pounder definers

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">see bak</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">SEE RHOADES AM RISING</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">COMSTOCK RNC SHOP?</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">PRUIT ENEMIES LIST/TRACKERS?</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ABIGAIL SPANBERGER
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</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/08/what-is-the-congressional-leadership-fund/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/08/what-is-the-congressional-leadership-fund/</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">A <span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Democratic candidate alleged Wednesday that a GOP super PAC got ahold of her C.I.A. security clearance application to use for political purposes, </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/us/politics/cia-officer-house-election-super-pac.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">according to The New York Times.</a></font></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">
</span></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><font style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><b>Abigail Spanberger,</b> </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary?cycle=2018&id=VA07" style="background: rgb(255, 153, 0); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">the Democratic nominee in Virginia’s 7th District</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">, said the </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Congressional Leadership Fund [DEASON?]  is using the highly sensitive information found in the application to attack her campaign. Spanberger is challenging </span></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00036013" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.)</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">.[BRAT STAFF POW AMANDA CHASE]</span></span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><b>A spokeswoman for the super PAC responded to Spanberger’s accusation saying it had lawfully obtained the application through a Freedom of Information Act request.</b></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><b><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00504530&cycle=2018" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">The Congressional Leadership Fund</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> is a powerful and influential GOP super PAC that has already raised nearly $100 million for the 2018 election cycle.</span></b></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The super PAC, which formed in 2011, has rapidly become a major contributor to GOP politicians, closely aligned to House Speaker Paul Ryan.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Congressional Leadership Fund has raised $96.6 million in 2018 year-to-date, a sizable increase from $51.1 million raised during the 2016 election cycle and $12.6 million raised for 2014 elections.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">At this point in the 2018 election cycle, the super PAC has spent <b>$3.2 million supporting Republican</b> candidates and<b> $24.2 million opposing Democratic candidates.</b></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">The super PAC’s biggest spend in support of a candidate so far this cycle was $1.2 million supporting <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Troy Balderson, the Republican who went on to win the hotly contested special election </span></span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/24/politics/troy-balderson-ohio-special-election/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">in Ohio’s 12 District.</a></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Congressional Leadership Fund’s biggest spend opposing a candidate was $6.1 million against <b>Jon Ossoff</b>, the Democratic candidate </span><a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/why-jon-ossoff-isn-making-comeback-georgia-6th/P2FMacaNXWPkeKKstIFltK/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">who lost in Georgia’s 6th District in a 2017 special election.</a></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">The super PAC’s stated mission is to focus on bringing more Republicans into the <b>U.S. House of Representatives</b> to strengthen the party’s majority, according to </span><a href="https://congressionalleadershipfund.org/about/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">the Congressional Leadership Fund’s website.</a></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Corry Bliss is the executive director for both the Congressional Leadership Fund and the American Action Network,</b> a politically active nonprofit focused on center-right policies that doesn’t have to disclose its donors.  </span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Major Republican donors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson have been the leading contributors to the super PAC since its creation. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Adelsons donated $15 million a piece to the super PAC in 2018 and a total of $20 million in 2016.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">The Congressional Leadership Fund was also created to oppose Democratic super PACs, like the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and <b>to support former House Speaker John Boehner, </b>according to the super PAC’s website.</span></p><div class="related-box" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; width: 760px; padding: 8px 0px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 12px;"><span class="txt" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; float: left; line-height: 28px; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: -0.03em; margin-right: 15px;">RELATED TOPICS</span><ul class="related-list" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px -5px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/abigail-spanberger/" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;">Abigail Spanberger</a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/american-action-network/" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;">American Action Network</a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/congressional-leadership-fund/" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;">Congressional Leadership Fund</a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/corry-bliss/" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;">Corry Bliss</a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/dave-brat/" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;">Dave Brat</a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/democratic-congressional-campaign-committee/" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;">Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee</a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/jon-ossoff/" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;">jon ossoff</a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/kaitlin/" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;">kaitlin</a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/kaitlin-washburn/" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;">Kaitlin Washburn</a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/miriam-adelson/" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;">Miriam Adelson</a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/paul-ryan/" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;">Paul Ryan</a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/sheldon-adelson/" rel="tag" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;">Sheldon Adelson</a></li></ul></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/republican-pac-publishes-security-application-former-cia-agent-running-democrat" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/republican-pac-publishes-security-application-former-cia-agent-running-democrat</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Abigail Spanberger is the Democratic candidate in Virginia’s 7th district, and a former officer in the CIA. The Congressional Leadership Fund is a Republican Super PAC associated with Paul Ryan, which plans to hand out over $100 million to GOP candidates for the election this fall. But money isn’t the only thing that the PAC is handing out. They’ve also <b>produced the application Spanberger submitted in seeking security clearance with the CIA</b>, making her personal information public. How the PAC obtained this form is an open, and important, question.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">According to</span><i style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </i><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/us/politics/cia-officer-house-election-super-pac.html" target="blank" title="" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>the New York Times</b></a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, the</span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Republican </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Congressional Leadership Fund </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">has both published the form, with some personal information redacted, and made it available to reporters. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Security applications, by their nature, provide highly detailed background information. They may require that the person involved produce information on actions that could potentially be embarrassing, even if not illegal.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As an example, since obtaining Spanberger’s form,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> a polling company connected with the Republican PAC has conducted<b> push polls </b>asking voters if they would be less likely to support the Democratic candidate “if she knew that the candidate had taught at a school funded by the Saudi royal family that had ‘numerous students arrested for terrorism.’” The Republican PAC has also put out a “news release” on this topic.</span></p><div style="margin-bottom: 20px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Spanberger is currently running strongly against Republican Representative Dave Brat in what the GOP had regarded as a “safe” district.</b> With a broad range of endorsements and support, this represents another district that Republicans are finding a challenge in 2018 after a series of walk-over elections. So it’s understandable that Republicans are desperate to find an edge.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The problems is: Where did they find it? <b>The Congressional Leadership Fund claims that the form was obtained through a FOIA request to the Post Office, </b>where Spanberger worked briefly while waiting for clearance from the CIA.</font><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> But the version of the document, and the fact that the copy given to reporters seems to be unredacted, does not square with the version that should be produced through a FOIA request. In fact, the unredacted form cannot be released under the Privacy Act.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Democratic candidate has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the executive director of the Congressional Leadership Fund, demanding that the PAC destroy all copies of the form and “agree to not use the information in any fashion.”</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> And the real question boils down to: Is someone within the Trump White House handing out classified information to be used against Democratic candidates?</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The<i> </i><a href="https://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/conservative-pac-releases-document-on-spanberger-teaching-at-saudi-funded/article_9f25ad24-4816-5872-b37f-a72e3c4fba8c.html" target="blank" title="" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Richmond Times-Dispatch</a> shows how Republicans are attempting to use even the controversy about how they obtained this document to harm Spanberger. A spokeswoman for the Congressional Leadership Fund replied to questions that “It should surprise no one that Ms. Spanberger would want to hide from voters that she worked at a school that produced some of the world’s most dangerous terrorists.”</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><b>Spanberger was a substitute teacher at a prep school for wealthy students, filling in for a teacher on maternity leave, between the time she finished her Masters degree and before she took her Post Office job. No student she taught has been connected to terrorism in any way</b>. She also waited tables. Republicans have not yet produced a news release claiming that she served a plate of eggs to Osama bin Laden … but there’s still time.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Daily Kos Elections rated the VA-7 race as “Leans Republican” on Aug 22. The Cook Report has moved the race to “Toss up.”</span></p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">sleazy fuckery</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://congressionalleadershipfund.org/clf-issues-statement-what-is-abigail-spanberger-hiding/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://congressionalleadershipfund.org/clf-issues-statement-what-is-abigail-spanberger-hiding/</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><p style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px; max-width: 690px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">WASHINGTON</span> – In a desperate attempt to prevent Virginia voters from learning about her record and background, Virginia’s 7<span style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; line-height: 0; vertical-align: baseline; top: -0.5em;">th </span>Congressional District Democratic nominee, Abigail Spanberger, today sent a letter to the Congressional Leadership Fund (<a href="http://congressionalleadershipfund.us15.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=e864a80a205b3f2f2808f4cd6&id=96763517fe&e=809dfa26e0" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">@CLFSuperPAC</a>) – which her campaign then shared with select members of the media – threatening legal action over information about Spanberger that was obtained through legal channels. CLF is responding by releasing a <a href="https://www.congressionalleadershipfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Spanberger-Cease-and-Desist_Signed-.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">copy</a> of that letter to voters in Virginia’s 7<span style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; line-height: 0; vertical-align: baseline; top: -0.5em;">th </span>Congressional District as well as documentation from the Freedom of Information Request (FOIA) and the <b>records that were obtained from the United States Postal Service as the result of that request.</b></p><p style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px; max-width: 690px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This included information about Spanberger’s tenure working at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Northern Virginia, which the Associated Press reported was dubbed “Terror High” after 12 U.S. Senators and a federal commission wanted to shut it down</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. Spanberger’s former employer produced a number of well-known terrorists including Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, valedictorian of the academy in 1999, who was convicted in 2005 on charges of providing material support to the al Qaeda terrorist network. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. This led U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer to issue a press release in 2005 </span><a href="https://nypost.com/2005/02/24/schumer-targets-suspects-terror-hs/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">calling for a full-scale probe</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> of the controversial Islamic school and questioning whether the Islamic Saudi Academy was “another madrassa.” In addition, CLF is redacting the document to exclude personal information such as home addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth and social security numbers, even though this information was released by the USPS as part of the response to the FOIA request.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px; max-width: 690px;"><img loading="lazy" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/e864a80a205b3f2f2808f4cd6/images/b60157f1-3f72-4e94-955a-47aa397b6373.png" width="500" height="332" data-file-id="820735" style="border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: middle; border-style: none; max-width: 100%;" /></p><p style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px; max-width: 690px;">CLF spokesperson Courtney Alexander made the following statement about Spanberger’s politically-motivated gambit today:</p><table class="templateContainer" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px auto; border: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); max-width: 690px;"><tbody style="box-sizing: border-box;"><tr style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"><td id="templateHeader" valign="top" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px;"><table class="mcnTextBlock" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; border-collapse: collapse;"><tbody class="mcnTextBlockOuter" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><tr style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"><td class="mcnTextBlockInner" valign="top" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px;"><table class="mcnTextContentContainer" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="left" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; border-collapse: collapse;"><tbody style="box-sizing: border-box;"><tr style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"><td class="mcnTextContent" valign="top" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">“It should surprise no one that Ms. Spanberger would want to hide from voters that she worked at a school that produced some of the world’s most dangerous terrorists. CLF follows the letter of the law in examining any candidate’s background and Ms. Spanberger was no different. That she’s threatening legal action, however, should raise serious questions for voters about what else she is trying to hide.</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"> For any interested parties, CLF is happy to provide redacted copies of the information Ms. Spanberger is trying to hide from voters in Virginia.”</span></li></ul><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">BACKGROUND:</span></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px;">On <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">July 9, 2018</span>, America Rising Corp. submitted a FOIA request to the National Personnel Records Center “for access to certain records contained in the official civilian personnel file of former federal employee Abigail Spanberger. Specifically, this request seeks records reflecting Ms. Spanberger’s employment dates, annual salaries, title, and position description.”</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px;">By letter dated <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">July 12, 2018</span>, NPRC/NARA forwarded the America Rising Corp. request to the United States Postal Service.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px;">On <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">July 30, 2018</span>, USPS responded to America Rising’s request with their complete personnel file (“entire official personnel folder”), <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">which included Spanberger’s SF-86.</span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px;">another image usps pamela gabriel]</li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">https://rollcall.com<b>/2019/01/04/</b>usps-ig-clears-conservative-group-of-wrongdoing-in-spanberger-file-release/</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><div lyon="Lyon" text="Text" georgia="Georgia" garamond="Garamond" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><div theme="[object Object]" class="" provider="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;">the U.S. Postal Service inspector general officially cleared a prominent conservative research group of any wrongdoing for getting its hands on Rep. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" href="https://www.rollcall.com/members?118575&utm_source=memberLink?utm_source=memberLink" title="Click to view member info in a new window" class="memberLink" shape="rect" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;">Abigail Spanberger</a>’s complete and unredacted official personnel file last summer.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;">America Rising, a conservative opposition research group contracted by dozens of conservative PACs and campaign committees each election cycle to dig up dirt on Democratic candidates, went through the proper channels, submitting a Freedom of Information Act request for Spanberger’s file to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the IG concluded in its report released in late December.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;">NARA stores official personnel files for various government agencies, including the USPS, but it is up to government agencies to respond to the FOIA requests and redact certain protected information in the file NARA provides.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;"><b>An administrative assistant in the USPS’ human resources department improperly executed that FOIA request by forwarding Spanberger’s entire file to America Rising, including a confidential national security form known as Standard Form 86 (SF-86) that she filled out when she was hired as a postal inspector in the early 2000s.</b></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; font-weight: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The same USPS HR administrative assistant improperly handled six other FOIA requests in addition to America Rising’s request for Spanberger’s file, the inspector general found.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit;"><b>the USPS had previously discovered three other improperly released personnel files before the IG audit.</b></span></p></div></div><div lyon="Lyon" text="Text" georgia="Georgia" garamond="Garamond" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><div theme="[object Object]" class="" provider="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;">The release of those files to third parties without authorization violated both federal law and USPS policy and “can lead to identity theft and [an employee] becoming a victim of financial fraud,” the IG report states.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The USPS HR department was ill-equipped to handle personnel file information requests, according to the report. It had no central list of FOIA requests to the agency, no written procedures for how requests were supposed to be handled and by whom, and never trained staff responsible for handling FOIA requests on how to comply with FOIA and the federal Privacy Act.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;">The top Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Reps. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" href="https://www.rollcall.com/members?232&utm_source=memberLink?utm_source=memberLink" title="Click to view member info in a new window" class="memberLink" shape="rect" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;">Elijah Cummings</a> of Maryland and <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" href="https://www.rollcall.com/members?8220&utm_source=memberLink?utm_source=memberLink" title="Click to view member info in a new window" class="memberLink" shape="rect" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;">Gerald E. Connolly</a> of Virginia, and Democratic Sen. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" href="https://www.rollcall.com/members?634&utm_source=memberLink?utm_source=memberLink" title="Click to view member info in a new window" class="memberLink" shape="rect" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;">Thomas R. Carper</a> asked the USPS IG in September to launch a probe into the matter.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;">Spanberger’s SF-86, like all such forms, included a questionnaire that contained her family and medical history, Social Security number and other highly sensitive info that U.S. intelligence officials must provide.</p></div></div><div lyon="Lyon" text="Text" georgia="Georgia" garamond="Garamond" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><div theme="[object Object]" class="" provider="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;">After obtaining Spanberger’s file, America Rising handed it off to the Congressional Leadership Fund, the preeminent House GOP leadership-linked super PAC.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;">CLF used information from that file in a series of attack ads against Spanberger, who defeated former Rep. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" href="https://www.rollcall.com/members?53910&utm_source=memberLink?utm_source=memberLink" title="Click to view member info in a new window" class="memberLink" shape="rect" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;">Dave Brat</a> in Virginia’s 7th District in November, flipping a seat from red to blue that had been in Republican hands for decades.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;">Spanberger disclosed on her SF-86 that she had worked as a substitute advance placement English teacher beginning in 2002 at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Mount Vernon, Virginia. The school, which is funded by the Saudi government, was thrust into the national spotlight in the mid-2000s and earned the nickname “Terror High” after the 2005 class valedictorian later admitted to joining al-Qaida and was sentenced to 30 years in prison for plotting to kill President George W. Bush.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;">CLF suggested in its ads that Spanberger was sympathetic to terrorist elements due to her stint at the school.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The New York Times reported in August that CLF had shared Spanberger’s file with an Associated Press reporter, who then shared it with Spanberger and revealed CLF as the source.</span></p></div></div><div lyon="Lyon" text="Text" georgia="Georgia" garamond="Garamond" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><div theme="[object Object]" class="" provider="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;">Spanberger’s campaign initially questioned whether CLF and America Rising had obtained her file through illicit means.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;">The day after the initial New York Times report, America Rising provided Roll Call with documentation showing that it had received the file in late June through a standard Freedom of Information Act request.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;">The IG report released last month confirms the authenticity of those documents.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; font-weight: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“That the USPS has acknowledged this was an issue on their end is just further evidence that <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://www.rollcall.com/members?118575&utm_source=memberLink?utm_source=memberLink" title="Click to view member info in a new window" class="memberLink" shape="rect" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;">Abigail Spanberger</a> wasn’t telling the truth when she falsely accused CLF of breaking the law and pitched a phony storyline to the New York Times,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">” CLF spokeswoman Courtney Alexander said at the time.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;"><b>CLF declined to give a follow-up statement responding to the IG report.</b></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">the reports of Spanberger’s improper personnel file release shocked national security experts who have filed their own SF-86s and reviewed SF-86s of other government employees whom they have hired. The reports from the fallout ignited a debate about how political groups should handle government-confidential information they inadvertently get their hands on through clerical errors that were not necessarily their own doing.</span></p></div></div><div lyon="Lyon" text="Text" georgia="Georgia" garamond="Garamond" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><div theme="[object Object]" class="" provider="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: calc(1.6); vertical-align: baseline;">The USPS has taken “initial corrective action” to ensure other employees’ files go through the proper redaction in response to FOIA requests, the IG report stated. Internal corrective measures include “changing and documenting procedures for handling personnel information requests, establishing a correspondence log to track personnel information requests and responses, and providing FOIA and privacy training to [HR] staff,” according to the report.</p></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">they offered /gave file to AP unredacted?</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">joe pounder ltr demands nyt</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">...</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">america Rising submitted a standard FOIA request seeking information from the National Personnel Records Center,which was referred to the USPS, an independent agency. The USPS responded to America Rising's request with their complete personnel file, which included Spanberger's SF-86. America Rising did not specifically request the SF-86. </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A reporter from BuzzFeed  </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">contacted the United States Postal Service and was able to verify that the agency had indeed released Spanberger's entire, unredacted personnel file in their response to the FOIA.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Requesting personnel records of candidates who have worked in the federal government is standard fare for both political parties.  The USPS may have made a mistake in not redacting personal information in their response to America Rising but <b>America Rising does not provide out personal information to the press</b> like home addresses or Social Security numbers. By forgoing its journalistic responsibilities,</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The New York Times</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> published false and misleading allegations that led to accusations of criminal activity or potential hacking. <b> We would like to request an official correction to the original piece to explain this timeline fully.</b> Sincerely, Joe Pounder CEO America Rising Corp.</div><div>
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://americarisingcorp.com/letter-to-the-editors-of-the-new-york-times/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://americarisingcorp.com/letter-to-the-editors-of-the-new-york-times/</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div>https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/15/technology/facebook-definers-opposition-research.html</div><div>
</div><div>sAN FRANCISCO — <b>A small firm called Definers Public Affairs brought the dark arts of Washington’s back-room politics to Silicon Valley when, while working for Facebook, it began disparaging other tech companies to reporters.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But a few days before Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, testified to Congress in September, Definers set its sights on a different target: the senators about to question Ms. Sandberg.</span></div><div>
</div><div>In one document circulated to reporters, Definers tallied what software the 15 members of the Senate Intelligence Committee used to track visitors to their Senate websites. Another document detailed how much each senator spent on Facebook ads and how much they had received in campaign donations from Facebook or other big tech companies.</div><div>
</div><div>Known in the political business as opposition research, the documents pushed out by Definers neatly provided reporters with the ammunition they would need to suggest the senators grilling Ms. Sandberg were hypocrites for criticizing Facebook.</div><div>
</div><div>While senators are no strangers to opposition research — they use it all the time against political rivals — they take a dimmer view when it used against them outside of election season. That is especially true when the research is being paid for and shoveled to reporters on behalf of a company that is saying it wants to work with lawmakers, not against them.</div><div>
</div><div>And companies facing scrutiny in Washington usually avoid doing anything that could antagonize lawmakers.</div><div>
</div><div>“At the same time that Facebook was publicly professing their desire to work with the committee to address these issues, they were paying a political opposition research firm to privately attempt to undermine that same committee’s credibility,” Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the panel, said in a statement. “It’s very concerning.”</div><div>
</div><div>The documents obtained by The New York Times provide a deeper look at Definers’ tactics to discredit Facebook’s critics. The Times reported on Wednesday that Definers also distributed research documents to reporters that cast the liberal donor George Soros as an unacknowledged force behind activists protesting Facebook, and helped publish articles criticizing Facebook’s rivals on what was designed to look like a typical conservative news site.</div><div>
</div><div>Definers Public Affairs, a public-relations firm hired by Facebook, distributed this memo about how senators tracked visitors to their websites ahead of a congressional hearing with Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Image</div><div>Definers Public Affairs, a public-relations firm hired by Facebook, distributed this memo about how senators tracked visitors to their websites ahead of a congressional hearing with Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Late Wednesday, after The Times published its findings, Facebook cut ties with the firm.</div><div>
</div><div>“I understand that a lot of D.C.-type firms might do this kind of work. When I learned about it I decided that we don’t want to be doing it,” Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, said on Thursday during a call with reporters.</div><div>
</div><div>Colin Reed, managing director of Definers, said in an email that his firm simply compiled public information and what Definers did was “standard operating procedure” for public affairs outfits. “It shouldn’t be surprising to reporters at The New York Times that a P.R. firm would be providing context for reporters ahead of a client’s testimony on Capitol Hill,” he wrote.</div><div>
</div><div>Facebook initially hired Definers to monitor news about the social network. It expanded its relationship with the firm in October 2017 when scrutiny of Facebook was increasing over how Russian agents had used the site to sow discord before the 2016 United States election.</div><div>
</div><div>Definers began doing some general communications work, such as running conference calls for Facebook. It also undertook more covert efforts to spread the blame for the rise of the Russian disinformation, pointing fingers at other companies like Google.</div><div>
</div><div>A key part of Definers’ strategy was NTK Network, a website that appeared to be a run-of-the-mill news aggregator with a right-wing slant. In fact, many of NTK Network’s stories were written by employees at Definers and America Rising, a sister firm, to criticize rivals of their clients, according to one former employee not allowed to speak about it publicly. The three outfits share some staff and offices in Arlington, Va.</div><div>
</div><div>Definers Public Affairs, a public-relations firm hired by Facebook, distributed to reporters information about how much each senator spent on Facebook ads and how much each had received in campaign donations from Facebook or other big tech firms.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Image</div><div>
</div><div>Definers Public Affairs, a public-relations firm hired by Facebook, distributed to reporters information about how much each senator spent on Facebook ads and how much each had received in campaign donations from Facebook or other big tech firms.</div><div>Before Ms. Sandberg’s Senate testimony, Facebook lobbyists pushed lawmakers to refrain from questioning her about privacy, censorship and other issues, and to stick to election interference. The committee’s chairman, Senator Richard Burr, Republican of North Carolina, was swayed and warned members to stick to the hearing’s planned topic, The Times reported Wednesday.</div><div>
</div><div>Facebook had also lobbied for the hearing to include a Google emissary of similar rank to Ms. Sandberg. Mr. Burr invited Larry Page, a Google co-founder, but he did not show up. Instead, Ms. Sandberg sat alongside an empty chair behind a placard for Google.</div><div>
</div><div>In an email days before the hearing, a Definers employee pressed a Times reporter to write that Facebook was taking the senators’ concerns seriously while Google was irresponsible for skipping the hearing.</div><div>
</div><div>The day before the hearing, NTK Network reported that Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, had suggested that Google was possibly a monopoly. The next day, shortly after the hearing ended, NTK Network posted another story highlighting Mr. Rubio’s criticism of Google during the hearing.</div><div>
</div><div>Those pieces were just two of at least 11 negative items NTK has posted about Google since late March, including an article questioning why Mr. Zuckerberg needed to testify to Congress at another hearing earlier in the year but a Google executive did not.</div><div>
</div><div>Like the documents on the senators, Definers distributed other memos that sought to lay out evidence for angles that it wanted reporters to pursue. The memos were typically based on public information like press clippings and social media posts.</div><div>
</div><div>Definers urged reporters to explore the financial ties between Mr. Soros and Freedom From Facebook, a coalition of groups that had criticized the company. The idea was to persuade reporters that the coalition was not a sincere movement of like-minded groups but rather an orchestrated campaign by a rich, partisan opponent.</div><div>
</div><div>A two-page document that Definers distributed about Freedom From Facebook noted that “at least four of the groups in the coalition receive funding or are aligned with George Soros, who has publicly criticized Facebook.” The four groups named in the document do appear to have received funding from Mr. Soros’s Open Society Foundations.</div><div>
</div><div>A second, 12-page document sought to link Freedom From Facebook to Mr. Soros and to David Brock, a Democratic operative who is widely portrayed in conservative circles as a master of political dirty tricks. While pushing the connection to Mr. Soros, the document highlighted that protesters from Freedom From Facebook held up signs with images reminiscent of old, anti-Semitic propaganda.</div><div>
</div><div>Definers said in a statement that the document was “entirely factual and based on public records.”</div><div>
</div><div>Eddie Vale, a Freedom From Facebook spokesman, said the coalition’s primary funder was the computer scientist David Magerman but he declined to disclose other funders. Mr. Vale said the coalition did not receive money from corporations. Open Society Foundations said it did not fund the coalition.</div><div>
</div><div>Laura Silber, a spokeswoman for Open Society Foundations, said the philanthropy’s president spoke with Ms. Sandberg on Thursday and requested that Facebook commission an independent review of the company’s relationship with Definers, with results made public within three months.</div><div>
</div><div>The recent work by Definers was not the first time Facebook has tried to smear its rivals. In 2011, Facebook hired the public-relations firm Burson-Marsteller to urge reporters to investigate Google for invading people’s privacy. The move backfired when reporters revealed the plan.</div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div>http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/11/<b>facebook-hired-republican-consultants-to-seed-stories.</b>html?gtm=top>m=bottom</div><div>
</div><div>For two years now, Facebook has faced increasingly furious criticism over the frictionless spread of misinformation across its network. But, according to the New York Times’ 5,000-word, five-byline story about the company’s dysfunctional response to its misinformation crisis, Facebook eventually learned its lesson. Having heard from scores of politicians, activists, academics, and even former employees about the dangerous effects of “fake news” influence campaigns, Facebook finally landed on a solution: Create its own.</div><div>
</div><div>As they say, if you can’t beat ‘em, hire a Republican opposition-research firm to write blog posts “play[ing] down the impact of Russians’ use of Facebook.” According to the Times, in October 2017 Facebook hired a political consultancy called Definers Public Affairs — whose Silicon Valley branch is run by Tim Miller, a former Jeb Bush staffer and contributor at Crooked Media — to apply “political campaign tactics” and “campaign-style opposition research” to Facebook’s public-relations campaign. One of these tactics? Seed the conservative blogosphere with “positive content … about your company and negative content … about your competitor”:</div><div>
</div><div>On a conservative news site called the NTK Network, dozens of articles blasted Google and Apple for unsavory business practices. One story called Mr. Cook hypocritical for chiding Facebook over privacy, noting that Apple also collects reams of data from users. Another played down the impact of the Russians’ use of Facebook.</div><div>
</div><div><b>The rash of news coverage was no accident: NTK is an affiliate of Definers,</b> sharing offices and staff with the public relations firm in Arlington, Va. Many NTK Network stories are written by staff members at Definers or America Rising, the company’s political opposition-research arm, to attack their clients’ enemies. While the NTK Network does not have a large audience of its own, its content is frequently picked up by popular conservative outlets, including Breitbart.</div><div>
</div><div>The Times also details the Definers operatives’ efforts to “cast [George] Soros as the unacknowledged force behind what appeared to be a broad anti-Facebook movement.” (You’d think that, for the money Facebook was presumably paying Definers, the consultants could’ve come up with a fresher boogeyman than Soros, the billionaire liberal philanthropist and eternal object of anti-Semitic conspiracy theorizing — but hey, why not go with what works?)</div><div>
</div><div>It may be that other companies have the same kinds of hyperaggressive PR strategies — the kinds of hyperaggressive strategies that, if they were based in Russia, we’d call “influence operations.” But other companies aren’t asking us to trust that they have the institutional integrity necessary to ensure the integrity of elections. I don’t expect Facebook to ever be able to fix the eternal human problem of misinformation entirely. But I do expect them not to be actively contributing to it.</div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><span style="background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245);"><font face="Times New Roman"></font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">no lnx many pix twt</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.globalwitness.org/en/blog/behind-trumps-border-wall-political-operatives-a-controversial-pr-firm-and-an-alleged-fake-news-site/">https://www.globalwitness.org/en/blog/behind-trumps-border-wall-political-operatives-a-controversial-pr-firm-and-an-alleged-fake-news-site/</a></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>Global Witness exposes the link between a controversial right-leaning public affairs firm and President Trump’s reportedly favored company to build the southern border wall.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">Summary</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">President Trump is boosting a particular firm, Fisher Sand & Gravel, whose owner is a donor to the Republican party, to build the border wall, which seems to go against the spirit of US federal procurement rules;</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">Fisher Sand & Gravel have a previously unreported link with Definers Public Affairs, a DC communications firm which employs controversial tactics such as setting up anonymous attack websites on behalf of their commercial and political clients;</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">Definers Public Affairs shares offices and staff with America Rising Corp and the America Rising PAC, Republican attack vehicles;</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">Definers Public Affairs are known for paid-for attacks on environmentalists and commercial opponents of their clients – which led to Facebook severing its contract with them;   </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">Individuals in<b> Definers Public Affairs have recently launched a new company, Crier Media Group, active in ‘media monitoring’ in both the US and the UK.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">United States President Donald Trump is accused of attempting to influence the procurement process for building the controversial border wall between Mexico and the US. According to the Washington Post, Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have repeatedly pushed the option of awarding the contract to Fisher Sand & Gravel, a family-owned construction firm from North Dakota that has a checkered past. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">WaPo_Fisher_headline_cropped.png</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">The story of how Fisher Sand & Gravel Co, and its subsidiary, Fisher Industries, grabbed the President’s attention is partly a very modern one of publicity stunts and media frenzies, and partly an old tale of money and politics. Recent reporting has revealed Fisher Sand & Gravel’s past environmental violations and legal problems – although the company points out that these matters were resolved years ago.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">Global Witness exposes a previously unreported link between Fisher Sand & Gravel and Definers Public Affairs, a controversial communications firm linked to Republican political operatives. From alleged smear campaigns to attack ads, Definers has been accused of devious and questionable methods to support their clients and negatively influence public opinion.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">The best way to reach the President</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>Tommy Fisher, the CEO of Fisher Industries,</b> has repeatedly appeared on Fox News, trumpeting his plans for a wall that he claims is faster and cheaper to build than rival designs by other companies. When interviewed by the Washington Post for his thoughts on why Trump supports the Fisher bid, the Republican Senator for North Dakota, Kevin Cramer, said of Tommy Fisher “He’s been very aggressive on TV,” and then asked “You know who else watches Fox News?”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">It may come as no surprise that both Tommy Fisher and his wife donated money to Senator Cramer’s Senate election campaign. The Senator has also boosted Fisher Industries on social media.  CNN reported that:</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>“According to an administration official familiar with the situation, Cramer sent information about Fisher to the President's son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner</b>, who then passed it along to the Army Corps of Engineers for their consideration. The source tells CNN that Kushner was not familiar with the company prior to getting information about them from Cramer.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>Senator Cramer denied in his interview with the Washington Post that the donation has influenced his actions,</b> stating that his support had occurred before any donation and was because Tommy Fisher is “a constituent of mine”. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">Other publicity grabbing moves have included Fisher Sand & Gravel building part of the border wall on private land, crowdfunded by a GoFundMe campaign for We Build The Wall, a non-profit organization that features well-known conservative personalities like Steve Bannon and Erik Prince on its advisory board.  </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">Kyle Ehmke Tweet]</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">Tommy Fisher seems a capable self-publicist.  But it is possible that Fishers also worked with a controversial communications firm based in Washington, D.C., Definers Public Affairs to grab the President’s attention.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">The link between the two was spotted by Kyle Ehmke, a ‘threat intelligence researcher’ with<b> ThreatConnect, </b>a cybersecurity company.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">When an individual or company sets up or is involved with several different websites, they sometimes use a common Google analytics account to monitor web traffic of the various sites.  Each Google analytics account has a unique ID number which can be found in the coding of the website.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">In this case, the person who set up and monitors web traffic at Definers Public Affairs also appears to have set up the website analytics for Fishers Sand & Gravel. Google analytics codes are unique – there cannot be two separate Google accounts that use the same code – nor can codes be added to a website by an outsider with no access to the source code of the website.  </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">Therefore, since both sites use the same analytics code, it’s evident that, at a minimum, both the website analytics for the Definers’ website and the Fishers Sand & Gravel website were set up by the same person.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">It is also possible that the relationship between the two companies went further than just website monitoring. As we will see below, the same tracking code was used for numerous other websites set up on behalf of Definers clients. These included an anonymous website attacking Qatar and another supporting the point of view of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">[Trump_Fisher_meeting.png</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">SOURCE: TWITTER, @SENKEVINCRAMER]</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Foreign Agent Registration Act disclosures reveal that Definers staff members provided strategic communications guidance to the<b> UAE</b>, including one-on-one interactions with American news media</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. It is likely that the <b>Qatar</b>-related websites were part of the same package. While it is probable that Definers played some role in the new Fisher website, it is also possible that Definers provided a wider set of services to Fisher Sand & Gravel also.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>Global Witness repeatedly approached both Fishers Sand & Gravel and its media representatives and Definers Public Affairs for comment on the extent of any relationship but did not receive a reply from either firm.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">Fisher Industries already had an existing website at www.fisherind.com, but a new, professional looking website – specifically focused on the border wall (www.fishersandandgravel.com) was registered on January 4, 2018, around the same time that a new Twitter account was set up. Events then moved quickly. A new Facebook account was set up on January 5, the same day that Tommy Fisher was interviewed on Fox and Friends, a Fox News program known to be watched by President Trump.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">By March 13, 2018 Tommy Fisher had met President Trump in person. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>The controversy surrounding Definers Public Affairs</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Definers Public Affairs is best known for having its contract cancelled by Facebook in late 2018 after revelations in the New York Times about its aggressive tactics.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>The communications firm is closely related to America Rising Corp, a Republican opposition research </b>and attack firm which provides services to political clients, which has also set up America Rising PAC. America Rising PAC happily quotes a description of itself as “<b>The rabid pit bull of the Republican Party.”</b> Operatives associated with the groups follow Democratic Presidential candidates, filming all their public appearances. They also conduct background research on opponents. For example, their specialist lawyer, A<b>llan Blutstein, submitted freedom of information (FOIA) requests for the military and NASA discharge papers for Mark Kelly, a former astronaut and potential candidate in the 2020 Arizona Senate elections.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Both Definers and America Rising are closely linked to <b>NTK (Need to Know) Network,</b> which claims to be a news website “without the liberal bias”.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">All three entities share staff and office space in Arlington, Virginia.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><b>Joe Pounder</b>, <b>Chief Executive of America Rising Corp</b>, also describes himself as a co-founder of Definers Corp, and NTK Network lists him as their Editor-in-Chief;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> while Allan Blutstein has submitted FOIA requests for Definers, America Rising, America Rising Squared, and the NTK Network.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Newly filed corporate documents in the United Kingdom show that Definers staff, including the CEO Joe Pounder, and the Definers’ Chief Financial Officer, have set up a new entity – Crier Media Group - in both the UK and the US. Similar to Definers</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Crier Media provides media monitoring services.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> (Definers have also set up UK Policy Group in the UK - claiming it was “bringing campaign-style research to corporate clients”.)  According to LinkedIn records several Definers and UK Policy Group staff moved simultaneously to Crier Media Group.  </span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">So, what’s the problem?</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">First, their working methods raise eyebrows, particularly in an era when Americans and others must wade through “fake news” infiltrating their social media feeds and news consumption on a daily basis. Starting with revelations of the Internet Research Agency, a Kremlin-affiliated troll farm and fake news network, sowing discord and undermining faith in American democratic institutions in the 2016 elections, Americans, big tech, and US officials are now constantly battling the influx of misinformation campaigns.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">[NTK_Network_Apple.png </font><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">SOURCE: FACEBOOK, NEED TO KNOW NETWORK]</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">NTK Network purports to be a conservative news website. However, one former employee interviewed by NBC News described NTK as an “in-house fake news shop”.  One pitch given to a potential client and leaked to the New York Times described NTK News as “a Digital Platform Echo Chamber.” </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>NTK also has articles written by America Rising and Definers staff, according a former employee interviewed by the New York Time</b>s. Articles attacking the commercial rivals of Definers’ clients appear on the NTK website without any declarations of potential conflicts of interest. For example, NTK News published dozens of articles attacking Apple, without declaring that a closely related party, <b>Definers, reportedly had a contract with chipmaker Qualcomm, with whom Apple was engaged in a legal battle.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>NTK also ran an extensive series of adverts on Facebook, </b>without declaring whether commercial clients were behind them. This demonstrates a loophole in Facebook’s advert disclosure program, whereby intermediaries can potentially declare themselves, and not their end clients, as the funder of the advertisement.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>Common Google analytics tracking codes suggest that Definers are linked to a series of astro-turf websites for their client</b>s, sometimes without declaring who had set them up or was funding them. In one example, common Google analytics codes suggest that Definers had set up www.qatarcrisisnews.com and www.partnershipforpeace.org. The funder was later identified by K. Louise Neufeld, when Joe Pounder and other Definers staff registered as Foreign Agents to represent the United Arab Emirates, focusing in particular on “issues relating to client's termination of relations with Qatar and accuracy and transparency of Qatar government-owned media.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In other examples, environmental causes have been attacked by astro-turf websites, linked to Definers Public Affairs by common Google analytics codes. The They Cap You Pay website </b><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">attacked proposed cap and trade</b><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> (climate change-related) legislation in Oregon.  </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Meanwhile, the </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Power the Future website –</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> which again shares the same tracking code and was also registered using a Definers email address  – claims that “We are the voice of energy workers pushing back on radical green groups and the ideologues who fund them.”<b> Power the Future is led by Daniel Turner, who hasn’t worked in the energy industry, but rather was a former Director of Strategic Communications at the Koch Institute.</b></span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">The second problem is that the shift from political mud-slinging to widely reported attacks on commercial targets and environmentalists raises questions about both propriety and the transparency of funding of those seeking to shape the public debate.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">[Draft_Tim_Cook.jpg </font><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">SOURCE: DRAFTTIMCOOK.ORG]</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">The aggressive political methods of the self-declared ‘rabid pit bulls’ of America Rising PAC are applied not only to declared candidates for public office. America Rising Squared, a not-for-profit entity, also apparently conducts media monitoring and attacks liberal and environmental causes. They followed<b> Bill McKibben</b>, a prominent environmentalist, for months, filming his every move. They aim to “hold the Environmentalist Left accountable by highlighting their hypocrisy and exposing their extreme rhetoric and agenda.” </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>During the attacks on Apple, which featured frequently on NTK network in late 2017, a website appeared suggesting that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook should be drafted as a Presidential candidate for 2020</b>.  The website gave no clue as to who was behind the initiative. This was covered, albeit somewhat skeptically, in the Free Beacon, a conservative leaning news outlet. Kyle Ehmke, of the ThreatConnect cybersecurity firm, spotted that the website shared the same Google analytics code as that for Definers Public Affairs. Reporters guess that the purpose is to make Tim Cook appear like a potential rival to President Trump and thus, presumably, lessen Apple’s political influence with the White House. If true, this can only be described as a tactic which is both inspired – but also devious. As mentioned previously, Definers reportedly had a contract with chipmaker Qualcomm, a competitor of Apple with whom they were also engaged in a legal battle.  There is no suggestion that Qualcomm knew of such methods being used on their behalf.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><b>Definers also gained an apparent no-bid contract with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide media monitoring </b>– or ‘news analysis’ – service. This came during a period of intense controversy after<b> Scott Pruitt,</b> who still describes himself as “a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda”, was appointed by President Trump as EPA Administrator. However, <b>Allan Blutstein,</b> the <b>Definers Public Affair’s FOIA specialist, </b>seems to have gone further than ‘news analysis</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">’. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> He began submitting FOIA requests about EPA employees suspected of being critical of Scott Pruitt and President Trump, requesting copies of emails which mentioned Pruitt or Trump.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> These FOIA requests were denounced by EPA staff as intimidation.  <b>When interviewed by the New York Times, Mr Blutstein said that the purpose of the FOIA requests were simply to find out if any of the EPA employees had used agency email inappropriately, or had violated agency rules in some other way.</b></span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>When criticized in the past in relation to their work for Facebook, Definers have denied being partisan, and stated that they only do communications not lobbyin</b>g.  They also clarified that the nature of work for commercial clients is usually media monitoring services and that their opposition research forms a small part of work. Definers also state that, in any case, opposition research for commercial clients is entirely legitimate, usually drawing from public records. They vehemently deny smearing commercial opponents of their clients, and specifically say that it is wrong to suggest that NTK Network is used to attack commercial opponents.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">Opacity</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">As both Definers and Fisher Sand & Gravel failed to respond to repeated requests to comment, it is impossible to determine the precise extent of their relationship. It could be that that they have an extensive relationship; including DC based communication and media booking services to get Tommy Fisher on conservative broadcast outlets like Fox and Friends.  Or it could be that they have a minimal relationship – perhaps even just having had a shared Google analytics tracking account set up for them by a third party.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">[NTK_wall_ad_cropped.png </font><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">SOURCE: FACEBOOK: NEED TO KNOW NETWORK]</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>This opacity, however, is a problem. Take this Facebook advert ran by NTK Network in April 2019. Its main message chimes perfectly with the Fisher Sand & Gravel messaging that its proposed wall design is quicker and cheaper than its rival</b>s.  However, we don’t know whether it was run by NTK Network on behalf of a commercial client, or had nothing to do with Fisher and simply tapped into current conservative media priorities in order to drive traffic into its own website.  The distinction is important if we’re to untangle the role of money in shaping the public sphere. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">The activities of Definers and associated entities illustrate a wider challenge. The current blend of money, politics, ideology, the fragmentation of public discourse by social media, and the deliberate shaping of national debates through alleged fakes or shills is toxic to democracy. We do not pretend to know all of the answers, but a first step is greater transparency over who is paying who to publish what. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">Disclosure:</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>Definers Public Affairs also faced criticism over an attempt to discredit campaigners asking for Facebook reforms by linking these campaigners to George Soros. </b>A Definers consultant said that “Definers shared a narrow document about an anti-Facebook group's funding. It was entirely factual...” and clarified the nature of the work carried out for Facebook. Global Witness is an independent, non-partisan organization that works to expose corruption to protect human rights and the environment. No donor —large or small— has editorial control over our work or the choices we make regarding the subjects of our investigations or campaigns. <b>George Soros does not fund Global Witness directly. Global Witness receives funding from the Open Society Foundation for our general funds. </b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman">Author </font><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Nick Donovan </span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Campaign Director</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><span style="background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245);"><font face="Times New Roman"></font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><span style="background-color: rgb(250, 248, 245);"><font face="Times New Roman">THE TIMES</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><b>A consulting firm has pulled out of a federal contract to provide media monitoring services to the Environmental Protection Agency after it was disclosed that a lawyer among its top executives had been investigating agency employees critical of the Trump administration.

...Joe Pounder, the president of Definers Public Affairs, said in a statement on Twitter that his company’s $120,000 contract with the E.P.A., which it was awarded this month, had become a “distraction.”</b></p></div></div><div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>The contract came under scrutiny because of the company’s links to America Rising, a Virginia-based corporation and Republican political operation with several offshoots that have investigated E.P.A. officials. One lawyer on the company’s staff, Allan Blutstein, sent a series of Freedom of Information Act requests to the E.P.A. asking for email correspondence by employees who had been publicly critical of the Trump administration’s management of the agency.</div><div>
</div><div>America Rising and its affiliates also separately deployed “trackers” to videotape climate change activists and produced news releases and videos favorable to Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the E.P.A.

Definers Public Affairs, a corporate entity, shares multiple top executives with America Rising, including Mr. Pounder. Both he and E.P.A. officials said the contract was solely to monitor and collect news articles and videos that appear about the agency. E.P.A. officials said a need for compiling those news reports was not being met sufficiently by its previous vendor.</div><div>
</div><div>But agency employees — particularly those who had been targeted by America Rising after they raised questions about the management of Mr. Trump’s E.P.A. — said they were fearful the new contract might translate into increased surveillance of agency staff.</div><div>
</div><div>Subscribe to <b>The Times</b></div><div>E.P.A. officials and Mr. Pounder disputed that suggestion.</div><div>
</div><div>“Definers offered E.P.A. a better and more efficient news clipping service that would give E.P.A.’s employees real-time news at a lower cost than what previous administrations paid for more antiquated clipping services,” Mr. Pounder said. “But it’s become clear this will become a distraction. As a result, Definers and the E.P.A. have decided to forgo the contract.”</div><div>
</div><div>Below is my statement regarding the EPA contract... pic.twitter.com/JWYBxeZNiT</div><div>
</div><div>— Joe Pounder (@PounderFile) December 19, 2017</div><div>Mr. Pounder also said on Twitter that other government agencies had expressed interest in his company’s services, but said his firm would no longer work with the federal government.</div><div>
</div><div>Contract documents show that Definers — which on its website lists its founder, president and top partner — applied to the E.P.A. as a “disadvantaged business,” a status that can give a bidder preference as it pursues a federal contract.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Asked about this filing, Mr. Pounder said that it was a computer error</b>, and that the company recently corrected its status in the federal contracting system to make clear that it was not a “disadvantaged business.”</div><div>
</div><div>An E.P.A. spokesman said that Definers did not receive any benefit as a result of the original disadvantaged status claim.</div><div>
</div><div>The move to drop the contract came after a liberal nonprofit group, Public Citizen, filed a formal protest late Monday with the Government Accountability Office saying that Definers had illegally been granted the deal. Public Citizen cited contract records indicating that no other bidders had been considered. The protest was filed on behalf of two other companies that offer similar services to the ones that Definers had been hired to deliver.</div><div>
</div><div>“Federal law establishes that full and open competition is the standard means for contracting,” the protest letter said.</div><div>
</div><div>Jahan Wilcox, an E.P.A. spokesman, declined to say why the agency had listed the contract as a sole-source notification, with Definers as the intended recipient.</div><div>
</div><div>He noted that the agency publicly announced the no-bid contract on federal websites, as is required, so that other vendors could have the opportunity to apply. One other company responded, E.P.A. officials said, and Definers was chosen for the job. Mr. Wilcox did not identify the other company.</div><div>
</div><div>“How we consume the news has changed, and we hope to find a vendor that can provide us with real-time news clips at a rate that is cheaper than our previous vendor,” he said.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Separately, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, and Senator Kamala Harris, Democrat of California, sent a letter on Tuesday to Mr. Pruitt, urging him to move on his own to cancel the contract.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Mr. Whitehouse said that America Rising Squared, a dark-money, nonprofit partner of Definers, set up a website this year pushing the Senate to confirm Mr. Pruitt. He said the firm also has conducted an elaborate surveillance operation tracking climate activists critical of the Trump administration, including Tom Steyer, the liberal billionaire donor, and sought to gather emails of E.P.A. employees who questioned Mr. Pruitt’s actions and policy.</div><div>
</div><div>“E.P.A.’s contract with Definers risks further politicizing the agency and is another instance of E.P.A. under your tenure becoming captured by the industry it regulates,” Mr. Whitehouse wrote, citing reporting by The New York Times and Mother Jones, which was the first to disclose the contract award. “At a minimum, it presents an appearance of impropriety to which you as administrator should never be a party. For the reasons that follow, you should terminate this contract immediately.”</div><div>
</div><div>Statements by Mr. Pounder that America Rising and Definers are separate entities were simply false, Mr. Whitehouse said in his letter.</div><div>
</div><div>“These organizations may have different corporate forms, but we should all be clear that they are merely different parts of the same multifaceted partisan operation,” Mr. Whitehouse wrote. “Any claim they are distinct is a sham.”</div><div>
</div><div>Joe Wagner, the managing director of the Washington office of Fenton, a public relations firm that identifies itself as supporting social change and was a party to the protest filed by Public Citizen, said he was glad the contract award had been terminated.</div><div>
</div><div>“They should put it out to bid,” he said. “That is standard practice.”

===2016 Definers Corp. Joe Pounder, Named by GQ as one of the most powerful people in Washington, D.C. for his ability to influence the national news cycle and described as “a master of opposition research” by  National Review...

Joe Pounder,President</div><div>Read More</div><div>
</div><div>Todd Scher</div><div>Research Associate</div><div>
</div><div><b>Todd conducts research services for Definers clients. Prior to joining Definers, he worked as an analyst in the Republican National Committee's research department. </b>Todd was born and raised in New York...</div><div>Read More</div><div>Brian Rogers</div><div>Senior Vice President</div><div>
</div><div>Brian Rogers brings a wealth of communications and research experience in high-stakes political campaigns and government. He previously served as Communications Director to U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Deputy...</div><div>Brian Rogers</div><div>Read More</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Mike conducts research and war room services. Before joining Definers, he was a War Room Analyst at America Rising,</span> LLC. Prior to that, he worked in the War Room at the Republican National Committee....</div><div>Mike Presutti</div><div>
</div><div>Research Associate</div><div>Read More</div><div>
</div><div>Sam’s excellent organization skills and positive attitude keep things running smoothly at Definers Corp. Sam graduated from The University of Arkansas-Monticello and quickly joined America Rising LLC...</div><div>Sam Montgomery</div><div>
</div><div>Office Manager</div><div>Read More</div><div>
</div><div>Andrew conducts research services for Definers <b>Before joining Definers, Andrew was a War Room Analyst for Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign</b> and a War Room Analyst for America Rising LLC...</div><div>Sam Montgomery</div><div>Andrew Lautz</div><div>Research Associate</div><div>Read More</div><div>Michael Chenderlin</div><div>Chief Digital Officer</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Chenderlin is a veteran digital strategist most recently playing a key role within Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign where he developed digital campaigns for grassroots activation, voter turnout and volunteer...</div><div>Mike Chenderlin</div><div>Read More</div><div>
</div><div>The team at Definers Public Affairs is comprised of leading communications, political and research professionals. Founded by former Romney-Ryan 2012 campaign manager Matt Rhoades and former RNC Research Director Joe Pounder, Definers helps corporations, trade associations, political campaigns and issue-based clients run smarter campaigns using cutting-edge research and communications strategies and tactics.</div><div>WHO WE ARE</div><div>
</div><div>Jim Barnett’s experience spreads presidential, statewide, local, corporate and issue campaigns. Prior to joining Definers, Barnett served as Vice President for Political Affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s...</div><div>Jim Barnett</div><div>Chief Operating Officer</div><div>
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</div><div>Jim Barnett</div><div>Read More</div><div>Julia Cotrone</div><div>
</div><div>As a special assistant at Definers Corp, Julia makes sure the trains are running on time and the team is firing on all cylinders. After graduating from The Catholic University of America, she went right to work for Governor Romney's...</div><div>Julia Cotrone</div><div>Special Assistant</div><div>Read More</div><div>
</div><div>Geoff Embler is a proud military brat born in Japan and raised in South Carolina. Geoff has worked in politics at all levels as a researcher and communicator, from state legislative campaigns, to congressional and Senate...</div><div>Geoff Embler</div><div>Senior Vice President</div><div>Geoff Embler</div><div>Read More</div><div>OUR TEAM</div><div>Tim Killeen</div><div>Tim Killeen</div><div>Senior Vice President</div><div>
</div><div><b>Tim Killeen has a background in research and communications. Previously, he worked for America Rising, the Republican National Committee,</b> high-profile political campaigns, the Washington Free Beacon, and the national...</div><div>Read More</div><div>Will Schenkel</div><div>Will Schenkel</div><div>War Room Associate</div><div>
</div><div>Will provides war room research services to Definers clients. Prior to joining Definers, he fulfilled a similar capacity for other firms and political offices, as well as on numerous campaigns in his native northeast...</div><div>Read More</div><div>Christy Paavola</div><div>Vice President</div><div>
</div><div>Christy Paavola possesses a diverse set of experiences in research and communications. Prior to joining Definers Corp., Christy was the Research Director for CARLY for America, the Super PAC supporting Carly Fiorina’s presidential bid...</div><div>Christy Paavola</div><div>Read More</div><div>Read More</div><div>
</div><div>Sara started her career as a graphic designer working with political and corporate clients in the DC area straight out of art school. She has used her unique perspective as an in-house creative to help her clients stand out against...</div><div>Sara Pietsch</div><div>Art Director</div><div>Sara Pietsch</div><div>Jasmine Sossa</div><div>Jasmine Sossa</div><div>Graphic Designer</div><div>
</div><div>Jasmine Sossa is a graphic designer with a heart that beats for creative and clean aesthetics. She attended Art School and finished with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Graphic and Web Design. Her love of craft beer landed her...</div><div>Read More</div><div>Nick Zanetti</div><div>Nick Zanetti</div><div>Research Associate</div><div>
</div><div>Nick conducts research and war room services for Definers clients. Before joining Definers, he was Deputy War Room Director at America Rising LLC. Prior to that, he worked in the war room of Ken Cuccinelli’s gubernatorial...</div><div>Read More</div><div>
</div><div><b>Matt Rhoades</b></div><div><b>Found</b>er</div><div>
</div><div>Matt Rhoades is one of America’s most accomplished political and public affairs professionals. He served as campaign manager for the Romney-Ryan 2012 presidential campaign, guiding Gov. Romney through...</div><div>Read More</div><div>
</div><div></div><div>Tim Killeen has a background in research and communications. Previously, he worked for America Rising, the Republican National Committee, high-profile political campaigns, the Washington Free Beacon, and the national security non-profit Keep America Safe. Originally from California, Tim graduated from Claremont McKenna College, where he played water polo and studied Government. Tim lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and two dogs, Finnegan and Seamus.</div><div></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Barnett’s experience spreads presidential, statewide, local, corporate and issue campaigns. Prior to joining Definers, Barnett served as Vice President for Political Affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform</span>. Barnett is a veteran of Republican politics having managed Sen. John McCain’s comeback victory in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary and U.S. Senator Scott Brown’s $45 million 2012 campaign. He is a past chairman of the Vermont Republican Party and served as deputy campaign manager and communications director for Governor Jim Douglas’s 2002 upset victory</div><div><b>Jim Barnett</b></div><div>Chief Operating Officer</div><div>Jim Barnett’s experience spreads presidential, statewide, local, corporate and issue campaigns. Prior to joining Definers, Barnett served as Vice President for Political Affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform. Barnett is a veteran of Republican politics having managed Sen. John McCain’s comeback victory in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary and U.S. Senator Scott Brown’s $45 million 2012 campaign. He is a past chairman of the Vermont Republican Party and served as deputy campaign manager and communications director for Governor Jim Douglas’s 2002 upset victory.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div></div><div>
</div><div>Joe Pounder</div><div>President</div><div>Named by GQ as one of the most powerful people in Washington, D.C. for his ability to influence the national news cycle and described as “a master of opposition research” by National Review, Joe Pounder is one of the nation’s most sought after political communicators. Pounder is a co-founder and president of the Republican rapid response and opposition research firm America Rising. He has served as a senior advisor for Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign and as communications director in his Senate office, research director at the Republican National Committee, and rapid response director on the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and John McCain.</div><div>
</div><div> Pounder</div><div>President</div><div>
</div><div>Named by GQ as one of the most powerful people in Washington, D.C. for his ability to influence the national news cycle and described as “a master of opposition research” by National Review, Joe Pounder is one of the nation’s most sought after political communicators. Pounder is a co-founder and president of the Republican rapid response and opposition research firm America Rising. He has served as a senior advisor for Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign and as communications director in his Senate office, research director at the Republican National Committee, and rapid response director on the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and John McCain.</div><div>
</div><div>Joe Pounder</div><div>President</div><div>Named by GQ as one of the most powerful people in Washington, D.C. for his ability to influence the national news cycle and described as “a master of opposition research” by National Review, Joe Pounder is one of the nation’s most sought after political communicators. Pounder is a co-founder and president of the Republican rapid response and opposition research firm America Rising. He has served as a senior advisor for Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign and as communications director in his Senate office, research director at the Republican National Committee, and rapid response director on the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and John McCain.</div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div>LI bs</div><div>
</div><div>President</div><div>    Definers Public Affairs</div><div>    January 2015 – Present (1 year 7 months)</div><div>
</div><div>    https://www.linkedin.com/company/definers-public-affairs</div><div>    President</div><div>    America Rising LLC</div><div>    March 2013 – Present (3 years 5 months)</div><div>    Marco Rubio for President</div><div>    Senior Adviser</div><div>    Marco Rubio for President</div><div>    November 2015 – March 2016 (5 months)Washington D.C. Metro Area</div><div>    Republican National Committee</div><div>    Research Director And Deputy Communications Director</div><div>    Republican National Committee</div><div>    May 2011 – March 2013 (1 year 11 months)</div><div>    Communications Director</div><div>    Office of US Senator Marco Rubio</div><div>    January 2011 – October 2011 (10 months)</div><div>    Deputy Campaign Manager for Communications</div><div>    Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate</div><div>    March 2010 – May 2011 (1 year 3 months)</div><div>    Strategic Communications Director</div><div>    Office of House Republican Whip Eric Cantor</div><div>    January 2009 – March 2010 (1 year 3 months)</div><div>    Rapid Response Director</div><div>    John McCain 2008</div><div>    2008 – 2008 (less than a year)</div><div>    Rapid Response Director</div><div>    Romney for President, Inc.</div><div>    2007 – 2008 (1 year)</div><div>    Deputy Research Director</div><div>    California Republican Party</div><div>    2006 – 2006 (less than a year)</div><div>    War Room Intern</div><div>    Bush-Cheney '04</div><div>    2004 – 2004 (less than a year)</div><div>
</div><div>Education</div><div>
</div><div>    The George Washington University</div><div>    The George Washington University</div><div>    Bachelor, International Affairs</div><div>    2002 – 2005</div><div>--</div><div>LI scrape</div><div>
</div><div>Brooke Sammon</div><div>
</div><div>Communications & Media Relations Professional</div><div>Raj Shah</div><div>
</div><div>Research Director & Deputy Communications Director at Republican National Committee</div><div>Julia Cotrone</div><div>
</div><div>Special Assistant at Definers Public Affairs</div><div>Geoff Embler</div><div>
</div><div>Senior Vice President at Definers Public Affairs</div><div>Colin Reed</div><div>
</div><div>Campaign Manager at Scott Brown For Senate</div><div>Alexandra Angel</div><div>
</div><div>VP at America Rising LLC</div><div>Alex Conant</div><div>
</div><div>Partner at Firehouse Strategies</div><div>Nick Zanetti</div><div>
</div><div>Researcher At Definers Corporation</div><div>Tim Miller</div><div>
</div><div>Communications Director at Jeb Bush 2016</div><div>Michael Presutti</div><div>
</div><div>Researcher at Definers Public Affairs</div><div></div><div>
</div><div>An Opposition Researcher for the GOP Reveals His Secrets</div><div>
</div><div>    Joe Pounder @PounderFile </div><div>
</div><div>June 16, 2016</div><div>
</div><div>Pounder is the President of Definers Public Affairs and America Rising LLC. He previously served as a Senior Adviser to Marco Rubio's presidential campaign and Research Director of the Republican National Committee.</div><div>
</div><div>Joe Pounder on how he tries to derail candidates</div><div>
</div><div>The 2016 general election is just beginning to take shape, and already political commentators are asking: What new information could possibly come out that would actually change voters’ minds? We think we know Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. These candidates, their lives, their successes, and their controversies—from cattle futures to Atlantic City exploits—have made headlines for decades. But there is still plenty left to come.</div><div>
</div><div>In general, through required disclosures, online databases, and public records requests, more information is available about the public and private lives of candidates running for office today than ever before. Ready to comb through all the information and documents are legions of opposition researchers employed by both parties, which have had researchers gearing up for 2016 ever since the last election ended in 2012. Republicans and Democrats each created dedicated outside groups. The GOP’s America Rising, which I run, and the Democrats’ American Bridge have already spent millions looking into Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s pasts. (The Democratic National Committee recently had its own files on Trump hacked.) Both sides are actively touting their efforts. Their war chests are strong.</div><div>
</div><div>For those in my field, this is the presidential election of Big Oppo. Massive research files (our Clinton file is over 7,000 pages of distilled research and over 10,000 video clips) are ready to be shared with an American people who, because of social media and the diversification of news platforms, now have an insatiable appetite for more information. With a candidate like Hillary Clinton, we have very long records to search for opportunities. America Rising’s Clinton effort to date has meant an analysis of the public record, compilation of thousands of video clips, numerous state and federal records requests, and trips to more than a dozen states for field research. To win, the real question is where to start.</div><div>
</div><div>Opposition research has always been a part of the political process. What’s new is the degree of professionalization on both sides, the transparency in the industry, and now the ability for every American to do it. The best video tracker—those persistent kids who trail candidates with video cameras and have the ability to change the course of an election—could be an everyday citizen in the first row while a candidate shakes hands, who uploaded a video to YouTube or used our organization’s new Grill app. Activists are increasingly doing their own splicing of facts and video together to create new narratives. News organizations are increasingly becoming more about opposition research than reporting.</div><div>
</div><div>In this Big Oppo election, a candidate must be prepared. While Clinton and Trump can seem larger than life to most people, for an opposition researcher, their records are no different than any other candidate. Their personal financial disclosures—documents each candidate is required to release—will be scrutinized for how they line up with their stated positions. How they managed their businesses, foundations, and time in government will be analyzed for opportunities. Every on-the-record comment, interview, and speech they ever made has been watched, tagged, and is ready to be exploited should they say one thing today inconsistent with something they said yesterday. For example, Clinton gave a disastrous interview to NPR about her ever-changing position on same-sex marriage, which we were able to exploit it because we already had on file everything she had ever said on the subject. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has been forced to reconcile positions on issues like Iraq and Libya with numerous past interviews.</div><div>
</div><div>The goals of having all this research are clear: Define your opponent early in voters’ minds; do not let your opponent get his or her message out; dominate the daily news cycle with research-driven rapid response attacks; and set the record straight in defense of your own boss. However, the most important goal is to provide case studies that reinforce the questions voters already have about either candidate’s character. For example, three years ago, America Rising made a clear determination that our research effort would look to drive questions around Hillary Clinton’s trustworthiness and honesty. Why? Our research showed that voters really did not like Clinton when she was viewed as a typical, out-of-touch politician. It was critical that we tapped into that inherent belief among voters. What we could not imagine was that Clinton had provided the best example by her own decision to use a home server for classified emails. At the same time, our counterparts at American Bridge and the Clinton campaign are just beginning the process of honing an anti-Trump message and field-testing slogans that might appeal to a wider non-Democrat primary audience.</div><div>
</div><div>Not to be forgotten is that Clinton and Trump have been around for so long that much of their older records are not known to newer generations. People are voting today who barely remember Bill Clinton’s impeachment or weren’t tuning into The Apprentice.</div><div>
</div><div>How do you take down a presidential candidate? With compelling content the couples a candidate’s positive vision for the future of the country with a clear case for why your opponent can’t take the country forward. Ultimately, to win, a candidate’s message has to simply be better and more compelling than their opponent’s. Each campaign will have to constantly feed out new, negative information. Twitter and Facebook feeds must be fed. News sites must have news. And anchors need breaking scoops, while bloggers must have something to chatter about. And Big Oppo is here for them. There’s no escaping the Big Oppo election.</div><div>
</div><div>TIME Ideas hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors.</div><div></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="= https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/climate/epa-definers-public-affairs-contract.html?mtrref=www.google.com = === 2016 Definers Corp. Joe Pounder Named by GQ as one of the most powerful people in Washington, D.C. for his ability to influence the national news cycle and described as “a master of opposition research” by National Review... ? Joe Pounder President Read More Todd Scher Todd Scher Research Associate Todd conducts research services for Definers clients. Prior to joining Definers, he worked as an analyst in the Republican National Committee's research department. Todd was born and raised in New York... Read More Brian Rogers Senior Vice President Brian Rogers brings a wealth of communications and research experience in high-stakes political campaigns and government. He previously served as Communications Director to U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Deputy... Brian Rogers Read More Mike conducts research and war room services. Before joining Definers, he was a War Room Analyst at America Rising, LLC. Prior to that, he worked in the War Room at the Republican National Committee.... Mike Presutti Mike Presutti Research Associate Read More Sam’s excellent organization skills and positive attitude keep things running smoothly at Definers Corp. Sam graduated from The University of Arkansas-Monticello and quickly joined America Rising LLC... Sam Montgomery Sam Montgomery Office Manager Read More Andrew conducts research services for Definers Before joining Definers, Andrew was a War Room Analyst for Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign and a War Room Analyst for America Rising LLC... Sam Montgomery Andrew Lautz Research Associate Read More Michael Chenderlin Chief Digital Officer Michael Chenderlin is a veteran digital strategist most recently playing a key role within Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign where he developed digital campaigns for grassroots activation, voter turnout and volunteer... Mike Chenderlin Read More The team at Definers Public Affairs is comprised of leading communications, political and research professionals. Founded by former Romney-Ryan 2012 campaign manager Matt Rhoades and former RNC Research Director Joe Pounder, Definers helps corporations, trade associations, political campaigns and issue-based clients run smarter campaigns using cutting-edge research and communications strategies and tactics. WHO WE ARE Jim Barnett’s experience spreads presidential, statewide, local, corporate and issue campaigns. Prior to joining Definers, Barnett served as Vice President for Political Affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s... Jim Barnett Chief Operating Officer Jim Barnett Read More Julia Cotrone As a special assistant at Definers Corp, Julia makes sure the trains are running on time and the team is firing on all cylinders. After graduating from The Catholic University of America, she went right to work for Governor Romney's... Julia Cotrone Special Assistant Read More Geoff Embler is a proud military brat born in Japan and raised in South Carolina. Geoff has worked in politics at all levels as a researcher and communicator, from state legislative campaigns, to congressional and Senate... Geoff Embler Senior Vice President Geoff Embler Read More OUR TEAM Tim Killeen Tim Killeen Senior Vice President Tim Killeen has a background in research and communications. Previously, he worked for America Rising, the Republican National Committee, high-profile political campaigns, the Washington Free Beacon, and the national... Read More Will Schenkel Will Schenkel War Room Associate Will provides war room research services to Definers clients. Prior to joining Definers, he fulfilled a similar capacity for other firms and political offices, as well as on numerous campaigns in his native northeast... Read More Christy Paavola Vice President Christy Paavola possesses a diverse set of experiences in research and communications. Prior to joining Definers Corp., Christy was the Research Director for CARLY for America, the Super PAC supporting Carly Fiorina’s presidential bid... Christy Paavola Read More Read More Sara started her career as a graphic designer working with political and corporate clients in the DC area straight out of art school. She has used her unique perspective as an in-house creative to help her clients stand out against... Sara Pietsch Art Director Sara Pietsch Jasmine Sossa Jasmine Sossa Graphic Designer Jasmine Sossa is a graphic designer with a heart that beats for creative and clean aesthetics. She attended Art School and finished with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Graphic and Web Design. Her love of craft beer landed her... Read More Nick Zanetti Nick Zanetti Research Associate Nick conducts research and war room services for Definers clients. Before joining Definers, he was Deputy War Room Director at America Rising LLC. Prior to that, he worked in the war room of Ken Cuccinelli’s gubernatorial... Read More Matt Rhoades Matt Rhoades Founder Matt Rhoades is one of America’s most accomplished political and public affairs professionals. He served as campaign manager for the Romney-Ryan 2012 presidential campaign, guiding Gov. Romney through... Read More == Tim Killeen has a background in research and communications. Previously, he worked for America Rising, the Republican National Committee, high-profile political campaigns, the Washington Free Beacon, and the national security non-profit Keep America Safe. Originally from California, Tim graduated from Claremont McKenna College, where he played water polo and studied Government. Tim lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and two dogs, Finnegan and Seamus. == Barnett’s experience spreads presidential, statewide, local, corporate and issue campaigns. Prior to joining Definers, Barnett served as Vice President for Political Affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform. Barnett is a veteran of Republican politics having managed Sen. John McCain’s comeback victory in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary and U.S. Senator Scott Brown’s $45 million 2012 campaign. He is a past chairman of the Vermont Republican Party and served as deputy campaign manager and communications director for Governor Jim Douglas’s 2002 upset victory Jim Barnett Chief Operating Officer Jim Barnett’s experience spreads presidential, statewide, local, corporate and issue campaigns. Prior to joining Definers, Barnett served as Vice President for Political Affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform. Barnett is a veteran of Republican politics having managed Sen. John McCain’s comeback victory in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary and U.S. Senator Scott Brown’s $45 million 2012 campaign. He is a past chairman of the Vermont Republican Party and served as deputy campaign manager and communications director for Governor Jim Douglas’s 2002 upset victory. == Joe Pounder President Named by GQ as one of the most powerful people in Washington, D.C. for his ability to influence the national news cycle and described as “a master of opposition research” by National Review, Joe Pounder is one of the nation’s most sought after political communicators. Pounder is a co-founder and president of the Republican rapid response and opposition research firm America Rising. He has served as a senior advisor for Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign and as communications director in his Senate office, research director at the Republican National Committee, and rapid response director on the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and John McCain. Pounder President Named by GQ as one of the most powerful people in Washington, D.C. for his ability to influence the national news cycle and described as “a master of opposition research” by National Review, Joe Pounder is one of the nation’s most sought after political communicators. Pounder is a co-founder and president of the Republican rapid response and opposition research firm America Rising. He has served as a senior advisor for Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign and as communications director in his Senate office, research director at the Republican National Committee, and rapid response director on the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and John McCain. Joe Pounder President Named by GQ as one of the most powerful people in Washington, D.C. for his ability to influence the national news cycle and described as “a master of opposition research” by National Review, Joe Pounder is one of the nation’s most sought after political communicators. Pounder is a co-founder and president of the Republican rapid response and opposition research firm America Rising. He has served as a senior advisor for Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign and as communications director in his Senate office, research director at the Republican National Committee, and rapid response director on the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and John McCain. === LI bs President Definers Public Affairs January 2015 – Present (1 year 7 months) https://www.linkedin.com/company/definers-public-affairs President America Rising LLC March 2013 – Present (3 years 5 months) Marco Rubio for President Senior Adviser Marco Rubio for President November 2015 – March 2016 (5 months)Washington D.C. Metro Area Republican National Committee Research Director And Deputy Communications Director Republican National Committee May 2011 – March 2013 (1 year 11 months) Communications Director Office of US Senator Marco Rubio January 2011 – October 2011 (10 months) Deputy Campaign Manager for Communications Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate March 2010 – May 2011 (1 year 3 months) Strategic Communications Director Office of House Republican Whip Eric Cantor January 2009 – March 2010 (1 year 3 months) Rapid Response Director John McCain 2008 2008 – 2008 (less than a year) Rapid Response Director Romney for President, Inc. 2007 – 2008 (1 year) Deputy Research Director California Republican Party 2006 – 2006 (less than a year) War Room Intern Bush-Cheney '04 2004 – 2004 (less than a year) Education The George Washington University The George Washington University Bachelor, International Affairs 2002 – 2005 -- LI scrape Brooke Sammon Communications & Media Relations Professional Raj Shah Research Director & Deputy Communications Director at Republican National Committee Julia Cotrone Special Assistant at Definers Public Affairs Geoff Embler Senior Vice President at Definers Public Affairs Colin Reed Campaign Manager at Scott Brown For Senate Alexandra Angel VP at America Rising LLC Alex Conant Partner at Firehouse Strategies Nick Zanetti Researcher At Definers Corporation Tim Miller Communications Director at Jeb Bush 2016 Michael Presutti Researcher at Definers Public Affairs == An Opposition Researcher for the GOP Reveals His Secrets Joe Pounder @PounderFile June 16, 2016 Pounder is the President of Definers Public Affairs and America Rising LLC. He previously served as a Senior Adviser to Marco Rubio's presidential campaign and Research Director of the Republican National Committee. Joe Pounder on how he tries to derail candidates The 2016 general election is just beginning to take shape, and already political commentators are asking: What new information could possibly come out that would actually change voters’ minds? We think we know Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. These candidates, their lives, their successes, and their controversies—from cattle futures to Atlantic City exploits—have made headlines for decades. But there is still plenty left to come. In general, through required disclosures, online databases, and public records requests, more information is available about the public and private lives of candidates running for office today than ever before. Ready to comb through all the information and documents are legions of opposition researchers employed by both parties, which have had researchers gearing up for 2016 ever since the last election ended in 2012. Republicans and Democrats each created dedicated outside groups. The GOP’s America Rising, which I run, and the Democrats’ American Bridge have already spent millions looking into Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s pasts. (The Democratic National Committee recently had its own files on Trump hacked.) Both sides are actively touting their efforts. Their war chests are strong. For those in my field, this is the presidential election of Big Oppo. Massive research files (our Clinton file is over 7,000 pages of distilled research and over 10,000 video clips) are ready to be shared with an American people who, because of social media and the diversification of news platforms, now have an insatiable appetite for more information. With a candidate like Hillary Clinton, we have very long records to search for opportunities. America Rising’s Clinton effort to date has meant an analysis of the public record, compilation of thousands of video clips, numerous state and federal records requests, and trips to more than a dozen states for field research. To win, the real question is where to start. Opposition research has always been a part of the political process. What’s new is the degree of professionalization on both sides, the transparency in the industry, and now the ability for every American to do it. The best video tracker—those persistent kids who trail candidates with video cameras and have the ability to change the course of an election—could be an everyday citizen in the first row while a candidate shakes hands, who uploaded a video to YouTube or used our organization’s new Grill app. Activists are increasingly doing their own splicing of facts and video together to create new narratives. News organizations are increasingly becoming more about opposition research than reporting. In this Big Oppo election, a candidate must be prepared. While Clinton and Trump can seem larger than life to most people, for an opposition researcher, their records are no different than any other candidate. Their personal financial disclosures—documents each candidate is required to release—will be scrutinized for how they line up with their stated positions. How they managed their businesses, foundations, and time in government will be analyzed for opportunities. Every on-the-record comment, interview, and speech they ever made has been watched, tagged, and is ready to be exploited should they say one thing today inconsistent with something they said yesterday. For example, Clinton gave a disastrous interview to NPR about her ever-changing position on same-sex marriage, which we were able to exploit it because we already had on file everything she had ever said on the subject. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has been forced to reconcile positions on issues like Iraq and Libya with numerous past interviews. The goals of having all this research are clear: Define your opponent early in voters’ minds; do not let your opponent get his or her message out; dominate the daily news cycle with research-driven rapid response attacks; and set the record straight in defense of your own boss. However, the most important goal is to provide case studies that reinforce the questions voters already have about either candidate’s character. For example, three years ago, America Rising made a clear determination that our research effort would look to drive questions around Hillary Clinton’s trustworthiness and honesty. Why? Our research showed that voters really did not like Clinton when she was viewed as a typical, out-of-touch politician. It was critical that we tapped into that inherent belief among voters. What we could not imagine was that Clinton had provided the best example by her own decision to use a home server for classified emails. At the same time, our counterparts at American Bridge and the Clinton campaign are just beginning the process of honing an anti-Trump message and field-testing slogans that might appeal to a wider non-Democrat primary audience. Not to be forgotten is that Clinton and Trump have been around for so long that much of their older records are not known to newer generations. People are voting today who barely remember Bill Clinton’s impeachment or weren’t tuning into The Apprentice. How do you take down a presidential candidate? With compelling content the couples a candidate’s positive vision for the future of the country with a clear case for why your opponent can’t take the country forward. Ultimately, to win, a candidate’s message has to simply be better and more compelling than their opponent’s. Each campaign will have to constantly feed out new, negative information. Twitter and Facebook feeds must be fed. News sites must have news. And anchors need breaking scoops, while bloggers must have something to chatter about. And Big Oppo is here for them. There’s no escaping the Big Oppo election. TIME Ideas hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors. ==">https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/climate/epa-definers-public-affairs-contract.html?mtrref=www.google.com</a></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
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</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">A consulting firm has pulled out of a federal contract to provide media monitoring services to the Environmental Protection Agency after it was disclosed that a lawyer among its top executives had been investigating agency employees critical of the Trump administration.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Joe Pounder, the president of Definers Public Affairs, said in a statement on Twitter that his company’s $120,000 contract with the E.P.A., which it was awarded this month, had become a “distraction.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The contract came under scrutiny because of the company’s links to America Rising, a Virginia-based corporation and Republican political operation with several offshoots that have investigated E.P.A. officials. One lawyer on the company’s staff, Allan Blutstein, sent a series of Freedom of Information Act requests to the E.P.A. asking for email correspondence by employees who had been publicly critical of the Trump administration’s management of the agency.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">America Rising and its affiliates also separately deployed “trackers” to videotape climate change activists and produced news releases and videos favorable to Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the E.P.A.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Definers Public Affairs, a corporate entity, shares multiple top executives with America Rising, including Mr. Pounder. Both he and E.P.A. officials said the contract was solely to monitor and collect news articles and videos that appear about the agency. E.P.A. officials said a need for compiling those news reports was not being met sufficiently by its previous vendor.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But agency employees — particularly those who had been targeted by America Rising after they raised questions about the management of Mr. Trump’s E.P.A. — said they were fearful the new contract might translate into increased surveillance of agency staff.</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Subscribe to The Times</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">E.P.A. officials and Mr. Pounder disputed that suggestion.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Definers offered E.P.A. a better and more efficient news clipping service that would give E.P.A.’s employees real-time news at a lower cost than what previous administrations paid for more antiquated clipping services,” Mr. Pounder said. “But it’s become clear this will become a distraction. As a result, Definers and the E.P.A. have decided to forgo the contract.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Below is my statement regarding the EPA contract... pic.twitter.com/JWYBxeZNiT</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Joe Pounder (@PounderFile) December 19, 2017</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Pounder also said on Twitter that other government agencies had expressed interest in his company’s services, but said his firm would no longer work with the federal government.</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contract documents show that Definers — which on its website lists its founder, president and top partner — applied to the E.P.A. as a “disadvantaged business,” a status that can give a bidder preference as it pursues a federal contract.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Asked about this filing, Mr. Pounder said that it was a computer error, and that the company recently corrected its status in the federal contracting system to make clear that it was not a “disadvantaged business.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An E.P.A. spokesman said that Definers did not receive any benefit as a result of the original disadvantaged status claim.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The move to drop the contract came after a liberal nonprofit group, Public Citizen, filed a formal protest late Monday with the Government Accountability Office saying that Definers had illegally been granted the deal. Public Citizen cited contract records indicating that no other bidders had been considered. The protest was filed on behalf of two other companies that offer similar services to the ones that Definers had been hired to deliver.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Federal law establishes that full and open competition is the standard means for contracting,” the protest letter said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jahan Wilcox, an E.P.A. spokesman, declined to say why the agency had listed the contract as a sole-source notification, with Definers as the intended recipient.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He noted that the agency publicly announced the no-bid contract on federal websites, as is required, so that other vendors could have the opportunity to apply. One other company responded, E.P.A. officials said, and Definers was chosen for the job. Mr. Wilcox did not identify the other company.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“How we consume the news has changed, and we hope to find a vendor that can provide us with real-time news clips at a rate that is cheaper than our previous vendor,” he said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Separately, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, and Senator Kamala Harris, Democrat of California, sent a letter on Tuesday to Mr. Pruitt, urging him to move on his own to cancel the contract.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Whitehouse said that America Rising Squared, a dark-money, nonprofit partner of Definers, set up a website this year pushing the Senate to confirm Mr. Pruitt. He said the firm also has conducted an elaborate surveillance operation tracking climate activists critical of the Trump administration, including Tom Steyer, the liberal billionaire donor, and sought to gather emails of E.P.A. employees who questioned Mr. Pruitt’s actions and policy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“E.P.A.’s contract with Definers risks further politicizing the agency and is another instance of E.P.A. under your tenure becoming captured by the industry it regulates,” Mr. Whitehouse wrote, citing reporting by The New York Times and Mother Jones, which was the first to disclose the contract award. “At a minimum, it presents an appearance of impropriety to which you as administrator should never be a party. For the reasons that follow, you should terminate this contract immediately.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Statements by Mr. Pounder that America Rising and Definers are separate entities were simply false, Mr. Whitehouse said in his letter.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“These organizations may have different corporate forms, but we should all be clear that they are merely different parts of the same multifaceted partisan operation,” Mr. Whitehouse wrote. “Any claim they are distinct is a sham.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Joe Wagner, the managing director of the Washington office of Fenton, a public relations firm that identifies itself as supporting social change and was a party to the protest filed by Public Citizen, said he was glad the contract award had been terminated.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“They should put it out to bid,” he said. “That is standard practice.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lix 12/17</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">lipton &</font></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=

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2016 Definers Corp.
Joe Pounder

Named by GQ as one of the most powerful people in Washington, D.C. for his ability to influence the national news cycle and described as “a master of opposition research” by  National Review...

?
Joe Pounder
President
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Todd Scher
Todd Scher
Research Associate

Todd conducts research services for Definers clients. Prior to joining Definers, he worked as an analyst in the Republican National Committee's research department. Todd was born and raised in New York...
Read More
Brian Rogers
Senior Vice President

Brian Rogers brings a wealth of communications and research experience in high-stakes political campaigns and government. He previously served as Communications Director to U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Deputy...
Brian Rogers
Read More

Mike conducts research and war room services. Before joining Definers, he was a War Room Analyst at America Rising, LLC. Prior to that, he worked in the War Room at the Republican National Committee....
Mike Presutti
Mike Presutti
Research Associate
Read More

Sam’s excellent organization skills and positive attitude keep things running smoothly at Definers Corp. Sam graduated from The University of Arkansas-Monticello and quickly joined America Rising LLC...
Sam Montgomery
Sam Montgomery
Office Manager
Read More

Andrew conducts research services for Definers Before joining Definers, Andrew was a War Room Analyst for Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign and a War Room Analyst for America Rising LLC...
Sam Montgomery
Andrew Lautz
Research Associate
Read More
Michael Chenderlin
Chief Digital Officer

Michael Chenderlin is a veteran digital strategist most recently playing a key role within Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign where he developed digital campaigns for grassroots activation, voter turnout and volunteer...
Mike Chenderlin
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The team at Definers Public Affairs is comprised of leading communications, political and research professionals. Founded by former Romney-Ryan 2012 campaign manager Matt Rhoades and former RNC Research Director Joe Pounder, Definers helps corporations, trade associations, political campaigns and issue-based clients run smarter campaigns using cutting-edge research and communications strategies and tactics.
WHO WE ARE

Jim Barnett’s experience spreads presidential, statewide, local, corporate and issue campaigns. Prior to joining Definers, Barnett served as Vice President for Political Affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s...
Jim Barnett
Chief Operating Officer

Jim Barnett
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Julia Cotrone

As a special assistant at Definers Corp, Julia makes sure the trains are running on time and the team is firing on all cylinders. After graduating from The Catholic University of America, she went right to work for Governor Romney's...
Julia Cotrone
Special Assistant
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Geoff Embler is a proud military brat born in Japan and raised in South Carolina. Geoff has worked in politics at all levels as a researcher and communicator, from state legislative campaigns, to congressional and Senate...
Geoff Embler
Senior Vice President
Geoff Embler
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OUR TEAM
Tim Killeen
Tim Killeen
Senior Vice President

Tim Killeen has a background in research and communications. Previously, he worked for America Rising, the Republican National Committee, high-profile political campaigns, the Washington Free Beacon, and the national...
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Will Schenkel
Will Schenkel
War Room Associate

Will provides war room research services to Definers clients. Prior to joining Definers, he fulfilled a similar capacity for other firms and political offices, as well as on numerous campaigns in his native northeast...
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Christy Paavola
Vice President

Christy Paavola possesses a diverse set of experiences in research and communications. Prior to joining Definers Corp., Christy was the Research Director for CARLY for America, the Super PAC supporting Carly Fiorina’s presidential bid...
Christy Paavola
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Sara started her career as a graphic designer working with political and corporate clients in the DC area straight out of art school. She has used her unique perspective as an in-house creative to help her clients stand out against...
Sara Pietsch
Art Director
Sara Pietsch
Jasmine Sossa
Jasmine Sossa
Graphic Designer

Jasmine Sossa is a graphic designer with a heart that beats for creative and clean aesthetics. She attended Art School and finished with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Graphic and Web Design. Her love of craft beer landed her...
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Nick Zanetti
Nick Zanetti
Research Associate

Nick conducts research and war room services for Definers clients. Before joining Definers, he was Deputy War Room Director at America Rising LLC. Prior to that, he worked in the war room of <b>Ken Cuccinelli’</b>s gubernatorial...
Read More
Matt Rhoades
Matt Rhoades
Founder

Matt Rhoades is one of America’s most accomplished political and public affairs professionals. He served as campaign manager for the Romney-Ryan 2012 presidential campaign, guiding Gov. Romney through...
Read More

<span class="color_23">Tim Killeen has a background in research and

communications. Previously, he worked for America Rising, the <b>Republican

National Committee, high-profile political campaigns, the Washington

Free Beacon, </b>and the national security non-profit Keep America Safe.

Originally from California, Tim graduated from Claremont McKenna

College, where he played water polo and studied Government. Tim lives in

Washington, D.C. with his wife and two dogs, Finnegan and Seamus.</span>
==
Barnett’s experience spreads presidential, statewide, local, corporate and issue campaigns. Prior to joining Definers, Barnett served as Vice President for Political Affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform. Barnett is a veteran of Republican politics having managed Sen. John McCain’s comeback victory in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary and U.S. Senator Scott Brown’s $45 million 2012 campaign. He is a past chairman of the Vermont Republican Party and served as deputy campaign manager and communications director for Governor Jim Douglas’s 2002 upset victory

Jxim Barnett

Jim

Barnett’s experience spreads presidential, statewide, local, corporate

and issue campaigns. Prior to joining Definers, Barnett served as Vice

President for Political Affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s

Institute for Legal Reform. Barnett is a veteran of Republican politics

having managed Sen. John McCain’s comeback victory in the

first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary and U.S. Senator Scott Brown’s

$45 million 2012 campaign. He is a past chairman of the Vermont

Republican Party and served as deputy campaign manager and

communications director for Governor Jim Douglas’s 2002 upset victory.<

as one of the most powerful people in Washington, D.C. for his ability

to influence the national news cycle and described as “a master of

opposition research” by

National Review,

Joe Pounder is one of the nation’s most sought after political

communicators. Pounder is a co-founder and president of the Republican

rapid response and opposition research firm America Rising. He has

served as a senior advisor for Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign

and as communications director in his Senate office, research director

at the Republican National Committee, and rapid response director on the

presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and John McCain.

</font></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Pounder
President

<b>Named by GQ as one of the most powerful people in Washington, D.C. for his ability to influence the national news cycle and described as “a master of opposition research” by National Review, Joe Pounder is one of the nation’s most sought after political communicators.</b> Pounder is a co-founder and president of the Republican rapid response and opposition research firm America Rising. He has served as a senior advisor for Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign and as communications director in his Senate office, research director at the Republican National Committee, and rapid response director on the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and John McCain.

...

Jxoe Pounder...Named by <span style="font-style:italic">GQ</span>

as one of the most powerful people in Washington, D.C. for his ability

to influence the national news cycle and described as “a master of

opposition research” by <span style="font-style:italic">National Review</span>,

Joe Pounder is one of the nation’s most sought after political

communicators. Pounder is a co-founder and president of the Republican

rapid response and opposition research firm America Rising. He has

served as a senior advisor for Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign

and as communications director in his Senate office, research director

at the Republican National Committee, and rapid response director on the

presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and John McCain.

</font></div><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="4"><b>=
LI bs</b>

President
    Definers Public Affairs
    January 2015 – Present (1 year 7 months)

    https://www.linkedin.com/company/definers-public-affairs
    President
    America Rising LLC
    March 2013 – Present (3 years 5 months)
    Marco Rubio for President
    Senior Adviser
    Marco Rubio for President
    November 2015 – March 2016 (5 months)Washington D.C. Metro Area
<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><b>    Republican National Committee BARBARA COMSTOCK RHOADES?</b>
    Research Director And Deputy Communications Director
    Republican National Committee
    May 2011 – March 2013 (1 year 11 months)</span>
    Communications Director
    Office of US Senator Marco Rubio
    January 2011 – October 2011 (10 months)
    Deputy Campaign Manager for Communications
    Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate
    March 2010 – May 2011 (1 year 3 months)
    Strategic Communications Director
    Office of House Republican Whip Eric Cantor
    January 2009 – March 2010 (1 year 3 months)
    Rapid Response Director
    John McCain 2008
    2008 – 2008 (less than a year)
    Rapid Response Director
    Romney for President, Inc.
    2007 – 2008 (1 year)
  <b>  Deputy Research Director
    California Republican Party</b>
    2006 – 2006 (less than a year)
  <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">  War Room Intern
    Bush-Cheney '04
    2004 – 2004 (less than a year)</span>

Education

    The George Washington University
    The George Washington University
    Bachelor, International Affairs
    2002 – 2005
--
LI scrape

Brooke Sammon

Communications & Media Relations Professional
Raj Shah

Research Director & Deputy Communications Director at Republican National Committee
Julia Cotrone

Special Assistant at Definers Public Affairs
Geoff Embler

Senior Vice President at Definers Public Affairs
Colin Reed

Campaign Manager at Scott Brown For Senate
Alexandra Angel

VP at America Rising LLC
Alex Conant

Partner at Firehouse Strategies
Nick Zanetti

Researcher At Definers Corporation
Tim Miller

Communications Director at Jeb Bush 2016
Michael Presutti

Researcher at Definers Public Affairs

An Opposition Researcher for the GOP Reveals His Secrets

    Joe Pounder @PounderFile

June 16, 2016

Pounder is the President of Definers Public Affairs and America Rising LLC. He previously served as a Senior Adviser to Marco Rubio's presidential campaign and Research Director of the Republican National Committee.

Joe Pounder on how he tries to derail candidates

The 2016 general election is just beginning to take shape, and already political commentators are asking: What new information could possibly come out that would actually change voters’ minds? We think we know Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. These candidates, their lives, their successes, and their controversies—from cattle futures to Atlantic City exploits—have made headlines for decades. But there is still plenty left to come.

In general, through required disclosures, online databases, and public records requests, more information is available about the public and private lives of candidates running for office today than ever before. Ready to comb through all the information and documents are legions of opposition researchers employed by both parties, which have had researchers gearing up for 2016 ever since the last election ended in 2012. Republicans and Democrats each created dedicated outside groups. The GOP’s America Rising, which I run, and the Democrats’ American Bridge have already spent millions looking into Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s pasts. (The Democratic National Committee recently had its own files on Trump hacked.) Both sides are actively touting their efforts. Their war chests are strong.

For those in my field, this is the presidential election of Big Oppo. Massive research files (our Clinton file is over 7,000 pages of distilled research and over 10,000 video clips) are ready to be shared with an American people who, because of social media and the diversification of news platforms, now have an insatiable appetite for more information. With a candidate like Hillary Clinton, we have very long records to search for opportunities. America Rising’s Clinton effort to date has meant an analysis of the public record, compilation of thousands of video clips, numerous state and federal records requests, and trips to more than a dozen states for field research. To win, the real question is where to start.

Opposition research has always been a part of the political process. What’s new is the degree of professionalization on both sides, the transparency in the industry, and now the ability for every American to do it. The best video tracker—those persistent kids who trail candidates with video cameras and have the ability to change the course of an election—could be an everyday citizen in the first row while a candidate shakes hands, who uploaded a video to YouTube or used our organization’s new Grill app. Activists are increasingly doing their own splicing of facts and video together to create new narratives. News organizations are increasingly becoming more about opposition research than reporting.

In this Big Oppo election, a candidate must be prepared. While Clinton and Trump can seem larger than life to most people, for an opposition researcher, their records are no different than any other candidate. Their personal financial disclosures—documents each candidate is required to release—will be scrutinized for how they line up with their stated positions. How they managed their businesses, foundations, and time in government will be analyzed for opportunities. Every on-the-record comment, interview, and speech they ever made has been watched, tagged, and is ready to be exploited should they say one thing today inconsistent with something they said yesterday. For example, Clinton gave a disastrous interview to NPR about her ever-changing position on same-sex marriage, which we were able to exploit it because we already had on file everything she had ever said on the subject. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has been forced to reconcile positions on issues like Iraq and Libya with numerous past interviews.

The goals of having all this research are clear: Define your opponent early in voters’ minds; do not let your opponent get his or her message out; dominate the daily news cycle with research-driven rapid response attacks; and set the record straight in defense of your own boss. However, the most important goal is to provide case studies that reinforce the questions voters already have about either candidate’s character. For example, three years ago, America Rising made a clear determination that our research effort would look to drive questions around Hillary Clinton’s trustworthiness and honesty. Why? Our research showed that voters really did not like Clinton when she was viewed as a typical, out-of-touch politician. It was critical that we tapped into that inherent belief among voters. What we could not imagine was that Clinton had provided the best example by her own decision to use a home server for classified emails. At the same time, our counterparts at American Bridge and the Clinton campaign are just beginning the process of honing an anti-Trump message and field-testing slogans that might appeal to a wider non-Democrat primary audience.

Not to be forgotten is that Clinton and Trump have been around for so long that much of their older records are not known to newer generations. People are voting today who barely remember Bill Clinton’s impeachment or weren’t tuning into The Apprentice.

How do you take down a presidential candidate? With compelling content the couples a candidate’s positive vision for the future of the country with a clear case for why your opponent can’t take the country forward. Ultimately, to win, a candidate’s message has to simply be better and more compelling than their opponent’s. Each campaign will have to constantly feed out new, negative information. Twitter and Facebook feeds must be fed. News sites must have news. And anchors need breaking scoops, while bloggers must have something to chatter about. And Big Oppo is here for them. There’s no escaping the Big Oppo election.

TIME Ideas hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors.
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