Tag: Tom Emmer

DFL Party Slams Congressman Hagedorn, Stauber, and Emmer for Flying Soon After COVID-19 Exposure

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, the DFL Party sharply criticized Republican Congressman Jim Hagedorn, Tom Emmer, and Pete Stauber for flying just two days after being exposed to COVID-19. 

“By flying so soon after being exposed to COVID-19, Congressmen Emmer, Hagedorn, and Stauber deliberately put the health and safety of their fellow passengers at serious risk,” said DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin. “As these Congressman know, medical experts have said that a negative test soon after exposure is nearly meaningless.”

“Millions of Americans have sacrificed so much to slow the spread of COVID-19, yet Congressmen Emmer, Stauber, and Hagedorn could not even wait a few days to board an airplane,” added Martin. “These Congressmen’s stupidity and disregard for the well-being of their fellow passengers is staggering.”

Continue reading “DFL Party Slams Congressman Hagedorn, Stauber, and Emmer for Flying Soon After COVID-19 Exposure”

Ethics expert: GOP ‘crosses the line’ with House hallway ambushes

DCCC complaint says NRCC violated ban on using official resources for campaigns

Having video trackers shadow candidates to get campaign dirt has become a common tactic, but the National Republican Congressional Committee  went too far if it directed aides to ambush Democrats in House office buildings, experts on congressional ethics said.

Though a GOP spokesman called it “frivolous,” the experts said there was merit to a complaint filed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee against the chairman of the NRCC, Rep. Tom Emmer. It could lead to the Minnesota lawmaker facing an investigation by the House Ethics Committee.

“The complaint details conduct that is clearly prohibited by federal law and House ethics rules that bar campaign activity in House buildings,” Bryson B. Morgan, a lawyer who worked as an investigative counsel for the Office of Congressional Ethics from 2013 through 2015, told CQ Roll Call in an email. “If the Office of Congressional Ethics determines that NRCC Chairman Rep. Emmer was involved in or knew of this effort, I would expect the matter to be referred by OCE to the Ethics Committee.” Continue reading.

Dems say GOP broke ethics rules using video trackers in House office buildings

Democratic campaign arm seeks ethics probe

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is accusing its GOP counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee, of violating ethics rules by sending trackers to video record members of Congress in House office buildings.

The DCCC filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics on Monday alleging the NRCC and its chairman, Minnesota GOP Rep. Tom Emmer, violated House rules barring lawmakers from using official resources for political purposes.  Twitter accounts for the NRCC and some of the committee’s spokespeople posted videos of Democrats in House office building hallways being questioned by someone in December and January.

Trackers, or campaign staffers who take video of candidates and pepper them with questions, are common. But the Capitol complex has been considered off-limits for trackers in the past. The DCCC contended in its complaint that trackers on the Capitol grounds are not just frowned upon, they violate the rules. Continue reading.

DCCC again asks NRCC to pledge not to use hacked materials

Bustos resending a letter first sent to Emmer six months ago

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is renewing a request to its Republican counterpart that both parties pledge not to use hacked materials in the 2020 campaign.

DCCC Chairwoman Cheri Bustos of Illinois first sent such a letter to National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Tom Emmer in April. Six months later, she’s resending the letter, following House passage — largely along party lines — of an election security bill this week.

“The urgency I conveyed in April has not dissipated. In fact, the importance of this issue has only grown,” Bustos wrote in the letter, which was obtained first by CQ Roll Call.

View the complete October 25 article by Simone Pathé on The Roll Call website here.

Amid Mounting Evidence of a Quid Pro Quo, DFL Calls on Republican Congressmen to Support Investigation

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – On October 22, Bill Taylor, an Army veteran and the top United States diplomat to Ukraine, testified before the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight committees that President Donald Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine in order to pressure their government into declaring they would investigate one of Trump’s domestic political opponents. This is the latest piece of evidence of a quid pro quo in which Donald Trump sought to exchange U.S. military aid for electoral support from the Ukranian government.

Late last month, the White House released a summary of Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Zelensky. In that call, Zelensky requested the military aid that Congress passed and Trump blocked, to which Trump responded “I would like you to do us a favor though…” Trump then asks Zelensky to investigate his political rivals in what many argue is an explicit quid pro quo arrangement. Two weeks ago, text message between top U.S. diplomats strongly corroborated the existence of that quid pro quo. Last week, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney openly confessed to a quid pro quo before attempting to walk his comments back.

In response to the growing evidence of a quid pro quo, DFL Chairman Ken Martin released the following statement calling on Minnesota’s Republican Congressional Delegation to support the House investigation into Trump’s conduct: Continue reading “Amid Mounting Evidence of a Quid Pro Quo, DFL Calls on Republican Congressmen to Support Investigation”

Minnesota GOP Officials Silent on Contributions from Men Indicted for Conspiring to Funnel Foreign Money into U.S. Elections

Lewis, Stauber, Hagedorn, and Carnahan refuse to condemn foreign meddling in Minnesota elections

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Late last week, two associates of Rudy Giuliani, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, were arrested as they attempted to flee the United States. The two were charged with allegedly conspiring to funnel foreign money to Republican politicians and candidates for the purpose of buying influence in U.S. – Ukraine relations.

As the Pioneer Press reported, multiple Minnesota Republicans received money from Parnas and Fruman, including Jason Lewis, the Minnesota Republican Party, and the National Republican Congressional Committee, run by Tom Emmer.

While the NRCC and Republican officials in other states have returned the money they got from Parnas and Fruman, including Brian Mast, Kevin McCarthy, Joe Wilson, Brian Fitzpatrick, Lloyd Smucker, and John Katko, Jason Lewis and MN GOP Chair Jennifer Carnahan have thus far refused to return or donate the contributions. Continue reading “Minnesota GOP Officials Silent on Contributions from Men Indicted for Conspiring to Funnel Foreign Money into U.S. Elections”

5 Things To Know About The Top Republican Who Said Rich Jews Bought Congress

Rep. Tom Emmer has been accused of anti-Semitism after he sent a letter to fellow Republican officeholders claiming that three Jewish Democratic billionaires had “bought control of Congress for the Democrats.”

Here’s what you need to know:

The letter sparked backlash:

Emmer, a third-term congressman representing Minnesota’s exurban Sixth District, is the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, which advises and raises money for Republicans running for Congress. A letter he sent to NRCC members in March, which was first reportedby the American Jewish World newspaper last week, claimed that the Trump administration’s good works were being covered up by “biased media and hundreds of millions of dollars of anti-Republican propaganda put out by liberal special interests, funded by deep-pocketed far-left billionaires George Soros, Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg.”

View the complete August 6 article by Aiden Pink on the Forward website here.

The NRCC is accusing Democrats of antisemitism — including Jewish members of Congress

The House campaign arm of the Republican party has made name-calling a part of its strategy for 2020.

National Republican Congressional Committee chair Rep. Tom Emmer, of Minnesota’s Sixth District, has made it clear in interviews that party leadership endorses the effort. In June, Emmer told Politico his staff has a “direct mandate” from himself and Republican leadership to “to be ruthless.”

As part of this campaign of ruthlessness, they’ve called House Democrats “deranged” and “socialists.” (A lot.) They’ve called Minnesota’s Collin Peterson “cranky.”

They’ve also called House Democrats “anti-semitic.”

View the complete August 2 article by Gabe Schneider on the MinnPost website here.

With Name-Calling and Twitter Battles, House Republican Campaign Arm Copies Trump’s Playbook

New York Times logoWASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is portrayed as wearing clown makeup. Democratic congressional candidates — including an Air Force combat veteran — are labeled “socialist losers” or anti-Semites. Others have been singled out as Lyin’ Lucy McBath, Fake Nurse Lauren Underwood, Little Max Rose and China Dan McCready.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, with the blessing of House Republican leaders, has adopted a no-holds-barred strategy to win back the House majority next year, borrowing heavily from President Trump’s playbook in deploying such taunts and name-calling. After losing 40 seats and the House majority in November, Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the committee’s new chairman, and Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the Republican leader, decided that their messaging needed to be ruthless.

The offensive hinges largely on the relatively facile notion that by tagging all House Democrats as socialists, anti-Semites or far-left extremists, Republicans will be able to alienate swing-state voters. On Tuesday night, after the House voted to condemn as racist President Trump’s attacks on four congresswoman, the campaign arm’s communications team deluged reporters’ inboxes with message after message calling vulnerable Democratic lawmakers “deranged.”

View the complete July 17 article by Catie Edmonson on The New York Times website here.

DFL Repeats Call for Minnesota GOP to Denounce Trump’s Blatant Racism

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Yesterday, Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party Chairman Ken Martin called on top Minnesota Republicans to denounce President Trump’s multiple, racist attacks on Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar. Thus far, they have refused to do so.

Today, in response to Republican silence, Martin released the following statement:

“Courage should not be a partisan issue. Standing up to racism should not be a partisan issue. It’s past time for Minnesota Republicans to put politics aside and do what is right for our country by denouncing Trump’s racist attacks on Representative Ilhan Omar. Continue reading “DFL Repeats Call for Minnesota GOP to Denounce Trump’s Blatant Racism”