Tag: Democratic National Committee

The Story: On July 1, as one of its last two decisions announced for the 2020-2021 session, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld certain election regulations...

Alex Jaffe, AP's political reporter in Iowa joins MTP Daily to discuss the future of the Iowa caucuses. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc MSNBC delivers breaking news, in-depth analysis of politics headlines, as well as commentary and informed perspectives. Find…

The Democratic National Committee will be working to reject plans for a "virtual caucus" in Iowa over fears that the process could be hacked. NBC's Maura Barrett has more details. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc MSNBC delivers breaking news, in-depth…

The Story: Jay Inslee, the Governor of Washington State who on March 1 declared himself a (long-shot) candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination for President...

The next election's security is already a major issue, said DNC chair Tom Perez. "This is about our democracy." » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc MSNBC delivers breaking news and in-depth analysis of the headlines, as well as informed perspectives. Find…

But despite an intensive two-year investigation, Mueller’s team found no evidence of any such tape. The New York Times, in a lengthy article on the Steele dossier's current standing, noted that there is no evidence in the Mueller report on a number of claims: “DNC moles, Romanian hackers, Russian pensioners -- or years of Trump-Putin intelligence trafficking.” But a lawyer for Fusion GPS, the firm that commissioned the dossier, told The Times that the Mueller probe backed up “the core reporting” in the Steele memos -- including that Russian President Vladimir Putin directed “a covert operation” to have Trump elected. Horowitz has said he will address the question of whether the FBI followed all "legal requirements" when applying for that warrant. One official told the outlet that he had the impression that the IG report “is going to try and deeply undermine” Steele. Republicans in Congress have long focused on the dossier, claiming that it formed the origins of what became Mueller's Russia investigation. They and the president have noted in particular the dossier's funding by the DNC and Clinton campaign. "You can't have the FBI using one party's opposition research document to launch an investigation and spy on the other party's campaign," Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said on “Cavuto Live” on Saturday. On Thursday, California Republican Devin Nunes told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that the report shows that the dossier also formed part of the memo that established the scope of the special counsel’s investigation. Attorney General William Barr told lawmakers that he intends to review FBI and DOJ conduct during the formative days of the Russia investigation -- where the Steele dossier played a role. Trump, meanwhile, has pledged to “get to the bottom” of the origins of the Russian probe, and has promised to “turn the tables” and investigate the investigators -- which could include closer scrutiny of the role that Steele's infamous dossier played.

Ahead of Sunday's fundraising deadline for the first quarter, the underdogs of the Democratic primary were in a mad dash to coax as little as $2 from grassroots donors. "The Democratic Party's new debate rules mean I might not make it onto the debate stage." The amount raised doesn't matter. It's not immediately clear how many candidates are short of the fundraising threshold and how many might be using the rules as a way to expand their fundraising base. He characterized the requirements as "not a layup for any candidate but also not a full-court shot." Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign says he has more than 760,000 donors, another eye-popping mark after hauling in more than $10 million in the first week after his official campaign launch. Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke's campaign said he raised more than $6.2 million in his first day, more than surpassing the individual donor requirements. But Perez says his point stands, with rules that help candidates by relieving them of polling pressure while still requiring them to show progress among voters. Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said the rules forced him to tailor his fundraising efforts to the grassroots. Woodall reported from Manchester, New Hampshire.

66% of Democratic voters said it’s important the 2020 Democratic candidate has decades of political experience, along with 52% who are looking for an insider. Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders are viewed as closest to the establishment, while Democrats see lesser-known candidates as outsiders. Two-thirds of Democrats surveyed March 15-17 said it’s important that the party’s eventual nominee has decades of political experience under his or her belt. Fifty-two percent of the party’s voters said it’s important that the Democratic presidential nominee be a political insider, compared with 29 percent who preferred an outside operator. The poll asked voters to rank a list of current and possible 2020 Democratic candidates on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being a political insider and 10 meaning they’re a political outsider. Both septuagenarians are leading in Morning Consult’s weekly Democratic primary tracking polls of likely primary voters, despite a strong preference among Democratic voters for someone under 70. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who’s sought to frame herself as an outsider by swearing off traditional, big-dollar political fundraisers, scored 3.7. At this early stage, whether or not a candidate was considered an insider, and their standing in the horse-race, is highly correlated with name recognition. On the 1 to 10 scale, Buttigieg was one of the least likely to be scored as an insider, scoring 5.5 on the 10-point scale, putting him almost equal to businessman Andrew Yang, a long-shot contender. A Morning Consult/Politico survey in January found the bulk (44 percent) of Democrats said that when considering their vote, picking someone they think has the best chance of beating Trump in the general election was more important than the candidate sharing their preferred policy positions or values.

Rather, joining with Democrats from other states, Ellison has won two injunctions and filed three other lawsuits against the Trump administration, according to a memo his office prepared for the News Tribune Editorial Board. The legal actions — related to reproductive rights, Trump's push for a border wall, and other issues — were listed at the top of a three-page detailing of "accomplishments" during Ellison's first 65 days in office. Separating politics from the work he was elected to do certainly does seem to be the challenge many suspected it would be for Ellison. "I've said this to you, and only time will be able to show that I really mean this, I didn't leave a safe seat in Congress just to fight with the Trump administration. But I didn't leave Congress to come here to fight with Trump," Ellison told editorial board members late last week. But ... if it was a Democrat (as) president, I'd do the same things. I'd go after him, too," Ellison also said. Neither was the suit in resistance to Trump's push for a border wall: "I didn't really want to (join that suit), but we need our money for the National Guard, drug interdiction, and military construction. Nobody gets to do politics on my official office. And nobody will ever feel political pressure to help me get re-elected.

(Photo: Gerald Herbert, AP) Fox News says it has hired former Democratic National Committee chief Donna Brazile as a political commentator. Brazile had been let go from a similar role at CNN in 2016 after it was revealed that she had shared material about topics that would be addressed at a Democratic forum with Hillary Clinton's campaign. At Fox, Brazile will not have anything to do with any debates or town halls — if they ever happen. That's from a Fox News executive who spoke on condition of anonymity Monday because the person was not authorized to speak about contract details. Brazile says she knows she'll be criticized by progressive friends for signing with Fox, but that she believes it's important to talk with people you disagree with. She wrote about her decision to join Fox News in an editorial post, where she says the upcoming 2020 presidential election is a "consequential moment" for the country and that political debate is "hostile and disrespectful." "Will I agree with my fellow commentators at Fox News? Probably not. But I will listen," she wrote.