Thread by @ehananoki

CNN's David Urban (again) advocated for the passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). He brought it up by himself; the segment wasn't about it and no one asked.

Completely unrelated: Urban’s firm is getting paid to lobby for its passage. mediamatters.org/blog/2019/07/2…

That's about as clear a conflict of interest as you'll see: Urban's firm gets money to lobby for something; Urban then uses his media job for his lobbying job.

CNN and @AC360 didn't disclose that financial connection to viewers.

@AC360 I’ve repeatedly emailed CNN about the propriety of Urban using his CNN job to further his lobbying business. The network has never responded to those emails. By contrast, here's how The Morning Call in Allentown, PA, handled something similar: mediamatters.org/blog/2019/07/0…

@AC360 IDK how much Urban makes at CNN, but he has a lot of (financial) reasons to use his CNN gig to help his lobbying firm. For starters, his firm (American Continental Group) got $90K in just the second quarter of this year for its pro-USMCA work. soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?even…

@AC360 ACG received over $13 million in lobbying income in 2018.

It made $12,550,000 in 2017.

opensecrets.org/lobby/firmsum.…

(BTW: Urban, who is ACG's president, has a 25% ownership stake in the firm, according to a federal filing.)

@AC360 ACG has helped run the group Alliance for Senior Health Care Financing, where he's a director.

The group's 2017 990 form stated that Urban made $2,284,785 in "reportable compensation from related organizations." projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/org…

$2,284,785.

@AC360 Anyway, David Urban is conning CNN's viewers and getting rich doing it.

I can't say Urban is conning CNN because the network knows all about this but keeps putting him on their programming.

@AC360 Speaking of which, Urban will be on @CNNSotu this Sunday.