Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Weintraub's Personal Staff Exhibits Bias Against Trump and Republicans

(This is the second in a series of five posts on the demonstrated bias of Democratic FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub.  The first installment is here, the third is here, and the next installments will be posted in the next few days.)

Commissioner Weintraub's Personal Staff Routinely Trolls President Trump and Criticizes All Things Republican

Since President Trump took office, Weintraub's personal staff has been tweeting almost daily invective about President Trump and Republicans on the Twitter account altFEC, self-described as "The unofficial Resistance team of the U.S. Federal Election Commission." "Resistance" means resistance to the Trump Administration.  Consider a few examples of the kind of deep enmity and prejudice expressed toward President Trump:
  • Gleefully: "Mr. Art Of The Deal got his ass kicked by the D.C. City Government"
  • Mocking Trump:  "Where are Hillary Clinton's emails? Mr. Trump said.  Oh, here's one.  [faux email from Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump]  Resign, you treasonous clown." 
  • Criticizing Trump:  "Oddly, as his behavior gets more erratic & overtly pro-Russian, it may actually be a sign that Trump is *not* a Russian agent. Because at a certain point – one already passed – you would think his handlers would say, 'Yo, dude, tone it down a little. You’re being too oobvious [sic].'” 
  • Exhorting cable carriers to drop Fox News -- a news channel Commissioner Weintraub concluded broke the law by hosting a Republican debate in 2016:  "Here's a question. The more people watch #FoxNews, the less well-informed they are about basic facts. Arguably, FOX is tearing at the fabric of our democracy. They have a 1st Amendment right to exist, but not to be carried by cable companies. So: Why do cable companies carry it? https://t.co/0Ttqvrl5EQ"   
The person responsible for this anti-Republican venom is none other than Weintraub's confidential counsel, Tom Moore, who was publicly identified as AltFEC by Rudy Takala of The Hill on his Twitter feed on February 26, 2017.  People close to the Commission confirm that Weintraub is aware of Moore's anti-Trump crusade and approves of his activities.  According to one source, Weintraub has been known to defend Moore's right to express his anti-Trump hostilities (anonymously!) toward the very people who are the subject of FEC enforcement authority by invoking the First Amendment -- a constitutional provision she rarely acknowledges when supporting enforcement against other citizens.

How can Commissioner Weintraub's office be viewed as fair, neutral, impartial when such nasty ad hominem attacks at President Trump are being published by her personal staff?  It simply cannot. 

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