DCCC Hit With Ethics Complaint After Secret Recording Released

Watchdog: DCCC illegally gave in-kind donations to preferred candidate

A government ethics watchdog Tuesday filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission after audio from a secretly recorded conversation implied the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tipped the scales in favor of their preferred candidate, and may have violated campaign finance laws in the process.

The secret recording of a conversation between House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and Levi Tillemann, a Democrat candidate for the 6th Congressional District in Colorado, was made last December. The audio became public after the Intercept published it in April with Tillemann's consent after some names and private information were edited out.

Hoyer makes plain to Tillemann in the recording that some higher-ups in the Democratic party preferred Army veteran and corporate lawyer Jason Crow be the party's nominee in the district.

The Intercept's story on the audio included a quote from David Aarestad, who by that time had dropped out of the same race.

"But, they [the DCCC] made polling data available to Crow that they did not make available to me," Aarestad was quoted as saying. "They made other resources available to Crow that they did not make available to me, such as email lists for fundraising purposes."

FACT wrote in its complaint that the polling data and email lists were in-kind contributions that appear not to have been reported, but should have been.

"Candidate reporting requirements exist to prevent corruption and ensure transparency in our elections, which is something the DCCC showed a blatant disregard for in this case," Kendra Arnold, FACT's executive director, said in a statement.

"What's equally disturbing is that this type of Machiavellian behavior has been endorsed by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi," Arnold added.

Requests for comment from the DCCC and the Jason Crow campaign were not returned. Hoyer's office declined to comment on the record.

Colorado's 6th District is likely to be one of the most competitive house races in the country; Republican Mike Coffman, a former Marine and state treasurer who is now in his fifth term, currently holds the seat. He has defeated formidable opponents in the last two elections: a former speaker of the Colorado house and president of the state senate.

A key component of the allegation is determining what a likely value of the email lists and polling would be in hard dollars. The complaint argues that, "based upon the industry standard, the value of the polling information and mailing lists likely exceeded the $5,000 limit on in-kind contributions."

Hoyer is candid about Crow being the favored candidate in the audio recording. According to the Intercept’s transcript above.

The release of the audio of the conversation prompted reporters to question House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on the issue, and sparked an outcry from more progressive wings of the party about the DCCC playing favorites.

"In terms of candidates and campaigns I don't see anything inappropriate in what Mr. Hoyer was engaged in—a conversation about the realities of life in the race as to who can make the general election," she told reporters.

Both Tillemann and Crow met sufficient requirements to be on the primary ballot. Voting runs for the majority of June, and concludes on June 26.

Hoyer's office declined to comment on the record.

http:// freebeacon.com/politics/dccc-hit-ethics-complaint-secret-recording-released/

16 GOP Senators: No Vacation Until Congress Finishes Its Work

Senators challenge Dems to stop delaying tactics or give up August recess

Sixteen Republican senators, led by Sen. David Perdue (Ga.), are giving their GOP leaders more leverage to cancel the August recess and force senators to work weekends if a long list of presidential nominations remain stalled and spending bills unpassed by the end of July.

The senators signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) urging him to confront Democrats' historic delaying tactics, starting by keeping the Senate in session on Mondays, Fridays, and through weekends.

"We offered our support for anything that leadership felt we needed to do to accomplish two goals: To speed up the nominations process and keep the government funded by the end of the year," Perdue told reporters Tuesday.

The tactic, they argue, will make Democrats rethink their use of the Senate rules to obstruct Trump nominees and spending bills because so many more Democrats than Republicans are up for re-election this cycle and facing difficult contests. Vulnerable senators use the long weekends to fundraise and go back to their states to campaign.

"This is the only [job] that you can neglect some of your most basic duties and then take a month-long vacation," said Sen. Joni Ernst, (R., Iowa). "We should be working nights, weekends, and August, and any other state work period to pass appropriations bills and get our work done in a timely manner."

The group of mostly recently elected Republican senators want to stop Democrats from using parliamentary delaying tactics on President Trump's nominees, most of whom they end up supporting anyway. They also aim to speed up the Senate's appropriations process so the must-pass spending bills to keep the government running don't snowball into a massive omnibus the president is forced to sign at the end of the year.

In late March Trump signed a $1.3 trillion omnibus appropriations bill but bemoaned the process and told Congress never to send him such a massive budget measure that circumvented the regular legislative process again.

Over the weekend, Trump started rallying his political base on Twitter to back the idea of the Senate getting its work done or canceling the August recess.

"The Senate should get funding done before the August break or NOT GO HOME," he tweeted Saturday. "Wall and Border Security should be included. Also waiting for approval of 300 nominations, worst in history. Democrats are doing everything possible to obstruct, all they know how to do. STAY!"

There are roughly 270 Trump nominees still waiting for Senate confirmation because of historic Democratic obstruction. In 16 months in office, Democratic senators have led 89 filibuster votes on nominees compared to just 32 Senate filibusters of presidential nominees over the course of the Obama, George W. Bush, and Clinton administrations combined.

"At the rate we are going, it would take a decade for this administration to be fully staffed," Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah) told reporters.

Perdue and several other GOP senators sent McConnell a similar letter last year committing to spending the August recess in Washington to make more progress on nominees. With the added leverage, McConnell canceled one week of the recess, and the Senate was able to push 77 confirmations through in one day before senators left Washington.

Besides Perdue, Ernst, and Lee, the other senators who signed the latest letter to McConnell include: Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Ted Cruz of Texas, Steve Daines of Montana, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Dean Heller of Nevada, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and Roger Wicker of Mississippi.

http:// freebeacon.com/issues/16-gop-senators-no-vacation-congress-finishes-work/

Top lawyer for Novartis retires following contract with Michael Cohen

A top official for pharmaceutical giant Novartis is leaving the company following revelations it inked a contract with President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer for $1.2 million for healthcare advisory services.

Novartis said Wednesday that Felix Ehrat, the company’s group general counsel and a member of its executive committee, is retiring from the company, effective June 1.

The company said Ehrat decided to retire “in the context of discussions surrounding Novartis’ former agreement with Essential Consultants,” a company operated by Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer.

“Although the contract was legally in order, it was an error,” Ehrat said in a statement. “As a co-signatory with our former CEO, I take personal responsibility to bring the public debate on this matter to an end.”

Novartis’s contract with Cohen’s Essential Consultants was revealed last week in a document made public by Michael Avenatti, a lawyer representing former adult film star Stormy Daniels in a lawsuit against Trump and Cohen. The document shows Novartis paid Essential Consultants monthly beginning in February 2017 for advice on matters relating to healthcare policy.

A spokeswoman for Novartis said this month the company had been questioned by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, and is cooperating with his office. FBI agents raided Cohen's office, hotel room and home last month. Federal prosecutors obtained the search warrant based on a referral from Mueller.

Novartis was one of several companies, along with AT&T and Columbus Nova, that were named in the document published by Avenatti as having contracted with Essential Consultants and making payments to the firm from 2017 and into 2018.

AT&T acknowledged it paid Cohen’s company $600,000 for his services and called the agreement with Cohen a “big mistake.”

Though the contract with Essential Consultants was for one year, Novartis said it determined after a meeting with Cohen in March 2017 his company would be “unable to provide the services” it expected and decided “not to engage further.”

Because the pharmaceutical giant’s contract with Cohen’s firm could only be “terminated for cause,” Novartis continued to make payments to Essential Consultations until the contract ended in February 2018.

Top Senate Democrats are now pushing Novartis to turn over information about its contract with Cohen.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/top-lawyer-for-novartis-retires-following-contract-with-michael-cohen

Democrats commandeer the Senate, force vote to reverse FCC on net neutrality

Senate Democrats on Wednesday voted to start debate on a measure to restore the "net neutrality" regulations that the Federal Communications Commission killed late last year, thanks to a parliamentary tactic that allowed them to seize control of the floor over the objection of Republican leaders.

The 52-47 vote allowed the debate to begin, and signals there are enough "yes" votes in the Senate to pass the resolution Wednesday afternoon. The resolution being debated was written under the Congressional Review Act, and if passed by the House and Senate, it would reverse the FCC's decision to kill the Obama-era rule that requires the government to regulate the Internet like it does the telecommunications industry.

One Republican, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, helped make the vote possible over the objections of the GOP majority. Collins signed on to a discharge petition with 49 Democrats, giving the effort the simple majority required to force a vote on the matter.

But she was also joined by Sens. John Kennedy, R-La., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska., which let supporters get to 52 votes.

Republicans have effectively held a 50-49 majority in the Senate for the last sevreral weeks, because Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is still battling cancer and has not been voting. That means a single Republican flip to the Democratic side on an issue is enough to give Democrats a bare majority.

Despite the dramatic move, however, the effort by Senate Democrats is expected to have little impact. It also has to be passed in the House, and House Republicans don’t plan to take up the resolution.

Democrats also have a limited time to act. If Congress does not clear it, the FCC move to undo net neutrality goes into effect on June 12.

Democrats championing the effort say restoring the Obama-era regulation ensures net neutrality by preventing the big Internet companies from using tactics that favor one group over another, such as throttling, or the slowing down of Internet service.

Republicans are largely opposed to the move by Democrats and they want to keep in place the FCC’s reversal of the net neutrality regulation, and say restoring the rule would constitute unneeded over-regulation that would hobble innovation.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/congress/democrats-commandeer-the-senate-force-vote-to-reverse-fcc-on-net-neutrality