Democracy Defenders Fund Eisen

see crew EISEN MAIN / OLD

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maddow? 1 13 26 just lost 4 ct cases? norm eisen says 2/3rd

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AN 2 26

Former ethics czar and Democracy Defenders Fund founder Norm Eisen is after President Donald Trump in court with a new lawsuit to block a pay-to-play scheme.

On Bluesky, Eisen wrote that his group is suing Trump over the so-called "gold card" visa that allows anyone to fast-track citizenship for $1 million.

"This is about the rule of law — the president can't auction U.S. visas to the highest bidder," Eisen complained on the social media site.

The longtime Trump foe spoke to *The New York Times*_{ }_about the program's illegality: it bypasses key congressional requirements and prioritizes the wealthy over those with high abilities or intellect.

“Rather than reserving those visas for the world’s best and brightest, the Gold Card program converts those visas into revenue-generating commodities sold to the highest bidder,” the lawsuit claims.

One of those who has taken advantage of the program is Nicki Minaj, a native of the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, who wants U.S. citizenship. While she's a permanent resident, she came to the U.S. illegally as a child, she said on Instagram in 2018.

“If you look at the statute, you can tell Congress made some pretty deliberate decisions about how they wanted to structure the availability of these visas,” Sarah Wilson, one of the lawyers who brought the lawsuit with Eisen.

The statute puts merit-based visas into either the EB-1 or EB-2 categories.

“None of those categories include ‘give us a million dollars,’” Wilson added.

*Read the full report here.

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an 8 25

Democratic election lawyer, voting rights expert and Democracy Docket publisher Mark Elias is warning that President Donald Trump is determined to "steal the 2026 elections" — and his game plan, according to an, includes a combination of voter suppression, election denial and a mid-decade U.S. Census (which is violating the rules because the next Census isn't due until 2030).

According to The New Republic's Greg Sargent (formerly of the Washington Post), Trump made his intentions for the 2026 midterms clear in a Monday morning, August 18 post on his Truth Social platform.

"President Donald Trump raged at Democrats Monday for supposedly cheating in elections in a long and unhinged Truth Social rant — and buried in his tirade is a clear indication of how he hopes to corrupt the 2026 midterm elections at a time when his agenda is nosediving in polls," Sargent explains. "In his screed, Trump rehashed his familiar lies about how mail balloting is riddled with fraud, and promised to lead a new 'movement' to abolish it."

Sargent warned that the executive order Trump is threatening for the 2026 elections is especially troubling.

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Trump posted, "WE WILL BEGIN THIS EFFORT, WHICH WILL BE STRONGLY OPPOSED BY THE DEMOCRATS BECAUSE THEY CHEAT AT LEVELS NEVER SEEN BEFORE, by signing an EXECUTIVE ORDER to help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections. Remember, the States are merely an 'agent' for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes."

Sargent explains, "Trump already unveiled a similar executive order in March designed to change election rules. It would have barred states from accepting ballots mailed on time but that arrive after Election Day and forced state officials to require documented proof of citizenship for everyone who registers to vote in federal elections…. Trump appears prepared to have a second run at such an executive order. But what's critical about Monday's post is he connected this scheme directly to the midterms, inadvertently revealing the real aim behind it."

The New Republic journalist continues, "Trump's new rant says he’s going to 'lead a movement to get rid of' mail balloting, then later says this 'movement' will begin with his new executive order — a strong indication he will try to ban vote-by-mail by executive order. Voting rights advocates have long expected him to attempt something like this, perhaps by arguing that vote-by-mail is a threat to national security."

Attorney Pooja Chaudhuri of the Democracy Defenders Fund warned that Trump could commit an "enormous abuse of power" with the 2026 midterms.

Chaudhuri told The New Republic, "It sounds like he will try to ban all mail-in balloting through executive order, and he's going to have to find some other rationale for such a sweeping presidential action."

Greta Bedekovics, associate director of democracy at the Center for American Progress, told The New Republic, "If they are going to try to stand for election integrity, it hurts them to point out that this is directly related to the 2026 elections. It exposes that this is not about election integrity and national security, it's about election rigging."

*Greg Sargent's full article for The New Republic is available at this link.

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an 8 25

Former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is trying to shut down government-funded media outlets she was tapped to lead, but NPR reports challengers want her to define her job title before she does it.

"The government does not operate on the whims of a ‘Kari Lake’ or even of a ‘Donald Trump’," said Democracy Defenders Fund attorney Norman Eisen, who is representing press advocacy groups in lawsuits against Lake over her effort to shutter Voice of America. "If you have a role in government, it has to be defined and documented," Eisen told NPR. "Who knows if that's a self-anointed title? One way or the other, this raises the most profound legal questions."

NPR reports the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) has recently called Lake its acting CEO, but Lake may not be legally eligible for the job. That question could hold weight considering a federal judge voided directives affecting asylum rules in 2020 after finding Trump's appointment of the acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was unlawful.

NPR said it has “repeatedly asked the White House press office, Lake and another senior agency official” for documentation of Lake’s current role in the Trump administration, but has received no replies.

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"It's important to find out — is she really the CEO? How did she arrive there?" asked Grant Turner, who served as chief executive of USAGM during Trump's first term. "If she doesn't have that authority — and she's claiming to have the authority — then it's really just invalid. There's so many things that may come back to haunt Kari Lake and USAGM."

"Maybe she just wants to have a cool title to wave around," Turner says, "but if she really doesn't have true legal authority to have that title, then they're really just begging for problems."

Lake was a two-time unsuccessful MAGA candidate for senator and governor in Arizona before Trump announced his plan to appoint her director of Voice of America. The problem with that, said NPR, is federal law does not allow a president to unilaterally appoint a director over the agency. So Trump essentially dissolved the government advisory board set up by Congress to oversee Voice of America’s international networks and named Lake a “senior adviser” to run it.

The Atlantic reports Lake is now working to deport non-citizen Voice of America employees who hold J-1 visas.

Read the full NPR report at this link.

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