Just the Headlines: The Road to the 2024 Election, Plus the Senate is in Session
Senate in session, Veep stakes, Project 2025 crisis comms, footage incriminates Rep. Mike Kelly, NC Lt. Gov's wife defrauds taxpayers, Alabama SoS disinformation campaign
Just the Headlines: The Road to the 2024 Election, Plus the Senate is in Session
The news has been newsing so today, I am giving you a break from reading a main story and just giving you a batch of top stories.
The majority involve the 2024 election, including the latest around Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, Project 2025, Republican efforts to disenfranchise voters, and Republican candidates that are exemplifying why they’re unfit to hold public office. But I also have some good news out of the Senate.
There’s a lot more happening, which I’ll highlight in tomorrow’s newsletter. See you then!
Senate passes regulatory action to safeguard minors on social media platforms
On Tuesday, the Senate passed 2 bipartisan bills that would regulate social media and communications platforms to ensure safety for minors. The chamber voted 91-3 to approve the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which will go to the House once it returns from August recess. If signed into law, KOSA would implement a “duty of care” mandate for tech companies to create safer default settings for minors to prevent cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, and content that promotes suicide, eating disorders, and substance abuse. It would also enforce an age gate to limit accounts from communicating with minors and restrict certain gamification features that encourage platform addiction. Platforms must also provide options for protecting information and opting out of personalized algorithmic recommendations. COPPA 2.0, which expands on a similar law passed in 1998, bans advertising that targets minors and prohibits companies from collecting their data without consent.
Kamala Harris one step closer to clinching Democratic nominee as speculation over VP running mate grows
On Tuesday, the Democratic National Committee confirmed that Vice President Kamala Harris will be the only candidate on the virtual roll call ballot to officially nominate the Democratic presidential candidate. Harris has won the support of 3,923 delegates to qualify for the virtual ballot. 3 other candidates filed with the DNC, but did not reach the 300 delegate signature threshold to qualify. Voting begins Thursday, August 1 and will wrap up on Monday, August 5. It’s likely Harris will become the Democratic nominee ahead of the August 19 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Harris is also expected to announce who her vice presidential running mate is by her next campaign rally, which will be on August 6 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Politico reported on Tuesday that the Harris campaign revealed the upcoming schedule for the ticket, which includes rallies in 7 swing states in 4 days. Cities include Phoenix, Arizona; Savannah, Georgia; Detroit, Michigan; Las Vegas, Nevada; Raleigh, North Carolina; and western Wisconsin.
Also adding to the speculation over Harris’ Veep pick is word on Wall Street. Axios reported on Tuesday that unnamed Wall Street donors are being instructed to wrap up contributions to the campaign ASAP to avoid violating campaign finance law prohibiting contributions to tickets with a sitting governor. This is leading some to believe that Harris may pick Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
2 Biden Administration officials to leave positions to support the Harris campaign
On Tuesday, Axios reported that the Treasury Department's under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Brian Nelson, will resign to join Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign. Nelson’s role at the Treasury has been overseeing international sanctions, including imposing sanctions and coordinating with U.S. allies to prevent targeted states and companies from evading sanctions. He also served in the Department of Justice’s national security division during the Obama administration. It signals that national security is a key concern for Harris and may be central to her administration if she wins the election.
Also, the White House announced that a senior advisor to President Joe Biden and campaign manager for Biden’s 2020 campaign, Anita Dunn, is leaving to join Future Forward, a pro-Harris super PAC. Dunn has been tapped as a senior advisor for the super PAC, which is spending at least $300M to advocate for the vice president, and as an adviser to its partner organization Future Forward USA Action.
Project 2025 director steps down as Trump campaign attempts to dismiss association with the deeply unpopular antidemocratic agenda
It appears that Project 2025 is so damaging to Donald Trump’s campaign that it is failing to distance itself from the antidemocratic agenda. Instead of fully condemning the Heritage Foundation or its 900-page manifesto detailing its planned coup over the U.S. government, the Trump campaign is turning to crisis communications to try to save face. On Tuesday, the president of the Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts, confirmed that Paul Dans is stepping down from Project 2025 and leaving the organization. He also made it clear that Project 2025 is going nowhere and that it will progress to the next stage in fulfilling the Heritage Foundation’s goal of installing loyalists in Trump’s next administration.
The Trump campaign issued a statement again claiming it is not associated with Project 2025 and that it would be ending its policy operations. It also states, “Reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed and should serve as notice to anyone or any group trying to misrepresent their influence with President Trump and his campaign — it will not end well for you.” For all the pomp and circumstance, Donald Trump cannot legitimately distance himself from Project 2025 because at least 140 senior officials and others within his administration drafted the document, including Paul Dans.
New footage shows Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly was deeply involved Trump’s fake elector scheme
On Monday, Congressional reporter Jamie Dupree unveiled new security footage taken by the U.S. Capitol Police that incriminates a Pennsylvania Republican Congressman for being a central figure in Trump’s fake elector scheme. Dupree reported on his Substack Regular Order that on January 5, 2021, security cameras captured former Trump campaign attorney Kenneth Chesebro and Trump campaign aide Gary Michael Brown handing the fake elector documents for Michigan and Wisconsin to 2 aides for Rep. Mike Kelly, who represents Pennsylvania’s 16th Congressional District. It then shows the aides attempting to hand the forged documents to the Senate Parliamentarian at her office who is seen speaking with the aides and refusing to accept the envelopes. The footage also shows the aides wandering around before walking back to Kelly’s office.
This new evidence corroborates Chesebro’s testimony that he texted Wisconsin attorney Jim Troupis confirming that Trump campaign aide Mike Roman organized his meet-up with Kelly’s aides in Washington, D.C. It also exposes Kelly to being criminally charged who has denied his involvement in the scheme.
In July 2022, Pennsylvania NPR affiliate WESA reported that Wisconsin Rep. Ron Johnson threw Kelly under the bus, claiming that he was only acting as a conduit between Kelly’s office and aides for then-Vice President Mike Pence. He also claimed to have phone records that corroborate that Kelly’s aide Matt Stroia was involved and told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Stroia described to his then-chief of staff Sean Riley “how Kelly’s office could get us the electors because they had it.”
Wisconsin Judge dismisses lawsuit by Trump campaign lawyers against state absentee voting
On Monday, a Wisconsin judge dismissed a lawsuit that challenged the state’s absentee voting process. Door County Circuit Judge David Weber determined that the plaintiff, Thomas Oldenburg, waited too long to sue. Oldenburg filed the lawsuit in February, arguing that the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) failed to comply with state law requiring voters who electronically request absentee ballots to include a physical copy of the request in the ballot return envelope. He requested the court to order that the WEC not count absentee ballots without it and to prohibit clerks from mailing envelopes recently approved by the WEC. Notably, Oldenberg is represented by the very lawyers who represented Donald Trump and Sidney Powell in attempting to overturn Wisconsin’s 2020 election results.
Alabama Secretary of State issued disinformation about nonpartisan voting rights organization to sow distrust
On Monday, Alabama’s Republican Secretary of State Wes Allen issued a press release with the intent to spread disinformation about a 104 year old voting rights organization. Allen used his office to falsely accuse the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan nonprofit that advocates for voting rights, organizes voter registration efforts, and provides voter information, of operating a data mining scheme via Vote411. The press release writes that Vote411.org “captures the website visitor’s personal data including their IP address and contact information and then, once the information has been captured, the individual is directed to the Alabama Secretary of State’s website.” The issue is that it’s par for the course for websites, apps, and internet service providers to trace IP addresses to provide online services—it’s how the internet works. Allen is exploiting the lack of understanding of digital technology and conflating data used for online operations with collecting sensitive personal information to sow distrust. When asked by the Alabama Reflector if the Secretary of State’s website also records IP address and other information, Allen’s spokesperson, Laney Rawls, refused to respond and instead deflected with more lies.
The nonprofit owned by North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s wife defrauded taxpayers, faces regulatory action
Last week, North Carolina state regulators notified a nonprofit owned by North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s wife that it found ongoing deficiencies and possible fraud. The state Department of Health of Human Services completed an annual review of Greensboro-based Balanced Nutrition, Inc., in which Robinson’s wife, Yolanda Hill, is listed as the owner and chief financial officer, and sent a letter on July 24 stating that it faces financial repercussions for new and repeat issues, including submitting incomplete paperwork and failing to file valid claims on behalf of child care operators or to report accurate expenses, and more.
Balanced Nutrition assists facilities with accessing funds from a federally funded program called the Child and Adult Care Food Program, which provides reimbursements for meals to child and adult care centers. In total, it has collected $7M in government funding since 2017 and has paid at least $830K of that in salaries to Hill, the Lt. Gov., and members of their family, including their daughter, in annual salaries.
The state agency found that the nonprofit failed to comply with several program rules and instructed it to take corrective action by August 7 or it will be disqualified. On Friday, the agency notified the nonprofit must repay more than $132K for unverified expenses, including $24,400 in reimbursements to child care providers and $107,719 in ineligible claims or expenses for administrative and operating activities as a program sponsor.
JD Vance endorsed new propaganda book by white supremacist Jack Posobiec
Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate, JD Vance (R-Couch), endorsed far-right personality Jack Posobiec’s book. For a little primer, Posobiec is a vicious antisemitic conspiracy theorist who is behind Pizzagate. He leveraged his conspiracy theory fame to launch a career as a propagandist, joining OANN as an anchor in 2018 and then Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA in 2021. Prior to this, Posobiec was a U.S. Navy intelligence officer, making him a counterpart of Mike Flynn in leading psyops against U.S. citizens. His book, which launched earlier this month, is written for the MAGA audience and is centered around political tribalism and promoting violence by dehumanizing liberals. Vance, always the opportunist, thought it would be a great idea to write an editorial review—a blurb—praising the propaganda. Another example of why Vance is wholly unfit to serve in any public office.