[EL] ELB News and Commentary 9/28/19

Fri Sep 27 20:12:33 PDT 2019

“Trump told Russian officials in 2017 he wasn’t concerned about Moscow’s interference in U.S. election”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107513>
Posted on September 27, 2019 7:53 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107513> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo:<https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-told-russian-officials-in-2017-he-wasnt-concerned-about-moscows-interference-in-us-election/2019/09/27/b20a8bc8-e159-11e9-b199-f638bf2c340f_story.html>

President Trump told two senior Russian officials in a 2017 Oval Office meeting that he was unconcerned about Moscow’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election because the United States did the same in other countries, an assertion that prompted alarmed White House officials to limit access to the remarks to an unusually small number of people, according to three former officials with knowledge of the matter.

The comments, which have not been previously reported, were part of a now-infamous meeting <https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-revealed-highly-classified-information-to-russian-foreign-minister-and-ambassador/2017/05/15/530c172a-3960-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html> with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, in which Trump revealed highly classified information that exposed a source of intelligence on the Islamic State. He also said during the meeting that firing FBI Director James B. Comey the previous day had relieved “great pressure<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/us/politics/trump-russia-comey.html>” on him.

A memorandum summarizing the meeting was limited to all but a few officials with the highest security clearances in an attempt to keep the president’s comments from being disclosed publicly, according to the former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters….

White House officials were particularly distressed by Trump’s election remarks because it appeared the president was forgiving Russia for an attack that had been designed to help elect him, the three former officials said. Trump also seemed to invite Russia to interfere in other countries’ elections, they said.

The previous day, Trump had fired Comey amid the FBI’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign had coordinated with Russia. White House aides worried about the political ramifications if Trump’s comments to the Russian officials became public.
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

FEC Commissioner Hunter Blocks Publication of Weekly FEC Digest Because it Includes FEC Chair Ellen Weintraub’s Statement About What Counts as a Thing of Value for Purposes of Ban on Foreign Contributions to Campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107511>
Posted on September 27, 2019 4:07 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107511> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Can’t make this up folks<https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub/status/1177720300550721536>:
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<https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub>
Ellen L Weintraub<https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub>
✔@EllenLWeintraub<https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub>

 · 4h<https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub/status/1177720217759297536>
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Replying to @EllenLWeintraub @FEC<https://twitter.com/_/status/1177719828632739842>

2/

This week, I published a “Draft Interpretive Rule Concerning Prohibited Activities Involving Foreign Nationals" on the http://fec.gov <https://t.co/mzijOnYRLg>  web site:https://www.fec.gov/documents/1796/mtgdoc_19-41-A.pdf …<https://t.co/pf3ByC8AnZ>
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Home - FEC.gov<https://t.co/mzijOnYRLg>

Find what you need to know about the federal campaign finance process. Explore legal resources, campaign finance data, help for candidates and committees, and more.<https://t.co/mzijOnYRLg>
fec.gov<https://t.co/mzijOnYRLg>

[cid:image002.jpg at 01D5756F.E52BCBD0]<https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub>
<https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub>
Ellen L Weintraub<https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub>
✔@EllenLWeintraub<https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub>

3/

GOP FEC Commissioner Caroline Hunter took the altogether unprecedented step of objecting to its being added to the Digest and blocked publication of the whole Digest as a result.
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1,254<https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1177720300550721536>
4:02 PM - Sep 27, 2019<https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub/status/1177720300550721536>
Twitter Ads info and privacy<https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256>
<https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub/status/1177720300550721536>
471 people are talking about this<https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub/status/1177720300550721536>

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Posted in federal election commission<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>

“‘Worth the Investment:’ Memos Reveal the Scope and Racial Animus of GOP Gerrymandering Ambitions”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107509>
Posted on September 27, 2019 3:53 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107509> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

David Daley <https://theintercept.com/2019/09/27/gerrymandering-gop-hofeller-memos/> with the latest from the Hofeller files:

IN COURT AND IN PUBLIC, many top Republicans have denied gerrymandering gives them any advantage at all. They’ve captured state legislatures and won an edge in Congress, some have suggested, due to superior candidates, better campaigns, and natural geographic sorting<https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/u-s-supreme-court-decision-leaves-wisconsin-gerrymandering-case-with/article_72ef834b-e3f0-58ae-b6e2-3162db6cafa8.html> that clusters Democrats in urban areas and spreads Republicans more efficiently across the suburbs and rural America.

“The problem is not district lines; the problem is weak candidates who run poor campaigns based on bad ideas,” said Chris West, spokesperson for former Virginia Speaker of the House William Howell, in 2017<https://www.dailypress.com/news/newport-news/dp-nws-politics-gerrymandering-virginia-20170624-story.html>.
“We have better candidates, better issues and a better understanding of what our constituents want to do,” Wisconsin state Rep. Kathleen Bernier told the Wall Street Journal<https://www.wsj.com/articles/gerrymandering-a-tradition-as-old-as-the-republic-faces-a-reckoning-1506698255> in the same year.

In a trove of never before published memos and emails, however, GOP leaders come clean: Their nationwide advantage in state legislatures and Congress is built on gerrymandering. And top Republican strategists and political operatives admit to weaponizing racial data and the Voting Rights Act in order to flip the South red and tilt electoral maps in their direction.

Those are among the revelations from over 70,000 documents, maps, and emails<https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-secret-files-of-the-master-of-modern-republican-gerrymandering>, obtained by The Intercept, that were culled from the hard drive backups of the late redistricting mastermind Thomas Hofeller. Though the exact purpose or destination — and sometimes even the author — of each memo is not always clear, the thinking revealed in the documents and drafts is illuminating. Some appear to be regular updates for Republican leadership, top stakeholders, and key donors.
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Posted in redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Voting Rights Act<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

“Senator Portman, What Would It Take to Remove the President from Office?; How different, in principle, would it be if the President had asked a foreign government to cyberattack the 2020 campaign?”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107507>
Posted on September 27, 2019 3:29 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107507> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Ned Foley <https://medium.com/@Nedfoley/senator-portman-what-would-it-take-to-remove-the-president-from-office-adfd3ca44bd8> at Medium.
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Posted in chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>

I’ll Be Speaking October 22 at Orange County Bar Association Dinner Honoring Ted Boutrous for His First Amendment Work<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107505>
Posted on September 27, 2019 3:21 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107505> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

The other speaker will be Fifth Circuit Judge James Ho. I’ll be talking about Cheap Speech<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3017598> (and What It Has Done to American Democracy). Join us!<https://www.ocbar.org/Calendar/Event-Detail/sessionaltcd/APP2019>
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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

“Common Cause files objection against new NC House districts adopted by legislature, asks court to redraw districts in question”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107503>
Posted on September 27, 2019 3:18 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107503> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Release.<https://www.commoncause.org/press-release/common-cause-files-objection-against-new-nc-house-districts-adopted-by-legislature-asks-court-to-redraw-districts-in-question/>
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Posted in redistricting<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>

Snippet of My Appearance at Meet the Press Daily Talking Ukraine/Campaign Finance Impeachment<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107501>
Posted on September 27, 2019 3:14 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=107501> by Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Watch<https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1177706749530447875>:
[cid:image004.jpg at 01D5756F.E52BCBD0]<https://twitter.com/MeetThePress>
<https://twitter.com/MeetThePress>
Meet the Press<https://twitter.com/MeetThePress>
✔@MeetThePress<https://twitter.com/MeetThePress>

<https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1177706749530447875>

WATCH: Chuck Todd asks Rick Hasen whether Bill Barr is going to have to appoint a special counsel if he recuses himself. #mtpdaily<https://twitter.com/hashtag/mtpdaily?src=hash> @rickhasen<https://twitter.com/rickhasen>: “I don’t expect anything to come out of the Justice Department. ... The next question is going to be is this an abuse of power.”
<https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1177706749530447875>
[Embedded video]<https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1177706749530447875>
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135<https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1177706749530447875>
3:09 PM - Sep 27, 2019<https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1177706749530447875>
Twitter Ads info and privacy<https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256>
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91 people are talking about this<https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1177706749530447875>

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Posted in Uncategorized<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>

--
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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