[EL] ELB News and Commentary 10/4/19

[Rick Hasen]

“Volker texts outline how Ukrainian investigation was linked to potential Trump-Zelensky meeting”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107581>
Posted on October 3, 2019 10:48 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107581> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

CNN:<https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/politics/us-envoys-trump-ukraine-investigate/index.html>

Text messages released on Thursday<https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/politics/chairs-on-volker/index.html> between US diplomats and a senior Ukrainian aide show how a potential Ukrainian investigation into the 2016 election was linked to a desired meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump.
The text messages, which were released by the House Intelligence Committee, underscore how Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, was closely connected to US policy on Ukraine and was involved in setting up the July 25 phone call between Trump and Zelensky, in which Trump also urged an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.

They show how cognizant the Ukrainians were about the importance of the election investigation to Trump and Giuliani’s role.

On the morning of the call, in an exchange with a key adviser to the Ukrainian President, then-US Special Envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker made clear that it was important to the White House that Zelensky convince Trump that an investigation into the 2016 election would happen.

“Heard from the White House — assuming President Z convinces trump he will investigate/’get to the bottom of what happened’ in 2016, we will nail down date for visit to Washington,” Volker said via text to the Ukrainian adviser on the morning of July 25….

In August, it was publicly revealed that the Trump administration was holding up foreign aid to Ukraine, although the whistleblower complaint had not yet been made public.

Behind the scenes, concerns were being raised by a senior US diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, that the aid had been held up.

“Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meeting are conditioned on investigations?” Taylor texted Sondland on September 1.
“Call me,” Sondland responded. The context of Taylor’s text message is not clear from the messages released by the committee.
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>


“‘Shadow lobbying’ in Trump’s Washington”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107579>
Posted on October 3, 2019 5:07 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107579> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

New report<https://www.opensecrets.org/news/reports/shadow-lobbying-2019> from the Center for Responsive Politics.
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Posted in lobbying<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=28>


“The Justice Department Has Argued Sex, Information, And Worthless Stock Were “Things Of Value.” But They Say Trump’s Request For Dirt Wasn’t.”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107577>
Posted on October 3, 2019 4:25 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107577> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Zoe Tillman<https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/justice-department-trump-call-ukraine-thing-value> for BuzzFeed.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


What If The President Commits an Abuse of Power By Inviting Foreign Interference in the 2020 Elections in the Open?<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107575>
Posted on October 3, 2019 11:39 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107575> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

My tweet thread begins here<https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/1179806762817310721>:
[cid:image002.jpg at 01D57A3D.34736870]<https://twitter.com/rickhasen>
<https://twitter.com/rickhasen>
Rick Hasen<https://twitter.com/rickhasen>
✔@rickhasen<https://twitter.com/rickhasen>

<https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/1179806762817310721>


It is easy to lose sight of what's going on given how Trump has been flooding the zone with craziness for so long. Today's comments publicly inviting China to investigate Biden, a political rival, while US is in delicate trade negotiations ALONE is an impeachable abuse of power. https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1179776065818021888 …<https://t.co/x69hpJMhTG>
<https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1179776065818021888>
Nate Silver<https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1179776065818021888>
✔@NateSilver538<https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1179776065818021888>

If Pelosi & Schumer have their shit together they'll have a press conference on this by this afternoon. https://twitter.com/DKThomp/status/1179774836245172224 …<https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1179776065818021888>

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1,273<https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1179806762817310721>
10:13 AM - Oct 3, 2019<https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/1179806762817310721>
Twitter Ads info and privacy<https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256>
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519 people are talking about this<https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/1179806762817310721>

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Posted in conflict of interest laws<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=20>


Tom Farr Shoutout to Me in ALEC Redistricting Talk<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107573>
Posted on October 3, 2019 10:04 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107573> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

David Daley:<https://twitter.com/davedaley3/status/1179788419859468289>
[cid:image003.jpg at 01D57A3D.34736870]<https://twitter.com/davedaley3>
<https://twitter.com/davedaley3>
David Daley at davedaley3<https://twitter.com/davedaley3>

 · 13h<https://twitter.com/davedaley3/status/1179786761578434560>
<https://twitter.com/davedaley3/status/1179786761578434560>

Replying to @davedaley3<https://twitter.com/_/status/1179786728460242946>

Here's the full quote. "You talk about extreme gerrymandering -- that was it! What goes on today is nothing like that." @hezaproject<https://twitter.com/hezaproject>, we need the efficiency gap on 1864! [🤣]
[View image on Twitter]<https://twitter.com/davedaley3/status/1179786761578434560/photo/1>
[cid:image003.jpg at 01D57A3D.34736870]<https://twitter.com/davedaley3>
<https://twitter.com/davedaley3>
David Daley at davedaley3<https://twitter.com/davedaley3>


Entire transcript, along with Tom Farr shoutout to @rickhasen<https://twitter.com/rickhasen>, is here."Suddenly the media ... and the guy named Rick Hasen, who is the leading election law professor in the country. Suddenly North Carolina became the worst gerrymander in history." https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/full-transcript-alec-gerrymandering-summit.html …<https://t.co/HWs1RwPYIr>
<https://t.co/HWs1RwPYIr>
[cid:image006.jpg at 01D57A3D.34736870]<https://t.co/HWs1RwPYIr>
Read the Full Transcript of GOP Lawmakers’ Closed Gerrymandering Session<https://t.co/HWs1RwPYIr>

A leaked audio recording reveals how state lawmakers are being taught to get away with gerrymandering.<https://t.co/HWs1RwPYIr>
slate.com<https://t.co/HWs1RwPYIr>

<https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1179788419859468289>
10<https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1179788419859468289>
9:00 AM - Oct 3, 2019<https://twitter.com/davedaley3/status/1179788419859468289>
Twitter Ads info and privacy<https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256>
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See David Daley's other Tweets<https://twitter.com/davedaley3>


I suppose it is better than being called a raw enemy activist.<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=103840>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


Federal District Court Issues Preliminary Injunction Against Very Broad New Jersey Disclosure Law<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107570>
Posted on October 3, 2019 9:53 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107570> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

You can find the opinion in Americans for Prosperity v. Grewal at this link. <https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/afp-nj.pdf> The NJ law goes much farther than federal and most state disclosure laws in covering political issue advocacy unconnected to elections.
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


“Task Force on Abuses of Power by Executive Branch Proposes Solutions to Stop Violations of Scientific Integrity and Misuses of Presidential Appointments”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107568>
Posted on October 3, 2019 9:34 am<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107568> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release<https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/task-force-abuses-power-executive-branch-proposes-solutions-stop>:

A nonpartisan task force of eight former government officials from both Republican and Democratic administrations released a report<https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/proposals-reform-volume-ii-national-task-force-rule-law-democracy> today examining two critical functions of the federal government that have been hobbled by abuses in the executive branch: objective scientific research, and the appointments process used to fill senior administration positions.
The National Task Force on Rule of Law & Democracy, led by former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara and former New Jersey governor and EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman, proposes legislative reforms to reinforce the norms and unwritten rules that once ensured that these government functions were carried out without excessive politicization. The task force is a project of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law.
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Posted in political polarization<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=68>


--
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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