Facebookhas published another op-ed defending its decision to exempt politicians from its policy banning misinformation and false claims from paid advertising.
“Anyone who thinks Facebook should decide which claims by politicians are acceptable might ask themselves this question: Why do you want us to have so much power?” WroteKatie HarbathandNell McCarthyin the piece, which was published inUSA Today. “In our view, the only thing worse than Facebooknotmaking these calls is for Facebook tomakethese calls. ”
Harbath is Facebook’s public policy director for global elections. McCarthy is the director of policy management.
Their argument is unlikely to persuade critics in the US, who continue to push Facebook to reconsider the policy. Last night, senatorMark Warner, a Democrat, wrote to Facebook CEOMark Zuckerbergurging him to change his mind.
Mark Warner(@ MarkWarner)
Facebook’s new ads policy allows politicians to run demonstrably false advertising on its platform. I don’t think that’s right.
Last night, I sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg calling on@ Facebookto reverse this decision.pic.twitter.com/u2829 fEK7n
Hundreds ofFacebook employees also disagreewith the policy, as my colleague Kari Paul reported yesterday .
Like many Republican lawmakers, North Carolina senatorRichard Burrhas takenGrover Norquist’s“Taxpayer Protection Pledge”, committing himself to vote against new or increased taxes.
So it was surprising to see Burr propose a new tax on Twitter on Tuesday.
Richard Burr(@ SenatorBurr)
If college athletes are going to make money off their likenesses while in school , their scholarships should be treated like income. I’ll be introducing legislation that subjects scholarships given to athletes who choose to “cash in” to income taxes.https://t.co/H7jXC0dNls
Burr is currently on the wrong side of what’s known on Twitter as “being ratioed”. His missive has been retaining about 800 times, but users have responded (mostly angrily) nearly 14, 000 times.
As CNBC) pointed out, scholarships are already taxed as income.
College sports have been incredibly lucrative in the US for universities, coaches, broadcasters, sports apparel companies – pretty much everyone involved except the athletes themselves. My colleague Mario Koranwrote about a California lawthat might change everything earlier this month.
George Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign adviser who served 14 days in prison after pleading guilty to lying to federal investigators, has announced plans to run for the House seat recently vacated byKatie Hill.
Papadopoulos, who did 14 days in prison for lying to the FBI during the Mueller probe, is running for Katie Hill’s seat outside LAhttps://t.co/3PfNH2Gx6S
Papadopouloslied to investigatorsabout his contacts with a Kremlin-linked professor who claimed that Russia had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton while he was working for the Trump campaign.
Hill was freshman congresswoman and rising Democratic star whoresigned Mondayamid allegations of an inappropriate sexual relationship with a staffer and following the non-consensual release and publication of nude photographs.
I’ll leave it to you to decide what the symbolism of the scope view is on Papadopoulos’s campaign website. One result of his candidacy? He’ll now be allowed to promote misinformation in paid advertisements on Facebook.
Alex Seitz-Wald(@ aseitzwald)
George Papadopoulos already has a campaign website up.https://t.co/Fo8YHaGbILpic.twitter.com/cpyBmLGEvA
(October) , 2019
Alex Seitz-WaldBlair is one of the officials who listened in on the phone conversation between Donald Trump and Ukrainian presidentVolodymyr Zelenskythat led to the whistleblower complaint and subsequent impeachment investigation, according to (CNN) .
His current title is assistant to the president and senior adviser to acting White House chief of staffMick Mulvaney. Prior to working in the White House, he was associate director for national security programs in the Office of Management and Budget, where he also served under Mulvaney.
House votes to recognize the Armenian Genocide
The USHouse of Representativesjust voted overwhelmingly to recognize theArmenian Genocide, with 405 yes votes and 11 Noes.
The non-binding resolution marks the first time in 35 years that either branch of Congress recognized the early 20 th century slaughter of up to 1.5m Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as a genocide, according to theLos Angeles Times.
TheTurkish governmenthas long refused to acknowledge the genocide, creating a diplomatic bind for its allies. But Turkey’s recent actions against Kurds near its border with Syria created a political opening for the resolution’s passage.
“Given that the Turks are once again involved in ethnic cleansing the population— this time the Kurds who live along the Turkish-Syrian border— it seemed all the more appropriate to bring up a resolution about the Ottoman efforts to annihilate an entire people in the Armenian genocide, ”representativeAdam Schiff, who sponsored the resolution, said to the LA Times.
Hello everyone, this is Julia Carrie Wong in (thus far, thankfully) wildfire-free Oakland, California, picking up the blog for the rest of the day.
White House press secretaryStephanie Grishamhas responded to theHouse resolutionon impeachment by calling it a “scam” and complaining that theTrump administrationis being denied “basic due process rights” .
The fullstatementreads:
The resolution put forward by Speaker Pelosi confirms that House Democrats’ impeachment has been an illegitimate sham from the start as it lacked any proper authorization by a House vote.
It continues this scam by allowing Chairman Schiff, who repeatedly lies to the American people, to hold a new round of hearings, still without any due process for the President.
The White House is barred from participating at all, until after Chairman Schiff conducts two rounds of one-sided hearings to generate a biased report for the Judiciary Committee. Even then, the White House’s rights remain undefined, unclear, and uncertain – because those rules still haven’t been written.
This resolution does nothing to change the fundamental fact that HouseDemocratsrefuse to provide basic due process rights to the Administration.
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Julia Carrie Wong, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- The House rules committee released its resolution outlining next steps on impeachment, which established thatAdam Schiff‘s intelligence committee would take the lead on public hearings.
- Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the national security council, testified behind closed doors to impeachment investigators. According to his opening statement, Vindman intended to testify that he had concerns after listening toTrump‘s call with the Ukrainian president.
- The presidentattacked Vindman as a “never Trumper,” while some conservative commentators suggested that the Purple Heart recipient may not be entirely loyal to the United States because he was born in the Soviet Union. (Some commentators later walked back those comments following intense criticism.)
- British MPs approvedBoris Johnson‘s proposal to hold a general election on December 12, giving voters another chance to weigh in onBrexitafter the prime minister failed to withdraw the UK from the EU by his set deadline of October 31. Followthe UK politics live blogfor more updates.
Julia will have more on the news of the day, so stay tuned.
RepresentativeBradley Byrnesaid he would not drop out of the Alabama Senate race, even ifJeff Sessionslaunched a bid to reclaim the seat he held for two decades.
Kaitlan Collins(@ kaitlancollins)
Alabama Rep. Bradley Byrne says he’ll stay in the Senate race even if Jeff Sessions gets in, per@ AlexRogersDC. “No matter who’s in the race at 5: 01 pm on November 8, I’m in it. “
(October) , 2019
Reports have emerged that Sessions,Trump‘s former attorney general who had a falling out with the president over the Russia investigation, is seriously considering a Senate bid. Politicoreports:
Sessions would scramble the already crowded field ofRepublicansseeking to take on Democratic Sen. Doug Jones, who won a 2017 special election to fill the remainder of Sessions’ term and is widely viewed as the most vulnerable senator on the ballot next year. …
Five Republicans are already in the race: Rep.Bradley Byrne, former Auburn University football coachTommy Tuberville, Secretary of State John Merrill, state Rep.Arnold MooneyandRoy Moore, the former state Supreme Court judge who lost the special election in 2017 Amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
Sessions has some high-profile allies pushing him to run for his old seat, including the conservative Club for Growth.
UK MPs vote for December general election
Boris Johnsonappears to have won his battle to hold a general election on December 12 after the British prime minister failed to withdraw the UK from the EU by his set deadline of October 31.
MPs voted 438 to 20 to take the UK to the polls in about six weeks. The election will be the first held in December since 1923 and will provide the British public a chance to once again weigh in onBrexitas the EU separation looms.
To get the latest updates, followAndrew Sparrow’s UK politics live blog.
Vindman testimony casts spotlight on Sondland
The opening statement ofAlexander Vindman, who is now testifying before impeachment investigators, has led at least one House Democratto accuseGordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU, of perjuring himself before the committees.
Joaquin Castro(@ JoaquinCastrotx)
Based on all the testimony so far, I believe that Ambassador Gordon Sondland committed perjury.https://t.co/lOGRj8s1yP
Politicohas morecontext on the Sondland controversy:
Testimony from other witnesses has put the credibility ofTrump‘s most favorable witness into serious doubt as the White House struggles to define a response to the House’s ongoing impeachment inquiry beyond simply refusing to cooperate with it.
Democratshave cited Sondland’s repeated memory lapses pertaining to central events surrounding Trump’s pressure campaign to get Ukraine to investigate a political rival,Joe Biden.
They raised similar questions about Sondland’s truthfulness following the testimony last week of acting U.S. ambassador to UkraineWilliam Taylor, who said Sondland had conveyed to Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskythat the release of US military assistance aid was predicated upon Zelensky publicly committing to the investigations Trump demanded.
But it was the opening statement made public late Monday by Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, Trump’s top National Security Council adviser on Ukraine, that had Democrats questioning Sondland’s testimony most pointedly.
The House rules committees is expected to consider and possibly amend the impeachment resolution tomorrow afternoon, with a vote on the proposal still set for Thursday.
Meanwhile, the White House made clear that the resolution has not changed its opinion of the inquiry at all, dismissing the whole process as a “sham.”
Eamon Javers(@ EamonJavers)
Reaction from a White House official to the text of the House Democrats’ impeachment resolution: “Nothing has changed, this is a sham.”
(October) , 2019
A Politico reporter noted that most of the newly released impeachment resolution is in line with current House rules about public hearings.
Kyle Cheney(@ kyledcheney)
VERY LITTLE in this House resolution beyond what’s already in House Rules. Here’s what * already exists * in House rules, which allow staff questioning and rounds for the chair / ranking member that go longer than five minutes:pic. twitter.com/qFDG11 sTuV
(October) , 2019
The Democratic chairs of four House committees – intelligence, judiciary, foreign affairs and oversight – have released a statement saying that the newly released resolution will provide a “pathway forward” on impeachment.
Alex Moe(@ AlexNBCNews)
4 Chairs stmt on Resolution for Open Hearings on Trump’s Abuse of Power –@ RepAdamSchiff@ RepJerryNadler@ CarolynBMaloney@ RepEliotEngelpic .twitter.com/Y5kAcKEMJ8
(October) , 2019
The chairs said: “The evidence we have already collected paints the picture of a President who abused his power by using multiple levers of government to press a foreign country to interfere in the (election.
“Following in the footsteps of previous impeachment inquiries, the next phase will move from closed depositions to open hearings where the American people will learn firsthand about the President’s misconduct.”
In a fact sheet on the newly released resolution,Democratstold their members that the outlined impeachment procedures would help to ensure “transparency” and giveTrump“opportunities to participate.”
Yamiche Alcindor(@ Yamiche)
Democrats just put out this fact sheet about the resolution highlighting key parts of it.
This gives Republicans some of what they were demanding including President Trump and his lawyers having access to evidence and being able to cross examine witnesses.pic.twitter.com/qxviYkHJqG
The president and his allies have complained that the inquiry so far has been too secretive and denied Trump any chance to defend himself, but HouseRepublicansare unlikely to support the resolution.
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