axios
belated? 11/19
prolly neglected
merri ok
busted bossie
---
an 2 26
Corporations that pandered to Donald Trump after his reelection could soon pay the price for it, with one bipartisan consulting firm warning clients of a "tsunami of congressional oversight" in the likely event the Republicans lose the midterms, and it will be "much worse than they expect."
The memo, reported on by Axios, was written by Matthew Miller and Tucker Eskew, who the outlet credited as "veterans of high-profile campaigns." They warned that a major shift is almost certainly headed for Washington D.C., and that companies need to start preparing themselves for Democratic leadership in the House.
"A tsunami of Congressional oversight is headed straight for corporate America," Miller and Eskew wrote. "Barring a dramaticand improbable reversal of both current and historic political trends, Democrats will retake control of the House of Representatives (and possibly the Senate) in November’s elections, ushering in two years of divided government. With prospects for passing major legislation during that period hovering between slim and none, oversight will become the leading substantive and political weaponfor newly ascendant Democrats."
Since Trump's return to the White House, the pillars of corporate America — including tech titans like Amazon, Apple, Meta and Google — have faced widespread accusations of currying favor with his administration. Companies big and small followed Trump's command at the start of his second term to do away with "diversity, equity and inclusion" programs. The aforementioned major companies also donated significant amounts of money to Trump's inauguration and his controversial White House ballroom.
Miller and Eskew further suggested that, in many ways, the incoming Democratic leadership could be similar to past periods when the party held majorities in Congress. However, they also warned that shifting priorities and key changes within the party mean that companies are more likely than ever to face scrutiny.
"The first change stems from a widespread belief among Democrats that major corporations have drawn too close to the administration for comfort," the memo continued. "For example, they have attacked crypto companies for allegedly funneling money to the president and his family, called antitrust review 'pay-to-play corruption,' and questioned the relationship between the White House and oil companies. For Democrats on the Hill, aggressive oversight of private companies is no longer just an end to itself, but a means for exposing alleged abuses by the Trump administration."
Miller and Eskew also predicted that Democrats are preparing for the White House to stonewall any and all attempts at oversight investigations. This will, in turn, cause them to turn their attention to corporations, using oversight of them as "a means for exposing alleged abuses by the Trump administration."
"It's going to be so much worse than they expect," Miller said in a statement to Axios.
ref mkting
...the first change stems from a widespread belief among Democrats that major corporations havedrawn too close to the administration for comfort. For example, they have attacked crypto companiesfor allegedly funneling money to the president and his family, called antitrust review “pay-to-playcorruption,” and questioned the relationship between the White House and oil companies. ForDemocrats on the Hill, aggressive oversight of private companies is no longer just an end to itself,but a means for exposing alleged abuses by the Trump administration...
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trump naughty list 12 25
[### 🎄 Naughty List 🎄 MS NOW: • Carol Leonnig • Ken Dilanian ...

Threads
https://www.threads.com › @annapower55](https://www.threads.com/@annapower55/post/DSKEcyaknj4/naughty-list-carol-leonnig-ker-dilanian-newyork-post-caitlin-me-comack-cnn-take)
14 hours ago — CBS NEWS: • Bilal Rahman (unverified name — no known CBS journalist by this spelling). AXIOS: • Zachary Basu • Russell Contreras. THE BULWARK ...
Missing: press zachery
[### Thursday's politics & policy stories

Axios
https://www.axios.com › politics-policy › 2022/10/13](https://www.axios.com/politics-policy/2022/10/13)
Zachary Basu. Oct 13, 2022 - Politics & Policy · Jan. 6 panel: Trump ordered large-scale U.S. troop withdrawals after election. Memo of Trump ordering ...
[### Thursday's top stories

Axios
https://www.axios.com › top › 2025/05/29](https://www.axios.com/top/2025/05/29)
Zachary Basu. May 28, 2025 - Politics & Policy · Musk confirms exit from Trump administration amid image rehab tour. facebook (opens in new window). twitter ...
[### Trump/Russia 2017-2018

The Blacklist Declassified
https://blacklistdeclassified.net › 2017/07](https://blacklistdeclassified.net/2017/07/)
Axios, Jonathan Swan: Trump's moment of truth http://bit.ly/2zezb3o ... ⋙ Axios, Zachary Basu: Democratic hit list: At least 85 Trump investigation ...
[### Tuesday's top stories

Axios
https://www.axios.com › top › 2025/06/03](https://www.axios.com/top/2025/06/03)
President Trump holding up a list of tariffs. facebook (opens in new ... Zachary Basu. Jun 3, 2025 - Politics & Policy · Ukraine's drone triumph opens ...
Missing: blacklist naughty
[### Twenty Years After 9/11 - Combating Terrorism Center

Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
https://ctc.westpoint.edu › uploads › 2021/09 › C...](https://ctc.westpoint.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/CTC-SENTINEL-072021.pdf)
Sep 3, 2021 — 117 Jonathan Swan and Zachary Basu, “Pakistan PM will 'absolutely not' allow. CIA to use bases for Afghanistan operations,” Axios, June 18, 2021 ...
[### Russell Contreras

Axios
https://www.axios.com › authors › rcontreras](https://www.axios.com/authors/rcontreras)
Russell Contreras is the Justice and Race reporter at Axios covering the policies and agencies at the heart of the administration of justice.
Missing: vlacklist naughty zachery
[### Russell Contreras, a justice and race reporter with Axios, says ...

Facebook · NewsNation
20+ reactions · 3 months ago](https://www.facebook.com/NewsNationNow/videos/trump-admin-moving-the-goalposts-with-mexico-reporter-newsnation-now/2001751117242830/)
[
4:18](https://www.facebook.com/NewsNationNow/videos/trump-admin-moving-the-goalposts-with-mexico-reporter-newsnation-now/2001751117242830/)
Russell Contreras, a justice and race reporter with Axios, says the Trump administration keeps changing its mind on how it wants Mexico to ...
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posted on realclear investigations oct 2021
https://www.axios.com/googles-climate-denial-crackdown-misinformation-e0925b26-76ff-4c1d-8b11-c498cc8527d9.html
interesting this is axios, good news [for planet anyway] tho they think it will be read as bog tech censorship?!
google's new policy of demonetizing climate denial content marks a significant step in its efforts to rein in climate misinformation.
Why it matters: Videos promoting clear falsehoods about the existence of global warming or its causes have long found a home on YouTube, which Google owns.
- Meanwhile, on search, ads for climate contrarian websites have consistently appeared next to search listings for sites offering politically neutral and scientifically rigorous evidence.
Driving the news: The company's announcement Thursday that the new policy takes effect Nov. 1, during the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow, could cool the political polarization around climate in the U.S.
How it works: Per a Google statement, the policy affects the monetization of "content that contradicts well-established scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change."
- "This includes content referring to climate change as a hoax or a scam, claims denying that long-term trends show the global climate is warming, and claims denying that greenhouse gas emissions or human activity contribute to climate change."
- Google plans to use "automated tools and human review" to put the policy into practice.
- The system does not seek to limit policy debate, making Google's job easier but potentially allowing the promotion of partisan assaults on established science.
- Discerning denial can be tough. Google says it will "look carefully at the context in which claims are made, differentiating between content that states a false claim as fact, versus content that reports on or discusses that claim."
Our thought bubble, from Axios' Scott Rosenberg: Facebook and Google have both faced censorship accusations from conservatives who object to measures that have sought to limit misinformation on COVID, elections and other topics.
- YouTube's move on climate is likely to encounter similar objections, given the politically polarized views on this issue, especially in the U.S.
Between the lines: The policy also brings Google's ad revenue strategy more in line with its sustainability agenda.
- The company aims to run on 100% carbon-free energy by 2030.
- On Wednesday, Google rolled out new features to help travelers limit the carbon footprint of their flights via Google Flights.
What's next: The policy will immediately be put to the test with COP26 taking place.
- Spikes in social media activity around climate change over the last six months coincided with major news events, according to data from Keyhole.
- Peaks in search activity also tend to occur around news events, including climate summits, according to Google Trends.
What we're watching: Whether Google's move boosts pressure on Facebook to modify its efforts to limit climate misinformation.
- Facebook expanded its Climate Science Center last month and steers users there when they search for climate-related terms. Facebook also pledged $1 million to a grant program to combat misinformation.
- But activists say the platform still allows denial to flourish.
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https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/axios-reporter-reveals-most-shocking-revelations-trump-made-in-interview-about-russian-bounties/
aha doh trump does what about both siderism all the time on issues he wants to duck? eg russian activ meas, we do it too
Travis Gettys / Raw Story July 29, 2020
361
President Donald Trump admitted he never confronted Russia’s president Vladimir Putin about bounties on U.S. troops, but the reporter who interviewed him said that wasn’t even the “most shocking” revelation he made.
Axios reporter Jonathan Swan interviewed the president about the bounties allegedly placed on U.S troops in Afghanistan and his recent call with Putin, but he told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” what shocked him the most about their conversation.
“In some ways, the most shocking part of that clip is actually not the first part where he admits for the first time on the record that he hasn’t raised the issue of the bounties with Vladimir Putin,” Swan said. “That’s the least shocking part of that call, because actually, frankly, you know, you could have a debate within policy circles about whether it’s the appropriate thing.”
“I mean, that there are dissenting opinions within the intelligence community about this intelligence,” he added. “It certainly is serious intelligence, being taken seriously by the allies, and there is a very good argument for why the president should raise it with Putin.”
But that wasn’t the most surprising revelation Trump made, Swan said.
“The second question is actually more important, which is, fine, you don’t believe this intelligence, or you’re skeptical of it,” Swan said. “Let’s try and take the most good-faith interpretation of it. But you know that Russia has been supplying weapons and money to the Taliban because the man who ran your forces in Afghanistan, John Nicholson, under your administration, said this on the record when he worked for you, and for him to say then, well, I didn’t — I don’t know if I’ve heard about this, never reached my desk, and by the way, we gave them weapons, too.”
“I mean, like in a different era,” he added. “I just — honestly, it was one of the most shocking — I’ve covered president Trump for five years. I think it’s one of the most shocking exchanges I’ve ever had with him.”
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drilled
Beyond Ads: How Politico, Vox and Axios Enable the Fossil Fuel Industry
Some publications are banning fossil fuel ads, but outlets like Vox, Politico and Axios enable Big Oil in ways that go beyond advertising.
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bannon
:{:{}:
}:
https://www.mediamatters.org/steve-bannon/steve-bannon-pushing-debunked-claims-about-coronavirus-are-linked-his-billionaire
many lnx vids (see bak)
Steve Bannon is pushing debunked claims about the coronavirus that are linked to his billionaire benefactor
WRITTEN BY MADELINE PELTZ
PUBLISHED 02/06/20 11:04 AM EST
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon has pushed a debunked theory about the origins of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China on his daily radio broadcast War Room: Pandemic. The claim echoes fake news pushed by G News, a website that has reportedly paid him at least $1 million for consulting and offered him a position as senior editor.
War Room: Pandemic launched on January 25 as a spin-off to War Room:
Impeachment, Bannon’s rapid response operation defending President Donald Trump during his Senate impeachment trial. Since the new show began, Bannon has repeatedly pushed the false narrative that the coronavirus was leaked from a covert biological weapons program at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which includes a secure research facility where scientists study highly contagious and infectious diseases.
The unfounded narrative that the coronavirus was engineered and leaked from the lab has been wholly rejected by experts, with The Washington Post labeling it a “fringe theory,” PolitiFact calling the claim made in the G News article “false,” and Foreign Policy describing it as “an outbreak of nonsense.” Rutgers University professor of chemical biology Richard Ebright told the Post that “based on the virus genome and properties there is no indication whatsoever that it was an engineered virus.”
But evidence is no object when Bannon is on a mission to propagandize. On the podcast, Bannon has repeatedly cited stories by Bill Gertz in the Washington Times that suggest, based on speculations from a single source, that the Wuhan Institute of Virology is researching biowarfare, and that the coronavirus was engineered and leaked from there. Bannon kicked off the show’s inaugural episode by interviewing Gertz to promote his flimsy reporting.
BuzzFeed recently reported on Bannon's ties to G News, a digital media outlet launched by Chinese billionaire-in-exile Guo Wenguithat has also published two false stories about how the coronavirus was first introduced to residents of Wuhan. One G News story falsely alleged that the Chinese government would imminently confess that the virus was genetically engineered and leaked from a lab near the densely populated city. The other included a document purporting to validate a conspiracy theory that the Chinese military spread the disease on purpose.
Bannon’s contracts with the project were first reported in October by Axios, which showed that he had signed on to serve as a consultant for one year starting in August 2018 and was to be compensated at least $1 million. Axios also reported on a second, unsigned contract that specified Bannon would serve as a senior editor for G News starting in August 2019. According to BuzzFeed, “Guo and Bannon frequently appear together in videos on G News that attack the Chinese government.” (According to The New York Times, Guo described his connection to Bannon in a 2018 interview: “We both naturally despise the Chinese Communist Party. That’s why we’ve become partners.”) Episodes of War Room: Pandemic are also cross-posted to the G News website.
Video file
CitationFrom the January 25, 2020, edition of War Room: Pandemic
STEVE BANNON (HOST): Bill Gertz from the Washington Times, Bill Gertz had an amazing piece in the Washington Times about the biological labs that happen to be in Wuhan.
The episode also featured J. Kyle Bass, a China critic and hedge fund investor with connections to G News owner Guo, on the same day that Bass tweeted out a CBC article from July 2019, falsely claiming that “a husband and wife Chinese spy team” smuggled viral samples out of a Candian research facility to Wuhan. “Pizzagate” conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec, who tweeted the CBC link that day with the same unsubstantiated claim, was also a guest on the episode.
Later in the show, Gertz and Bannon delved further into the thinly sourced theory. Despite admitting that “we have no evidence that this current coronavirus leaked from that institute,” Gertz speculated that “it’s certainly possible that this outbreak of this animal virus could have come from one of their biological weapons labs.” The U.S. Department of State has raised concerns regarding China’s compliance with the Biological Weapons Convention, but has not affirmatively identified the existence of such a program.
Video file
CitationFrom the January 25, 2020, edition of War Room: Pandemic
STEVE BANNON (HOST): Bill, can you briefly summarize the article that you did yesterday? Talk about these biological labs that are in Wuhan and what aspect do you think they may have in this crisis?
BILL GERTZ: Sure, yeah, good to be on the show, Steve. This is a significant development in the sense that what I’ve identified is the sole declared facility in China capable of handling deadly viruses. In other words, this is the place where they do all of their civilian research. And I spoke with a former Israeli military intelligence officer who studied the Chinese biological warfare program and he says that this institute is clearly linked to this covert Chinese biological warfare program. Now, we have no evidence that this current coronavirus leaked from that institute, but in China and the way secrecy works and the lack of controls, it’s certainly possible that this outbreak of this animal virus could have come from one of their biological weapons labs.
There’s also a second facility in Wuhan that’s also linked to the biological weapons program.Again, that’s a secret program that last year the State Department in it’s annual report on arms compliance stated fairly bluntly that they believe that China is engaged in a covert offensive biological weapons program.
Gertz returned to the show on January 27, claiming, “Obviously, the question of their covert biological weapons program should come into play here.” Bannon replied, “Your point is that there are no coincidences” related to the coronavirus, and the lab facility raises “certain suspicions.”
Video file
CitationFrom the January 27, 2020, edition of War Room: Pandemic
BILL GERTZ: Obviously, the question of their covert biological weapons program should come into play here because, you know, there is only one declared hospital, research center, laboratory in Wuhan -- in all of China -- and it’s in Wuhan, capable of dealing with this level 4 of infectious diseases. And then you have then --
STEVE BANNON (HOST): Your point is there are no coincidences, if the level 4 [facility] that was built by the French for them in 2007 is in Wuhan, then that leads to certain suspicions.
GERTZ: Absolutely. This has, you know, the Chinese have to respond to this.
Bannon’s guest Dr. Steven Hatfill, an expert who previously worked at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, told the host repeatedly that the theory about coronavirus leaked out of an infectious disease research facility was incorrect, adding, “You know, I'm sitting in an SL4 laboratory right now, and there is no way you could get anything out of here. There’s no way a bad guy could get in.” From the January 29 edition of War Room: Pandemic:
Video file
CitationFrom the January 29, 2020, edition of War Room: Pandemic
STEVE BANNON (HOST): Today, The Washington Post is out there, mocking and ridiculing The Washington Times, Bill Gertz, one of our colleagues reporting about the Wuhan level 4 laboratory, saying it’s a fringe theory, that anything could have come out of that laboratory, et cetera. We’re not trying to make an assertion that they were building a biological weapon. But given the fact that there’s now no direct link at least as shown today between patient zero and the market, it maybe some that’s later. How do you think this thing started?
DR. STEVEN HATFILL: I think it was natural. You know, I'm sitting in an SL4 laboratory right now, and there is no way you could get anything out of here. There’s no way a bad guy can get in. The people around me are of the highest professional caliber, both mentally, technically, emotionally, and every other consideration. I'm sorry but I kind of downplay the fact that this came out of a BW laboratories.
BANNON: Well, I think that’s fantastic. I think people need to hear that. I think that’s great. And why do you come to this conclusion?
After this exchange, Bannon ignored Hatfill’s expertise and returned to his irresponsible speculation, declaring that “there are no coincidences.”
Video file
CitationFrom the January 29, 2020, edition of War Room: Pandemic
STEVE BANNON (HOST): Now, people will tell you that’s also where biological warfare are done, those types of places. That’s why there’s so much focus -- Bill Gertz’s articles in the Washington Times focus very much on this level four lab that is in Wuhan, right. And I’m not a believer, as you know, I’m not a conspiracy guy, I always tell you it’s out there in plain daylight. The party at Davos, the way they roll is right up in your grill and there are no coincidences.
On February 1, Bannon again asked Hatfill about the theory, and again Hatfill rejected it:
Video file
CitationFrom the February 1, 2020, edition of War Room: Pandemic
STEVE BANNON (HOST): Also Zero Hedge, who I'm a huge fan of, Zero Hedge has had this analysis of what the Chinese lab and the two Chinese -- the Canadian lab in I think Winnipeg, that there are now issues -- one of the Chinese scientists took some of the viruses back to Wuhan. I'm not a conspiracy theory guy, not a deep state guy, never have been because I say it’s all up there in your face, the party at Davos, the way the whole thing rolls is in your grill you just have to see it. But there are no coincidences.
...
These are the elite institutions in the world the french built one from the ground up for the Chinese, it just randomly happened to be in Wuhan, right? And relatively in geospatial terms relatively close to the market, a mile or two. There’s been tons of things, they’re using HIV serum to cure people there. This report comes out and it’s been tweeted out all over. Bill Gertz, Washington Times, done some good reporting. The Post calls it a fringe kook theory Miles Guo put something up, said he had a report from inside the CCP and Politifact saying he’s lying so it’s all over the map.
But in your assessment, at what you see in [INAUDIBLE], I asked you to look overnight at this, where do you think we stand as people know the information today? Is this something that’s naturally occurred? Do you think there’s a possibility in what you read so far that it gives you even a scintilla that this could be some sort of weaponization thing gone wrong that somehow got out of the lab.
DR. STEVEN HATFILL: From what I’ve looked at I think the authors of these papers are overreaching a bit. Now that said this is an odd virus its genome. It’s got a very, very, long, very different from the other SARS virus.
Now, the unsubstantiated theory is being repeated by U.S. government officials in a position of power to take action. According to a report from Business Insider, during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) pointed out the proximity of the outbreak to “China’s only bio-safety level four ‘superlaboratory’ that works with the world’s most deadly pathogens to include, yes, coronavirus.”
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fox bs
bossie has no lnx to back up any of this (link to solomon artl]
no lnx
Bossie: The media need to investigate Joe Biden and his Ukraine dealings
David N. Bossie By David N. Bossie | Fox News
Are media going easy on Biden?
For the past 12 days, the political media has been focused on “handsy” and “creepy” former Vice President Joe Biden and his penchant for making unwanted contact with women seemingly wherever he is. While these allegations deserve their fair share of attention, the mainstream media may be missing -- or more likely ignoring -- the real Biden story that’s staring them in the face.
When I served as the chief investigator for the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight during the Clinton Administration, I regularly worked with journalists on investigations they were covering for weeks and even months. But 20 years later, those types of stories are few and far between.
BIDEN FACES SCRUTINY FOR DEMANDING OUTSTER OF UKRAINE OFFICIAL PROBING FIRM THAT EMPLOYED HIS SON
That being said, the media must do a deep-dive into Joe Biden and his family’s relationship with Ukraine, like the recent reports byaward-winning journalist John Solomon in his column at The Hill.
The biased media’s refusal to cover the Biden-Ukraine story to date is shameful. President Trump never receives such favorable treatment. In fact, the vast majority of liberal journalists out there today hate President Trump and cover him and his administration with a presumption of guilt.
When it comes to the Biden’s and Ukraine, there’s an awful lot of smoke. Among other things, Solomon is reporting that in 2016 during his tenure as Barack Obama’s Vice President, Biden threatened to pull $1 billion dollars in loans to Ukraine if its President Petro Poroshenko didn’t fire the country’s prosecutor general.
The catch? The prosecutor was allegedly knee-deep in a corruption probe of Burisma Holdings, a firm that featured Biden’s son Hunter as a board member.
Biden got his way and the blowhard former vice president even publicly bragged about the firing.A top official from the Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office confirmed to Solomon that they are currently investigating these troubling allegations.
As it turns out, Hunter Biden’s firm in America (Rosemont Seneca Partners LLC) was allegedly receiving six figures a month from Burisma and according to Solomon, the fired prosecutor told him that he was planning to question Hunter Biden and other Burisma board members before he was relieved of duty.
[pix]
Solomon links to court records indicating that over an 18-month period in 2014- 2015 “more than $3 million was paid out of Burisma accounts to an account linked to Biden’s … Rosemont Seneca firm.” This was happening at the same time that Joe Biden was running point for the Obama Administration on matters involving Ukraine.
Using high office to enrich oneself or family members is textbook corruption. It’s an example of crony capitalism at its worst; and it appears Joe Biden was alledgedlyinvolved in a big dose of it in Ukraine.
Citizens United has been working to uncover corruption in our government using Freedom of Information Act litigation against the State Department for years.Last month we filed suit in federal court to try and shed light on the overseas business activities of Hunter Biden and some of his associates after one year of State Department recalcitrance.
Some of the serious allegations involving the Biden’s and Ukraine were first uncovered by Peter Schweizer in his book “Secret Empires.” Once you learn about Hunter Biden’s business associations in Ukraine, it’s quite fitting that Joe Biden made his last foreign trip as Vice President there in January 2017.
According to Schweizer, “Four days before Biden arrived, Burisma made a dramatic announcement: the Ukrainian criminal investigations into the company and its founder had been ended by Ukrainian government prosecutors.”
If Biden were a Republican like President Trump, the mainstream mediawould be digging into these allegations in hopes of destroying him politically. But Biden is a Democratic ally and presidential frontrunner, so the liberal media has taken a pass on Ol’ Joe’s alleged Ukrainian mess so far.
During his visit to Ukraine in January of 2017, Biden made remarks about corruption in Ukraine that haven’t aged very well, knowing what we now know. Biden told Ukrainians to " ... keep demonstrating your commitment to the rule of law; keep fighting corruption; insist on transparency; investigate and prosecute government officials who siphon off public funds for their own enrichment.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
It’s time for former Vice President Biden to answer questions about the real story. There’s a lot we still don’t know about what happened in Ukraine.
David N. Bossie is president of Citizens United, a Fox News contributor, the 2016 deputy campaign manager for Donald Trump for President, and the former chief investigator for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform and Oversight during the Clinton administration. He is the co-author of "Let Trump Be Trump" and “Trump’s Enemies.”
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https://www.axios.com/david-bossie-presidential-coalition-ceases-fundraising-721dde4b-42da-4cba-bbe9-2d917b367039.html
[graf]
former Trump campaign deputy manager David Bossie, who Axios**:{recently exposed as milking donors by flaunting President Trump’s name, is trying to repair and revive his controversial fundraising operation. }:
The bottom line: Bossie suspended fundraising after Axios revealed that very little of the money he was raising was going to political campaigns. Trump was livid, forcing the Bossie retreat. Now, Bossie tells us he is making several changes — presumably to get back into Trump’s good graces and back into the fundraising business.
The impact: Bossie directed his political group, the Presidential Coalition, to cease all fundraising on May 7, 2 days after Axios published the findings of its investigation, done in collaboration with the Campaign Legal Center (CLC).
- That's in part thanks to the president, who personally authorized the Trump campaign to issue a blistering statement, without naming Bossie, condemning "any organization that deceptively uses the president's name, likeness, trademarks, or branding and confuses voters," in the wake of our story.
- "The president was pissed," a Trump campaign official told Axios. "He doesn’t like the idea that his supporters would be tricked into donating to things they thought were the campaign ... and he doesn’t like it when people benefit from using his name, especially financially."
The fallout: Bossie told Axios that the group is "currently redesigning our fundraising programs, because of my longstanding relationship with the president and because of my desire to only help the president and the administration."
- The Presidential Coalition will no longer reference "The Trump Coalition" in its mailers and fundraising materials, Bossie said. He claims they were going to stop using that language after 2019 anyway, "due to the regulatory regime."
- The group will also be far more clear that the Presidential Coalition is an affiliate of Citizens United: "We will print it in our mailers and on the envelopes to be even more transparent," Bossie said.
- Despite these changes, Bossie still claims that he doesn't think "there was anything whatsoever that was done outside of the appropriate fundraising avenues."
- Read Bossie's full response.
By the numbers: The Presidential Coalition's average daily contributions plunged from over $20,000 per day in early May to under $2,000 per day by the end of June, according to a new Axios/CLC analysis of the organization's latest IRS filing from the first half of 2019.
- Worth noting: The majority of donations made to the Presidential Coalition (62%) in the first half of 2019 came from unitemized, small donors who gave less than $200 in a year — similar to the contributions from previous years. The dates of those small-donor contributions are not known, given IRS regulations.
The state of play: Despite the backlash it faced, the Presidential Coalition is still spending just a small percentage of its money on direct political activity, though the percentage is higher than that of 2017 and 2018:
- The group spent $5.9 million in the first half of 2019, but devoted just $148,100 (or 2.5%) of its overall spending on political contributions. Another $325,000 was spent on "digital ad buys" that correspond to a July pro-Trump digital ad campaign, according to CLC's analysis.
- Taken together, the Presidential Coalition dedicated nearly 8% of overall spending to direct political activity, up from 3% in 2017 and 2018.
- As before, most of the Presidential Coalition's spending went toward more fundraising, as well as rent and payroll.
- What to watch: Bossie said his group has also been building up a $4.3 million war chest, and that starting after Labor Day, the Presidential Coalition will spend $3 million — or $1 million per month — over September, October and November on ads supporting the president and state and local candidates.
Worth noting: Bossie, a Fox News contributor, was totally absent on the network for nearly 3 months after our story ran. However, he did appear on the network again on July 31 to defend Trump after his tweets attacking Baltimore Rep. Elijah Cummings. A Fox News spokesperson told Axios that Bossie is still a contributor.
The Trump campaign told Axios that it stands by its May statement.
Go deeper:
- Read CLC's latest report
- Inside a top Trump adviser's fundraising mirage
- Elderly Bossie donors say they thought they were helping Trump
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