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Government Ethics
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Total bipartisan rejection of Trump’s idea the election be postponed
Jul 30 2020
President Trump took his crusade against voting by mail to a whole new level Thursday, suggesting for the first time that "delay" of the election is the best way to prevent his re-election from being stolen from him.
The idea was either castigated, dismissed as impossible or disregarded as a silly trial balloon diversion by senior members of Congress from both parties as well as legal scholars.
But it nonetheless intensified the president's efforts to sow doubt about the reliability of the November result — which, if he ends up contesting and refusing to concede defeat, could produce a constitutional crisis posing an unprecedented challenge to democracy.
<p>Even the suggestion of delay, from a sitting and politically embattled head of government, conjured up fresh anxiety about how easy it could be for a committed autocrat to upend the United States' global standing as a virtuous beacon for its unbroken two-century record of peaceful transfers of power.</p><p><p style="text-align: center;"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>Trump floated an election postponement beyond Nov. 3 in a tweet that started out as a riff on the unsubstantiated claim he's made dozens of times since March: That mail-in voting available to everyone because of the coronavirus — which he wrongly differentiated from no-excuse absentee balloting, "which is good" — will result in "the most inaccurate and fraudulent election in history." </p><p>Tacked onto the end was the newsworthy part: "Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???"</p><div id="57628" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7bdb07540878ba6ee4b867f68c385674"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1288818160389558273" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT E… https://t.co/VcSCg7IPwj</div> — Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump)<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/statuses/1288818160389558273">1596113169.0</a></blockquote></div><p>The president has no legal authority to delay the vote on his own. The Constitution says it's up to Congress to regulate the "time, place and manner" of federal elections, and federal law has fixed Election Day as the Tuesday after the first Monday in every even-numbered November since 1846.<br></p><p>And so it could only be lawfully switched through legislation cleared by Congress — where essentially no one in authority is contemplating such a move, in either the Democratic House or the Republican Senate.</p><p>The date has never been pushed back — not during the Civil War, the flu pandemic a century ago or World War II. And doing so even by a few days would create enormous complications for the timely certifying of results and the work of the Electoral College. And the deadline at the end is immovable. The Constitution says the presidential term ends at noon Jan. 20.</p><p>"Only Congress can change the date of our elections, and under no circumstances will we consider doing so to accommodate the president's inept and haphazard response to the coronavirus pandemic," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, the Democrat who chairs the committee with jurisdiction over election law.</p><p>Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to comment to reporters at the Capitol but told a Kentucky TV station the election timetable is "set in stone." House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy said "we should go forward with our election." </p><p>And several of Trump's most prominent allies in the Senate GOP — including Ted Cruz of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — dismissed the notion of any delay. </p><p>"We're going to have an election, it's going to be legitimate, it's going to be credible, it's going to be the same as it's always been," Rubio told reporters at the Capitol.</p><p>"It's unthinkable that that would not be the case," added Mitt Romney of Utah, one of the president's few vocal GOP critics on the Hill. </p><p>Other Republicans laughed off the proposal as a clever way to distract from the alarming news announced just before Trump took to Twitter: The economy shrank at a head-spinning 32.9 percent annual rate in April, May and June even as many states were pushing to reopen during a slight break in the Covid-19 outbreak.</p><p>Good-governance advocates and civil rights groups reacted emphatically to Trump's suggestion. Some warned it was a foretaste of more dangerous behavior to come before the election, while others used the moment to urge Congress to deliver a generous amount of fresh help for smoothing their mail voting systems in the economic rescue package now stuck in negotiations.</p><p>"Trump poses an existential threat to our democracy," said Sean Eldridge of the progressive voting right group Stand Up America, which is already organizing a grassroots campaign to organize nationwide protests if Trump is defeated but clings to power. "Americans need to be ready to mobilize."</p><p>Beyond condemning Trump's "extraordinary statement," Trevor Potter of the Campaign Legal Center said, the best way for Congress to respond is to reach a quick bipartisan deal on money "to make sure that the election takes place safely and smoothly," because "time is running out to give the states the funding they need to get this right."</p><p>There is no evidence of widespread election fraud using mailed-in ballots, which will be available to all voters without any excuse requirements in at least three-dozen states this fall. A quarter of all votes were cast this way in the past two elections, but that number is expected to double at least because of voters' fears of contagion at polling places. </p><p>Five states will rely almost exclusively on mailed ballots, and their safeguards are widely hailed as preventing foreign hacking and the domestic envelope theft or tampering. </p><p>Trump's claims that fraud is assured are therefore baseless. So is his claim that expanded remote voting is the "biggest risk" to his reelection. Studies have shown no partisan tilt in overall absentee vote, and the GOP for years made the mail part of its strategy for getting out its vote, especially among the elderly.</p><p>The president and many in his administration have often asked for and used absentee ballots, which Trump says is somehow more appropriate than states proactively delivering either ballots or absentee request forms.</p><p>In April, when the pandemic was at its initial peak, Trump told reporters he would not consider postponing the election. "I never even thought of changing the date," he said. "Why would I do that? Nov. 3, it's a good number. No, I look forward to that election."</p><p>But two weeks ago, he refused during a Fox News interview to commit to accept the results. "I have to see," he said then."I'm not going to just say 'yes.' I'm not going to say 'no.' "</p><p>Attorney General William Barr, in his combative House testimony Tuesday, said he had no "reason to think" the election would be rigged but "if you have wholesale mail-in voting, it substantially increases the risk of fraud."</p>
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Samuel Corum/Getty Images
A watchdog group alleges an effort to hide payments to presidential daughter-in-law Lara Trump and former campaign manager Brad Parscale, among others.
Sweeping complaint about Trump campaign spending heads to FEC black hole
Jul 29 2020
The Trump campaign is vowing to fight a complaint from a watchdog group alleging an unusually bold and broad violation of campaign finance law. But it might not have to fight too hard, because the matter is now before an essentially shuttered Federal Election Commission.
The allegation formally lodged Tuesday by the Campaign Legal Center, which advocates for tighter money-in-politics rules, is that President Trump's reelection operation paid almost $170 million to companies affiliated with one-time campaign manager Brad Parscale and other campaign operatives — but did not disclose the intended recipients of the money, as the law requires.
While efforts to obfuscate campaign spending details are not uncommon, as candidates from both parties clamor for every tactical advantage, what the CLC described in its complaint as "laundering the funds" by Trump's team seems unprecedented in size and scope.
<p>The CLC is still pursuing, for example, its similar complaint filed with the FEC four years ago, alleging the Hillary Clinton campaign paid a law firm knowing the real recipient was going to be the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was investigating Trump's ties to Russia. The amount at issue, however, was less than $1 million.</p><p><p style="text-align: center;"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>That complaint has moved at a snail's pace mainly because the six-member FEC, the sole regulator of money in national politics, was in total partisan deadlock for almost a decade ending last summer — at which point the agency was essentially shut down because its membership shrank to three, one shy of a quorum. It reopened for a month this summer after the Senate confirmed a Trump nominee, Trey Trainor, then fell into limbo again as soon as Republican commissioner Caroline <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/campaign-finance/caroline-hunter-resigns-fec" target="_self">Hunter resigned last month</a>. </p><p>Even under normal circumstances, it would take the FEC many months to resolve such allegations — and that's even if there were four votes to do something. </p><p>With Senate Democrats delaying a vote on her proposed replacement, deregulatory campaign finance advocate Allen Dickerson, the only thing likely to happen before the election is that agency bureaucrats formally accept the Trump campaign's response in the next month.</p><p>The CLC could bypass the agency altogether and turn the complaint into a federal lawsuit if there's no movement at the FEC for four months — but that would be several weeks after the election. By that point the complaint might be pointless as a practical matter, if the president is defeated, but campaign finance advocates may want to press it nonetheless as a matter of precedent-setting principle.</p><p>Federal law requires candidates for president and Congress to disclose all payments above $200, including to subcontractors closely tied to the campaign. The 82-page complaint says the Trump campaign and the Trump Make America Great Again Committee unlawfully evaded these rules by funneling money through Parscale Strategy but mainly through another firm over which he has significant influence, American Made Media Consultants. </p><p>The CLC complaint says some of the money was to keep secret some payments to Parscale, who was replaced as campaign manager this month by Bill Stepian, while other money was quickly passed along for vendors and advisors including the maker of the campaign app, Phunware, as well as both Lara Trump, the wife of Eric Trump, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr.</p><p>The Trump "scheme flagrantly violates the transparency requirements mandated by federal law, and it leaves the public in the dark about where the campaign funds are actually going," the watchdog group's president, former FEC Chairman Trevor Potter, said Wednesday. "And this secrecy could potentially disguise other campaign finance violations, but we don't know, because the campaign isn't disclosing these routed payments.".</p><p>Spokesman Tim Murtagh said the campaign had done nothing wrong and so would contest the allegations vigorously. "The campaign complies with all campaign finance laws and FEC regulations," he said.</p><p>The last time a campaign was sanctioned for concealing payments appears to be eight years ago, when Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota was fined for paying an Iowa Republican official for his presidential endorsement but masked the money.</p>
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Olivier Doulier/Getty Images
Democracy reform advocates sent a letter to those assembling former Vice President Joe Biden's platform, asking them to put reform proposals front and center.
Democracy reform groups to Biden: Don't you forget about us
Jul 21 2020
Democracy reform advocates have gone public with a concern they've been harboring privately for months: Joe Biden and the Democrats are not making fix-the-system proposals a big enough part of their campaign.
A coalition of 29 groups pressed the party's platform committee on Monday "to adopt a sweeping pro-democracy set of reforms, and make their passage and implementation a top priority in 2021."
Although Biden is viewed as a reliable supporter of items on the group's agenda — expanding voting rights, curbing money's sway over campaigns, bolstering government ethics and calibrating the balance of power — the former vice president is seen by advocacy groups as giving such desires insufficient notice. With the campaign now galvanized by the coronavirus pandemic and its crippling of the economy, the ability of other issues to break through could prove extremely difficult.
<p>The plea comes as the pandemic has forced Democrats to scale back plans for their convention in Milwaukee in four weeks, which would normally be a moment to showcase not only Biden but also the Democrats' plans for the country if empowered for the next four years</p><p><p style="text-align: center;"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>The letter from the so-called <a href="https://declarationforamericandemocracy.org/" target="_blank">Declaration for American Democracy</a> coalition was sent to Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, chairwoman of the platform drafting committee and an apparent potential running mate.</p>
<p>Last week's highly touted agreement on platform issues hammered out between representatives of Biden and his main rival for the nomination, the much more progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, made almost no mention of democracy reform. It was focused instead on the economy, health care, criminal justice reform, climate change, education and immigration — all topics where there's already high-profile contrasts between Biden and President Trump. </p>
<p><a href="https://thefulcrum.us/directory/common-cause" target="_self">Common Cause</a>, one of the signatories on this week's letter, posted an online petition calling on Biden to create a Democracy Reform Task Force.</p>
<p>It listed the issues that Biden-Sanders task forces will cover in search of common ground between the party's liberal and more moderate wings. </p>
<p>"Notably absent from the list? Democracy reform," the petition said. "If democracy reform is really a priority for Biden and his campaign — they must invest time, manpower and resources into it."</p>
<p>This week's letter, signed by other notable groups such as <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/directory/public-citizen" target="_self">Public Citizen</a> and the League of Conservation Voters, reminds Biden that he was a supporter of HR 1, the comprehensive election law, campaign finance and government ethics overhaul that got significant press attention when the Democrats pushed it to passage as one of their first acts upon taking over the House last year. Senate Republicans immediately tossed it to the disregard pile.</p>
<p>The letter outlines four general areas that need to be addressed in the platform:</p><ul class="ee-ul"><li>Protecting voting rights to make sure every eligible voter is able to cast ballots safely and securely, free from discrimination and voter suppression.</li><li>Ending the corrupting power of big money in politics by advancing a constitutional amendment effectively overturning the <a href="http://thefulcrum.us/citizens-united" target="_self">Citizens United</a> decision by the Supreme Court a decade ago, and by requiring disclosure of the sources of so-called <a href="http://thefulcrum.us/dark-money" target="_self">dark money</a> contributions.</li><li>Restoring ethics and accountability in Washington by reducing the power of lobbyists and strengthening oversight and enforcement of federal conflict-of-interest laws.</li><li>Protecting the rule of law by restoring the system of checks-and-balances to ensure the president and his advisers are not above the law.</li></ul>
<p>"By including a bold, comprehensive plan to end corruption, restore ethics and accountability in government, and protect the right to vote, you will show voters across the country that, like them, you believe our democracy works best when it represents everyone," the letter concludes.</p>
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Twitter
Claim: Ivanka Trump violated an ethics rule by promoting Goya products. Fact check: True.
Jul 20 2020
Ivanka’s promotion of beans is an ethics issue, specifically, it’s likely in violation of a rule that prohibits off… https://t.co/oRKYta8vng— Citizens for Ethics (@Citizens for Ethics)1594983726.0
White House adviser and presidential daughter Ivanka Trump posted a photo of herself holding a can of Goya black beans on Twitter last week, including the caption in both English and Spanish: "If it's Goya, it has to be good." The post came after intense criticism of the brand from consumers and Hispanic leaders after CEO Robert Unanue praised President Trump in a Rose Garden event. Unanue said the country is "truly blessed" to have a leader like Trump.
Trump later posted a similar image of him with an array of Goya products sitting on the Resolute Desk. Both of these posts were in direct response to the blowback from Unanue's statements.
Ivanka Trump likely violated a misuse of position ethics guideline that prohibits executive branch employees from using their status to endorse commercial products: "An employee's position or title should not be used to coerce; to endorse any product, service or enterprise; or to give the appearance of governmental sanction." The president is generally exempt from such rules.
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Walter Shaub, the former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, asserted that because Ivanka has her official title in her Twitter bio, the endorsement and her executive branch position are strongly linked and make the violation more probable.
The advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) filed an ethics complaint against Ivanka on Friday. "This is not just about beans; it's another example of a disturbing pattern of this administration acting to benefit the businesses of the president's supporters," CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said in a statement.