🔥NEW!: @FEC GOP commissioners are so eager to grease the skids for corporate spending in US elections that they don’t seem to care where the money comes from, including, in a matter just released, money from – I kid you not – *Russian oligarchs.* This is, in a word, alarming. 🧵 @FEC The Republicans ignored an @FEC investigation that revealed that a US corporation that spent on a number of US elections was overwhelmingly owned by Russian oligarchs and had nothing but Russian funds in the bank.

@ShanaMBroussard and I wrote about it: fec.gov/files/legal/mu…

Sad to report: @FEC announced today the dismissal of a slew of important cases on key issues like dark money, soft money & coordination. Several of us had worked hard over the past few years to keep these matters alive in the face of obstructionist colleagues and bad caselaw. 🧵 @FEC These efforts involved a activating a previously unused, alternative enforcement path that Congress wrote into our governing statute.

There is still hope that the American people's interests can be vindicated, at least in these matters.

🧵 The @FEC gave @Google what it asked for last Thursday: Permission to launch a program exempting political email from Gmail's spam filters.

The legal ship has now sailed, but the policy question remains: *Should* Google flood Gmail users' in-boxes with spammy political email? @FEC @Google I voted against allowing Google to pursue its plan, not because of the public's huge and breathtakingly hostile reaction to the program, but because I believe that, legally, what Google proposed was prohibited in-kind corporate contributions to federal political campaigns.

This morning at the @FEC's open meeting, Commissioner Trey Trainor (@txelectionlaw) decided to "pass judgment" on a requestor asking the Commission about childcare rules.

He called the requestor’s need for childcare "abhorrent."

Video: @FEC @TXElectionLaw The discussion concerned an advisory opinion request from @RepSwalwell that asked whether he could use campaign funds to pay for overnight childcare when traveling on congressional or political business.

Details: fec.gov/data/legal/adv…

First Amendment thread!🧵Follow along! ⬇️

Not only was the GOP @FEC commissioners' blocking of a $781.6 million complaint against Trump & his campaign contrary to law and not only did it carry the unmistakable stench of partisanship…. 

https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub/status/1537232092366458880

…it was also just the latest attempt to discredit U.S. news media as appropriate sources of information for @FEC complaints.

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy,” says @elonmusk, @Twitter’s likely new owner.

One of Twitter’s challenges in supporting democracy is to avoid spreading disinformation like wildfire. And content moderation isn't the only way to slow disinformation down. 🧵 @elonmusk @Twitter A wildfire requires not just a spark to start the fire but also wind to fan the flames. On Twitter, algorithms are the wind. Musk says he wants to open-source Twitter's algorithms. But algorithms' effects don't depend on whether you can find their source code on Github.

1/ NEW today! Full file goes public on the @FEC’s case arising out of the National Enquirer’s “catch & kill” of the Karen McDougal story at the behest of the Trump campaign.

Here is my statement with Chair @ShanaMBoussard:

fec.gov/files/legal/mu… @FEC 2/ GOP commissioners agreed we had enough evidence to go after AMI (the Enquirer's parent company) for coordinating with the Trump campaign, but argue it wasn't worth our time to go after the beneficiaries of the scheme.

fec.gov/files/legal/mu…

Buckle up!

Election-results-explainer mini-tweetstorm! 🗳🌪

An election is not a reality show with a guaranteed big reveal at the end of the hour. The election isn’t over until we count all the votes. Here’s what to keep in mind as the week goes forward.  

1/8

https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub/status/1321209108100489223

We do *not* need to know the results of the election on Election Night, and frequently, we haven’t! 

As Princeton history prof @KevinMKruse and I wrote in @NYTimes in May: “Take Some Deep Breaths and Prepare to Wait for Election Results”:

nytimes.com/2020/05/18/opi…

/2

UPDATED THREAD: In 41 states, voters have to fill out an absentee ballot application to get one. Another 5 states have been 100% #VoteByMail for awhile.

So, when the President criticizes "mail-in voting," which states – and I mean *exactly* which states – is he criticizing?

/1 Here are the facts, as of Aug. 20, on which states have made changes to their voting processes, and who's doing what.

Most states, 30 of them, have made no change in their absentee-balloting processes this year.

/2

THREAD: In 41 states, voters have to fill out an application to get an absentee ballot. Another 5 states have been 100% #VoteByMail for awhile.

So, when the President criticizes "mail-in voting," which states – and I mean *exactly* which states – is he criticizing?

/1 Here are the facts, as of Aug. 17, on which states have made changes to their voting processes, and who's doing what.

Most states, 32 of them, have made no change in their absentee-balloting processes this year.

/2

I can’t be more blunt about this: Mr. President, Members of Congress, should you fail to provide the funds America needs for its elections, you will be derelict in your duty to your country. It would be a devastating failure to protect our democracy in a moment of historic need. It’s been estimated that this election will cost an additional $4 billion due to the coronavirus. $400 million has been allocated already; another $3.6 billion is needed. /2

brennancenter.org/events/saving-…

No. It really won’t.

https://twitter.com/EllenLWeintraub/status/1266553685397684224

1/4

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1285540318503407622

Baseless conspiracy theories about voter fraud undermine faith in our democracy and deter citizens from voting, which no one should want.

2/4

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1280909511125917697

🚨🚨🚨Thread!

Buckle up.

1/66

It’s been claimed that voting by mail leads to massive corruption and fraud. But what are the facts? 2/

U.S. citizens will vote by mail this year in record numbers. In the face of a global health emergency, election officials across the country from both parties are working heroically to ensure that voting by mail is accurate, accessible, safe & secure.

Today’s the 8th birthday of #SCOTUS’s affirmance of Bluman v. @FEC!

This critically important case held that the U.S. has a “compelling interest” in limiting the political activities of foreigners, thus protecting our political system from foreign political influence.

/1 The court concluded that Canadian lawyer Benjamin Bluman’s proposed activity was illegal: not just his three proposed $100 campaign contributions, but also merely paying to copy a flyer supporting President Obama’s re-election to hand out in Central Park.

/2

.@Facebook’s weak plan suggests the company has no idea how seriously it is hurting democracy.

No one is a bigger believer in transparency than I. But here, proposing ‘transparency’ solutions is window-dressing when Facebook needs to be putting out the housefire it has lit.
/1

https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1215227016838029313

@Facebook These so-called 'transparency' solutions are neither transparent nor solutions. This is not a moment for @Facebook to be appeasing its political advertisers and the powers that be. This is a moment for Facebook to protect the democracies that have nurtured its existence.

/2

*Very* big news last night in internet political ads.

@Google’s plan to eliminate #microtargeting is a move that – if done right – could help make internet political advertising a force that informs and inspires us, rather than isolating and inflaming us.

1/9 Google’s reach is wider than you might think; this policy extends to @Google search ads, @YouTube ads, & their huge display-ad business.

The plan kicks off next week in the UK, by the end of the year in the EU, and on Jan. 6, 2020 everywhere else. blog.google/technology/ads…

2/9

HOT🔥PLAN!

@facebook & @Google are considering ditching “#microtargeting” political ads – the technique foreign & domestic actors abused in 2016 to spread disinformation & sow discord.

Problem: If they *do* quit microtargeting, what should replace it?

I have a proposal.

1/5 My 3-point plan is easy for the internet ad giants to execute, explain, and understand, and it scales well:

1. Target political ads only by large and fully disclosed geographic areas.

#microtargeting 2/5

I will not be silenced.

The independence of the United States Federal Election Commission will not be compromised.

/1 This new complaint covers the same ground as one filed in 2017. That one was found to be absolutely baseless:

"Report of Investigation INV-17-04,” Federal Election Commission Office of Inspector General(December 21, 2017):

fec.gov/documents/1776…

/2

1/

Funny story. The @FEC puts out a "Weekly Digest" of everything we do, an immensely helpful public resource. Check it out, and subscribe, here:

fec.gov/updates/?updat… @FEC 2/

This week, I published a “Draft Interpretive Rule Concerning Prohibited Activities Involving Foreign Nationals" on the fec.gov web site:

fec.gov/documents/1796…

Curious about what’s going on at the @FEC?

The Committee on House Administration, which oversees us, was, too. Their 46 questions resulted in 105 pages of answers and 68 pages of exhibits.

Get a big glass of lemonade and settle in: fec.gov/about/committe…

Here’s a roadmap… There are 12 documents altogether:

• The 46 questions from House Admin.

• My cover letter to the Committee.

• “FEC’s Response to Questions from the Committee on House Administration” – answers on behalf of the full Commission.

/2

Anyone needing an example of how destructive the DC Circuit’s CHGO decision is to @FEC enforcement need look no further than the $100+ million potential #campaignfinance violation in MUR 6596 (Crossroads GPS) and my GOP colleagues’ just-issued statement of reasons about it. /1 @FEC In this matter, Crossroads GPS spent $139m on political activity in 2012 (73.4% of budget!) yet didn’t register as a political committee. But @FEC GOPers actively waved off directly on-point federal case and ignored clear and settled law in excusing this inexcusable behavior. /2