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On a Monday in mid-March, the Wisconsin Republican Party gathered about 50 conservative activists on a Zoom call to train them in how to become poll workers, helping oversee and monitor the casting and counting of votes. Heavily Democratic areas of the battleground state were a key focus. “Eau Claire, Madison, Milwaukee — that type,” Mike Hoffman, the state party’s election integrity director, said as he ticked off places being targeted. “We’re keeping a close eye on you,” he recounted telling one city clerk, according to audio recordings of the party’s training sessions obtained by The New York Times. They will focus on every aspect of voting, including mail ballots, voting machines and post-Election Day recounts and audits.

Persons: Mike Hoffman, ”, Donald J Organizations: Wisconsin Republican Party, The New York Times, Republican National Committee Locations: Eau Claire, Madison, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

☆ Seeking Balance, Tripping Up
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Jim Rutenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The news that NBC had hired and then abruptly cut ties with the former Republican Party chair Ronna McDaniel this week may feel like a flashback for TV insiders and viewers. Once again, a major news network is on the defensive over an attempt to balance out its ranks of talking heads — a mainstay of the genre — with a pro-Trump surrogate whose qualifications for the role appeared to run counter to the basic tenets of journalism. McDaniel, after all, had been a prominent exponent of the false notion that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. As my colleague Alexandra Berzon and I reported yesterday, McDaniel was also at times involved in Trump’s attempts to stave off the certification of Joe Biden’s victory. While the crackup may seem as if it was inevitable in retrospect, it was also reflective of a hallmark of the Trump era: After two impeachments, a Capitol riot and numerous criminal indictments, the question of how to cover Trump is no closer to being solved.

Persons: Ronna McDaniel, McDaniel, Donald Trump, Alexandra Berzon, Joe Biden’s, Trump Organizations: NBC, Republican Party, Trump

As Mark Robinson completed his rapid six-year rise from conservative internet sensation to the Republican nominee for North Carolina governor, he worked relentlessly to sell his political vision to evangelical Christians. Traveling from church to church and thundering away on social media, he condemned “transgenderism” and “homosexuality” as “filth.” He said Christians should be led by men, not women. And on at least one occasion, he explicitly called to upend American tradition on God’s role in government. “People talk about the separation of church and state,” Mr. Robinson, North Carolina’s lieutenant governor, said in a speech in October. Trying to find it in the writings of any patriot, anywhere, and I cannot.

Persons: Mark Robinson, “ transgenderism, ”, Mr, Robinson, North, “ I’m Organizations: Republican, North Locations: North Carolina, America

After the 2020 election, one story out of North Carolina had a powerful effect on Donald J. Trump. A proactive Republican, the story went, had worked behind the scenes to stop Democrats from stealing the election in the state and helped secure Mr. Trump’s victory there. That Republican was Michael Whatley, the chairman of the North Carolina G.O.P. Mr. Trump called Mr. Whatley after the election, and Mr. Whatley boasted to him about that program’s success. “That’s great,” Mr. Trump replied, as Mr. Whatley recounted the conversation in a speech to North Carolina Republicans last year.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Michael Whatley, Whatley, “, Mr, Ronna McDaniel Organizations: Republican, Mr, Carolina G.O.P, North Carolina Republicans, Republican National Locations: North Carolina, Carolina, North, Arizona, Georgia

☆ Trump’s Allies Ramp Up Campaign Targeting Voter Rolls
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-03 | by ( Alexandra Berzon | Nick Corasaniti | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Calling themselves election investigators, the activists have pressed local officials in Michigan, Nevada and Georgia to drop voters from the rolls en masse. They have at times targeted Democratic areas, relying on new data programs and novel legal theories to justify their push. In one Michigan town, more than 100 voters were removed after an activist lobbied officials, citing an obscure state law from the 1950s. In the Detroit suburb of Waterford, a clerk removed 1,000 people from the rolls in response to a similar request. The purge in Waterford went unnoticed by state election officials until The New York Times discovered it.

Persons: Donald J, Trump Organizations: Democratic, Air Force, The New York Times Locations: Michigan , Nevada, Georgia, Michigan, Detroit, Waterford

Ms. Haley was earning a salary of just $22,000 as a part-time state legislator. Wilbur Smith executives regarded Ms. Haley as overqualified for the accounting job. But because of her wide-ranging network, they would later say, they put Ms. Haley on a retainer, asking her to scout out potential new business. She never found any, a top executive later said. But they also led her into an ethical gray area that tarnished her first term as South Carolina’s governor.

Persons: Nikki Haley, Michael Haley, Haley, Wilbur Smith, overqualified Organizations: Wilbur Smith Associates Locations: South Carolina

A suburban county in Georgia agreed on Friday to use a new voter information database endorsed by the election denial movement, a move that defied warnings from voting rights groups, election security experts and state election officials. Columbia County, a heavily Republican county outside Augusta, is the first in the country known to have agreed to use the platform, called EagleAI. Its supporters claim the system will make it easier to purge the rolls of ineligible voters. Ms. Mitchell and others have billed EagleAI as an alternative to the Election Registration Information Center, a widely used interstate system that made it easier for officials to track address changes and deaths as they maintain the voter rolls. That system, known as ERIC, has become the subject of conspiracy theories and misinformation that prompted nine states to withdraw with few backup plans.

Persons: Cleta Mitchell, Donald J, Mitchell, ERIC Locations: Georgia, Columbia County, Augusta

In November 2021, exactly one year after Donald J. Trump lost the presidential election to Joseph R. Biden Jr., Gov. Their suspicions about vast election malfeasance would be heard, Mr. DeSantis promised. The crowd whooped and waved furiously. In this way, for nearly three years, Mr. DeSantis played both sides of Republicans’ rift over the 2020 election. As his state became a buzzing hub of the election denial movement, he repeatedly took actions that placated those who believed Mr. Trump had won.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Joseph R, Biden, Ron DeSantis, Trump’s, DeSantis, “, ” Organizations: Republican Locations: Florida

The charges were first reported by The Detroit News. Mr. DePerno denied any wrongdoing and said that his efforts “uncovered significant security flaws” in a statement from his lawyer, Paul Stablein. The criminal inquiry in Michigan has largely been overshadowed by developments in Georgia, where a grand jury is weighing charges against Mr. Trump for trying to subvert the election, but both are part of the ongoing reckoning over the conspiracy theories about election machines promoted by Mr. Trump and his allies. The efforts to legitimize the falsehoods and conspiracy theories promoted widely by Mr. Trump and his allies continued long after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and after Mr. Biden took office. In Arizona, such efforts included the discredited election audit of Maricopa County led by Republicans in the state legislature.

Persons: DePerno, “, Paul Stablein, Mr, Stablein, Trump, Biden, Hilson, ” Organizations: The Detroit News, Mr, Capitol, Republicans Locations: Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, Maricopa County

has allowed committees to not itemize subvendor payments when those payments are an extension of the original vendor’s work. Experts say it is illegal for campaigns to pay campaign staff members through limited liability companies, or for vendors to serve merely as conduits to hide the ultimate recipient of campaign money. Indeed, while the use of limited liability companies by Mr. Scott’s campaign is striking in its scale, it is not unique among Republican presidential candidates. Former President Donald J. Trump’s 2020 campaign was the subject of litigation over its use of limited liability companies run by campaign staff and family members that were allegedly conduits for hundreds of millions of dollars of spending. His campaign defended the practice, saying the intermediary companies were acting as the primary vendors.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, Paul Kilgore —, Kilgore, Donald J Organizations: Republican, Gov Locations: Florida, Athens, Ga

“This is part of a national coordinated” effort to stop Mr. Trump, she added. The Michigan charges were announced on the same day that Mr. Trump said he received another so-called target letter from Jack Smith, the special counsel for the Justice Department who is investigating his efforts to hold onto power after he lost the 2020 election. Both investigations are part of a reckoning over the conspiracy theories Mr. Trump and his allies have promoted about the election. Outside of Michigan, supporters of Mr. Trump, then the president, pushed to convene slates of fake electors in six other swing states that Mr. Biden actually won. One of those states, Georgia, is the site of a separate criminal investigation involving Mr. Trump himself, who pressured state officials to help him overturn his loss.

Persons: Trump, Kathy Berden, Marian Sheridan, Jack Smith, Joseph R, Biden, Mr, —, Mike Pence, Matthew DePerno, Nessel Organizations: Republican National Committee, Justice Department, Capitol, Mr, Trump, Biden, Republican Locations: Michigan, Georgia

☆ Top Donor Provided Ron DeSantis, an Avid Golfer, With a Costly Simulator
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Alexandra Berzon | Maggie Haberman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

A list of the mansion’s acquisitions that was provided by the governor’s office included rugs and a Peloton bike donated to a previous administration. On the campaign trail, Mr. DeSantis, an avid golfer, has been playing up his working-class roots in an effort to connect with voters in early voting states. His appointment predated Mr. DeSantis’s first term in office, but he was reappointed by Mr. DeSantis in 2021. The front-runner, Mr. Trump, has repeatedly sought to draw attention to Mr. DeSantis’s use of private donor planes. Jason Miller, a Trump aide, reacted to the news reports on Wednesday on Twitter, saying it was “Ron DeSantis’ Florida Swamp in Action!”

Persons: DeSantis, Donald J, Trump, Hosseini, Jeremy Redfern, ” Mr, Redfern, DeSantis’s, James Uthmeier, Jason Miller, Ron DeSantis Organizations: Republican, New York Times, ICI Homes, University of Florida, Mansion Commission, Twitter Locations: Florida, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Milwaukee

☆ The Business of Being Chris Christie
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Nick Corasaniti | Alexandra Berzon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

And in 2018, the Christies bought a multimillion-dollar shorefront home in Bay Head, one of the more exclusive towns on the Jersey Shore. The business of being Chris Christie has received only sporadic attention since he left public office. Mr. Christie has made millions from interests wanting to leverage his political ties, including pharmaceutical, medical and sports betting companies, like DraftKings — whose hiring of Mr. Christie has not been previously reported. Some had business with the state when Mr. Christie was governor, and saw him as a reliable advocate for their bottom line, while others were interested in tapping into his close association with Mr. Trump and the Trump administration. Christie 55 Solutions earned roughly $1.3 million in federal lobbying fees from April 2020 to April 2021, according to federal records.

Persons: Bon Jovi, Chris Christie, Donald J, Trump, —, Christie, DraftKings Organizations: New, Mr, Christie, Pacira Biosciences, ABC News Locations: Bay Head, Jersey Shore, New Jersey

☆ Air DeSantis: The Private Jets and Secret Donors Flying Him Around
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Alexandra Berzon | Rebecca Davis O Brien | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. DeSantis has aggressively navigated his state’s ethics and campaign finance laws to avoid flying commercial. (Mr. DeSantis says he is trying to address a security concern.) The nonprofit formed in late January as Mr. DeSantis was beginning to test the national waters and quickly became a critical part of his warm-up campaign. Navigating the LoopholesIt is unclear how Mr. DeSantis will account for the trips arranged by the nonprofit without running afoul of state ethics laws. Florida generally bars officeholders from accepting gifts from lobbyists or people, like Mr. Soffer, whose companies employ lobbyists — unless those gifts are considered political contributions.

☆ Under the Radar, Right-Wing Push to Tighten Voting Laws Persists
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Nick Corasaniti | Alexandra Berzon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“They haven’t stopped trying to change how our elections are run. They’re just doing it out of the spotlight,” said Joanna Lydgate, the chief executive of States United, a nonpartisan election group. National Republicans recently sought to change the rules for a single race in Montana — for the U.S. Senate — to tilt the scales toward the Republican candidate. In Ohio, Republican state lawmakers are seeking to make it harder to pass a ballot initiative, just as a coalition of abortion rights groups is collecting signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot. Incrementalism at WorkWith some legislatures still in session, the full picture of new election laws is still coming into view.

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