Tweet

The Intellectualist

30 Oct, 9 tweets, 3 min read

BREAKING

1. Documents obtained by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee reveal that the Trump administration’s $250 million ad campaign for rebranding the coronavirus pandemic was meant in part to help President Trump’s reelection campaign.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

2. Michael Caputo, the former Department of Health and Human Services’ top spokesperson, reportedly “sought to frame the taxpayer-funded ad campaign as a way to boost the president’s chances of reelection,” CNN’s Jake Tapper reported.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

3. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) said the Trump administration “tried to use $250 million of taxpayer money that was otherwise dedicated at the CDC for education related purposes to deal with the COVID pandemic” to help Trump’s campaign.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

4. Krishnamoorthi continued: “They also compiled a Joseph McCarthy-esque list of celebrities — 274 of them — and evaluated them based on their political preferences. … Something I’ve never seen in a government contract.”
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

5. The ads were not meant to encourage mask-wearing or social distancing, Krishnamoorthi said, “but rather to promote the theme, ‘Helping the President Will Help the Country,’” which he noted is a slogan one might see in the former Soviet Union.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

6. Krishnamoorthi said celebrities being considered for a public service announcement would normally be evaluated based on their ability to reach a target audience, not for their political views or whether they support the president.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

7. Democrats have also accused HHS Secretary Alex Azar of trying to cover up the scheme, because he refused to turn over documents they requested in early Sept. Instead, they obtained documents from the contractors.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

8. “Now we know why Secretary Azar did not produce the documents. Because they have such inappropriate material in them, that I don’t think they wanted to turn those over to us,” Krishnamoorthi said.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

9. Krishnamoorthi said they were able to stop the ad campaign in its tracks but that the contract is still active.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @highbrow_nobrow

The Intellectualist

@highbrow_nobrow

31 Oct

1. The Independent’s Washington Bureau Chief John T. Bennett imagined on Friday a scenario in which President Trump is met with immediate legal trouble as he returns to civilian life upon Joe Biden’s inauguration.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

2. Bennett wondered: “Does such a scenario seem too dramatic, too much the stuff of political thriller novels or B-rate films? Possibly. But this is the Trump era. And that means nothing is too outlandish or even off-limits.”
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

3. “There are at least 12 federal and state investigations into Trump, his 2016 campaign and his business dealings, according to a list compiled by the New York Times,” Bennett wrote.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

Read 7 tweets

The Intellectualist

@highbrow_nobrow

31 Oct

BREAKING

1. U.S. border authorities have been expelling unaccompanied children from other countries into Mexico, violating a diplomatic agreement with Mexico and also in violation of U.S. policy.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

2. “The expulsions…have taken place under an aggressive border closure policy the Trump administration has said is necessary to prevent the coronavirus from spreading into the United States.” (New York Times)
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

3. However, Mexico agreed that Mexican children and others who had adult supervision could be sent back into Mexico after trying to cross the border — not unaccompanied children from other countries.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

Read 8 tweets

The Intellectualist

@highbrow_nobrow

30 Oct

1. In 2018, eight Republican senators spent the Fourth of July in Moscow, despite Russia’s denials of interfering in the 2016 presidential election.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

2. The Senators included Richard Shelby (AL), Steve Daines (MT), John Hoeven (ND), Ron Johnson (WI), John Kennedy (LA), Jerry Moran (KS), John Thune (SD), and Kay Granger (TX).
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

3. They claimed that Russian meddling was atop their list of talking points as they met with their counterparts in the Duma.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

Read 5 tweets

The Intellectualist

@highbrow_nobrow

30 Oct

BREAKING

1. For the first time, Department of Homeland Security agents, including those from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, are poised for deployment in Washington in the event of Election Day unrest.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

2. NBC News reports that DHS “is regularly tasked with providing additional security around the nation’s capital on inauguration days, but has never stepped in to quell unrest on Election Day.”
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

3. ICE, CPB and the Federal Protective Service are part of the “Protecting American Communities Task Force” that President Trump created in June in response to “anarchists and left-wing extremists” he said were seeking to damage federal property.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

Read 5 tweets

The Intellectualist

@highbrow_nobrow

30 Oct

BREAKING

1. A federal appeals panel ruled Thursday that Minnesota must set aside ballots received after Election Day in case those ballots are invalidated, upending the state’s plans to keep counting ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 for another week.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

2. “The decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit said a Republican lawmaker and GOP activist could challenge the state’s plans to keep counting ballots after the election.” (The Washington Post)
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

3. The judges also predicted a strong likelihood that Republicans would succeed in having ballots received after Election Day invalidated.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

Read 8 tweets

The Intellectualist

@highbrow_nobrow

30 Oct

1. Two of President Donald Trump’s evangelical advisers are engaged in a nasty legal battle over an alleged Holocaust survivor scam involving millions of dollars, according to The Washington Post.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

2. “Mike Evans, a Texas author and Christian Zionist activist, this summer filed a federal lawsuit against Jentezen Franklin, a Georgia megachurch pastor who has been featured at Trump campaign events.” (WaPo)
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

3. In 2017, the two evangelical leaders began a fundraising effort that raised millions to benefit Holocaust survivors in Israel, but Evans alleges that Franklin withheld more than $3.3 million of the money he raised.
mavenroundtable.io/theintellectua…

Read 8 tweets

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!