The following article by Matt Friedman was posted on the Politico website December 29, 2017:
Fresh from interviewing former White House press secretary Sean Spicer over what he was doing on the fifth floor of Trump Tower on election night, Democrats now want to interview former Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.
Spicer’s presence that night has caused some unease among Republicans because the expiration of a 35-year-old settlement, or consent decree, barring the RNC from engaging in ballot security operations may depend on it. The fifth floor, POLITICO has reported, was the nerve center of then-candidate Donald Trump’s poll-watching operations.
Spicer, at the time, was the RNC’s communications director and chief strategist.
The Democratic request to interview Priebus may be the last gasp in the party’s quest to keep the consent decree alive.
Spicer said he never saw a sign warning him to keep away from the fifth floor of Trump Tower on election night 2016, even though four Republican sources told POLITICO there were large signs on the doors leading to the fifth floor warning RNC staffers to keep out. But, Spicer said, RNC staffers knew not to get involved in ballot security operations, even if he didn’t recall them being warned away from the fifth floor.
“Over the course of six years, the counsel’s office had been vigilant in informing both senior staff and subordinates on the importance of the Consent Decree 20 and the activities that we were clearly not — should not be engaged [in] or be even perceived as engaging in,” Spicer said in his deposition. “And so we had grown accustomed to not even coming too close to a line that would in any way, shape or form lead one to believe that we were engaged in those activities.”
Spicer said the party was careful “to ensure that we didn’t do anything that was questionable.”
Spicer in a magazine interview described an “oversized utility room” on the fifth floor where he watched election returns from crucial swing states. Also present, Spicer said in his deposition, was Priebus.
The consent decree originated from the RNC’s voter intimidation efforts in New Jersey’s 1981 gubernatorial election. Republicans, some of whom were armed off-duty law enforcement officers wearing armbands, showed up at urban polling places and challenged voters. The display was blamed for suppressing the black vote, allowing Republican Tom Kean to squeak out an extremely narrow victory over Democrat Jim Florio.
The consent decree was set to expire Dec. 1. But Democrats sought to extend it, alleging that statements from Trump officials showed the RNC had participated in poll-watching efforts.
U.S. District Court Judge John Michael Vazquez allowed Democrats to depose Spicer before deciding whether the decree should expire, but ruled against Democrats’ requests for hearings.
“Contrary to the suggestions by some of the anonymous sources in the POLITICO article, Mr. Spicer did not observe, nor was he aware of, any signs prohibiting RNC personnel from being present on the fifth floor of Trump Tower on Election Day,” RNC attorney Bobby Burchfield wrote in a letter to Vazquez. “This Court has repeatedly observed that the DNC has failed to submit evidence of RNC participation in ballot security efforts or voter suppression efforts during the 2016 election cycle. … Accordingly, the RNC urges the Court to terminate these proceedings and confirm that the Consent Decree has expired.”
But Angelo Genova, an attorney for the Democratic National Committee who tried the original consent decree case in the early 1980s, said “several points” Spicer raised should permit the DNC to depose Priebus and two Trump campaign officials.
“The DNC submits that it should be permitted to question Mr. Priebus to determine whether he had any communications related to ballot-security efforts on Election Day,” Genova wrote. “In addition, the DNC seeks to question Mr. Priebus on the material discrepancies noted above between Mr. Spicer’s testimony and POLITICO’s reporting. Given that Mr. Priebus was the Chair of the RNC and was present on the fifth floor of Trump Tower on Election Day, he should be able to testify directly to the pertinent points.”
Genova also asked Vazquez to allow the DNC to depose two Trump campaign officials: Mike Roman, who Genova said oversaw the Trump campaign’s “election protection” efforts, and the Trump campaign’s digital director, Brad Parscale. In addition, Genova wants to see all the photos Spicer took at Trump Tower on Election Day, as well as ask the RNC about what kind of guidance it gave employees, if any, about staying away from the Trump Tower’s fifth floor.
View the post here.