Investigations Update: Vote-by-Mail Disinformation Campaigns, Drug Coupons for Seniors, and 2020 Census Interference
In this email:
* Outside Influence in Judicial Nominations Process 
* Foreign Disinformation Campaigns Against Voting by Mail
* Obstruction of the 2020 Census 

[link removed]

Here’s a look at the investigations our team has been pursuing through records requests in the last week:

Outside Influence in Judicial Nominations Process
This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee began four days of confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Throughout the duration of the Trump administration, news ([link removed]) reports ([link removed]) have pointed to powerful conservative outside influences in the judicial nomination process, including for Supreme Court seats. Previously, we filed FOIA requests ([link removed]) for Attorney General William Barr’s visitor logs to learn more about the people and groups that have personal access to key Justice Department officials. This past week, we filed more requests with the Justice Department for the visitor logs of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions
([link removed]) and Assistant Attorneys General Beth Ann Williams ([link removed]) and Eric Dreiband ([link removed]) .

Drug Coupons for Seniors
In late September, Trump announced ([link removed]) that 33 million seniors on Medicare would receive $200 drug discount cards in the upcoming weeks. “Nobody’s seen this before, these cards are incredible,” the president said, regarding what many have criticized as being akin to a bribe for seniors’ votes. According to reporting ([link removed]) by Politico, officials at the Department of Health and Human Services were caught off-guard by the initiative and are being pressured by the White House to roll out the program before Election Day. We filed FOIA requests ([link removed]) with HHS and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for communications regarding the drug coupons.

Foreign Disinformation Campaigns Against Voting by Mail
On Sept. 3, lawmakers were reportedly briefed on an unclassified analysis ([link removed]) from the Department of Homeland Security concerning foreign disinformation campaigns aimed at the upcoming presidential election. The analysis, which members of Congress have requested be made public ([link removed]) , shows that those campaigns are trying to undermine Americans' confidence in voting by mail — and that their rhetoric echo comments made by Trump and other members of his administration. We filed a FOIA request ([link removed]) with DHS for a copy of the analysis.

Obstruction of the 2020 Census
Late Tuesday afternoon, the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s request to cut short the census count weeks early, suspending a lower court’s order that it maintain its deadline of the end of October. This is one of multiple ([link removed]) attempts by the administration to interfere with the operations of the 2020 census for political reasons, including efforts to exclude ([link removed]) undocumented residents from the final tally for congressional re-apportionment. We filed FOIA requests ([link removed]) with the Census Bureau and the Commerce Department for recent communications and directives regarding the census, including records about counting immigrant residents, cutoff dates, and related policies.

White House Considers Social Media Bias Probe
On Sept. 23, Trump delivered remarks ([link removed]) about anti-conservative bias on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, and urged state attorneys general to open their own investigations into the matter. The president has repeatedly, and without evidence, claimed that social media companies have censored or otherwise targeted conservative activists or viewpoints. We sent records requests ([link removed]) to attorneys general in Arizona, Louisiana, Missouri, and Texas for records regarding investigations into alleged political bias on social media platforms.

Non-Disclosure Agreement of Former Melania Trump Aide
Earlier this month, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, former senior adviser and “close friend” to Melania Trump, released controversial recordings ([link removed]) of the first lady complaining about White House Christmas preparations, Stormy Daniels, and the media’s coverage of the administration’s family-separation policy. According to new reports, prior to the release of the recordings, the Justice Department attempted to block ([link removed]) a tell-all book written by Wolkoff about her time as the first lady’s adviser. We filed FOIA requests ([link removed]) to the Justice Department for records and communications about Wolkoff, including for a copy of a non-disclosure agreement she reportedly signed.

State-Level Preparations for the Election
American Oversight continues ([link removed]) to investigate threats to democracy on the state level as well as potential Trump administration interference in election operations. We filed the following state-related requests over the past week:
* Politico recently reported on a heated meeting ([link removed]) between state election officials and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy after the U.S. Postal Service started sending informational notices about voting by mail to residents across the country — despite those mailings containing information that was not accurate in every state. We filed records requests ([link removed]) with multiple secretaries of state for records concerning the meeting.
* A series of lawsuits ([link removed]) between state officials and voting advocates ([link removed]) have complicated where (and how many) official ballot drop boxes will exist in each Ohio county. Most recently, a federal appeals court ruled to temporarily reinstate ([link removed]) Ohio’s limit on ballot drop boxes until a permanent decision comes on the case. We filed a records request ([link removed]) with the Ohio Secretary of State’s office for communications about the use of ballot drop boxes in the 2020 presidential election.
* In August, the New Republic reported ([link removed]) that a staffer for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — who last week was accused of abusing his office and taking bribes ([link removed]) — worked with Republican operative Aaron Harris and the group Project Veritas in an effort to uncover evidence of voter fraud. Project Veritas is a right-wing activist group founded by James O’Keefe, and is known for releasing deceptively edited videos to advance claims against liberal groups and individuals. We filed a request ([link removed]) with the Texas Attorney General’s office for communications with Project Veritas.


To find out more about our work, you can follow us on Twitter at @WeAreOversight ([link removed]) and @ojocorrupcion ([link removed]) , or like us on Facebook ([link removed]) . If you are able, please consider supporting our work with a contribution here ([link removed]) .

Donate to American Oversight ([link removed])
Thank you again for following our latest news. We are grateful for your support and for helping us hold the administration accountable.

============================================================
** Share ([link removed])
** Share ([link removed])
** Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Famericanoversight%2Fnews-roundupmiracle-drugs-and-trumps-alternate-reality-1569007)
** Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Famericanoversight%2Fnews-roundupmiracle-drugs-and-trumps-alternate-reality-1569007)
American Oversight
1030 15th Street NW
Suite B255
Washington, DC xxxxxx
USA
** unsubscribe ([link removed])