Fox News host had condemned the bureau for airing an ad during the Super Bowl encouraging everyone to participate in the 2010 census. Jones emailed a transcript of the segment<https://web.archive.org/web/20110130054210/https:/www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,584929,00.html> to Hofeller, writing: “They could really hurt the census. What do you think?” The two then discussed whether the ad was a waste of money. It is unclear why Jones, who again was then a civil servant in the Census Bureau, was communicating with Hofeller about bureau affairs from her private account.

Five years later, Jones emailed Hofeller<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6154260-167-22.html> once again from her Hotmail account, alerting him that the bureau was collecting public comments<https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2014/12/02/2014-28247/proposed-information-collection-comment-request-2015-national-content-test> on the 2020 census. “Public comments highly useful in this context,” Jones wrote. The next day, she sent a follow-up email, telling Hofeller: “This can also be an opportunity to mention citizenship as well.” Jones appears to have been advising Hofeller to file a public comment encouraging the bureau to adopt a citizenship question.

Other emails prove that Jones communicated with Hofeller and other Republican strategists throughout this period about redistricting-related matters. For instance, in 2010, Jones forwarded an email<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6154256-167-21.html> from Burton Reist, director of the 2010 census communications campaign, to Hofeller and Mark Neuman that highlighted a website debunking “misleading information” about the census. (Neuman, a friend of Hofeller’s<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/us/census-citizenship-question-hofeller.html>, provided the 2017 letter that appeared to draw from the 2015 Hofeller memo to create a legal rationale for the citizenship question.) Jones and Hofeller appear to have met for dinner<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6154257-167-23.html> in 2015 with an unknown third person. And Jones was on a 2010 email<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6154254-167-20.html> thread with Hofeller and several Republican operatives—including David Avella of GOPAC, a Republican training group, and Charles Black, ex-partner<https://www.washingtonian.com/2018/01/08/charlie-black-ex-partner-of-paul-manafort-and-roger-stone-is-thrilled-to-be-away-from-the-action/> of Paul Manafort and Roger Stone—discussing redistricting.
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Posted in census litigation<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=125>


“‘Deepfake’ videos called new election threat, with no easy fix”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105634>
Posted on June 15, 2019 12:20 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105634> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The SF Chronicle reports.<https://www.sfchronicle.com/nation/article/Deepfake-videos-called-new-election-threat-13990094.php?utm_campaign=CMS>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Unenforced Campaign Laws Will Be Broken Again”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105632>
Posted on June 14, 2019 6:05 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105632> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy blogs.<https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/unenforced-campaign-laws-will-be-broken-again>
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


“Free Speech For People Sues Federal Election Commission for Failing to Investigate Trump and Trump Campaign’s Role in McDougal Hush Money Payoff”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105630>
Posted on June 14, 2019 3:32 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105630> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release:<https://freespeechforpeople.org/breaking-free-speech-for-people-sues-federal-election-commission-for-failing-to-investigate-trump-and-trump-campaigns-role-in-mcdougal-hush-money-payoff/>

Free Speech For People has filed a lawsuit<https://freespeechforpeople.org/free-speech-for-people-v-american-media-inc/fsfp-v-fec-ami-mcdougal-complaint/> against the Federal Election Commission for failing to investigate a $150,000 “hush money” payment made in 2016 to Karen McDougal, one of President Trump’s former mistresses, under federal campaign finance law. The investigation is necessary because, even after federal prosecutors have investigated some of the parties involved, critical questions remain unsettled—including the exact nature of President Trump’s role. The Department of Justice is unlikely to press further against Trump or his campaign, so the American public needs an investigation by the independent bipartisan Federal Election Commission.
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, federal election commission<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>


Watch Trevor Potter and Shan Wu Talk About the Illegality of Accepting Foreign Government Assistance in American Campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105628>
Posted on June 14, 2019 5:23 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=105628> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Here<https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=51aPPixRdY8&app=desktop> on the News Hour (beginning around the 11 minute mark).
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Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


--
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>
http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org<http://electionlawblog.org/>
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