{"id":900655,"date":"2021-10-20T05:14:22","date_gmt":"2021-10-20T09:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=900655"},"modified":"2021-10-20T05:14:23","modified_gmt":"2021-10-20T09:14:23","slug":"white-house-turns-to-legally-dubious-tactics-to-boost-mcauliffe-for-virginia-gov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-turns-to-legally-dubious-tactics-to-boost-mcauliffe-for-virginia-gov\/","title":{"rendered":"White House Turns to Legally Dubious Tactics To Boost McAuliffe for Virginia Gov"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhite-house-turns-to-legally-dubious-tactics-to-boost-mcauliffe-for-virginia-gov%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=900655&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div readability=\"30.51724137931\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/elections\/\">Elections<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">VP Harris, press sec Psaki face criticism over questionable electioneering actions<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"736\" height=\"514\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/rsz_gettyimages-1234138390-1.jpg\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/rsz_gettyimages-1234138390.jpg 736w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/rsz_gettyimages-1234138390-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/rsz_gettyimages-1234138390-703x491.jpg 703w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tPresident Biden and Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe \/ Getty Images\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/collin-anderson\/\" title=\"Posts by Collin Anderson\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Collin Anderson<\/a> \u2022 October 20, 2021 5:00 am<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"108.13658865887\">\n<p>As President Joe Biden looks to avoid a high-profile loss in Virginia, the White House has turned to legally dubious tactics aimed at boosting Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe.<\/p>\n<p>Liberal watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) launched a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizensforethics.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/2021-10-15-Jen-Psaki.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">complaint<\/a> against press secretary Jen Psaki for violating the Hatch Act, which prevents administration officials from engaging in political activity. During a Thursday press briefing, Psaki said the Biden administration will &#8220;do everything we can to help former Governor McAuliffe&#8221; and &#8220;believe[s] in the agenda he&#8217;s representing.&#8221; Psaki later <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DJJudd\/status\/1449110596461416449\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">acknowledged<\/a> her statement&#8217;s impropriety in an interview with CNN.<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration just hours later released a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/evamckend\/status\/1449510191079301122\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">video<\/a> that features Vice President Kamala Harris, who urged viewers to vote for her &#8220;friend Terry McAuliffe.&#8221; While the Hatch Act does not apply to the president and vice president, Harris&#8217;s video\u2014filmed for hundreds of churches across Virginia\u2014could run afoul of IRS law, which explicitly prohibits churches and other tax-exempt 501(c)3 organizations from &#8220;engaging in any political campaign activity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration&#8217;s questionable campaign tactics come as McAuliffe slips in the polls against Republican opponent Glenn Youngkin\u2014a development that has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2021\/09\/28\/white-house-mcauliffe-514455\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">spooked Biden officials<\/a>, who worry that a loss in Virginia will spell trouble for Democrats in 2022. While Biden won Virginia by double digits, an October <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1gbDpNxQzRPhP4QbgfClwGvcP-ZdboNt0\/view\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trafalgar Group poll<\/a> shows McAuliffe trailing Youngkin by 1 point. McAuliffe has <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/elections\/mcauliffe-says-unpopular-biden-will-campaign-for-him-in-virginia\/\">blamed<\/a> his struggles in part on Biden&#8217;s unpopularity in the state.<\/p>\n<p>Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust executive director Kendra Arnold called the IRS law related to Harris&#8217;s church video &#8220;abundantly clear,&#8221; noting &#8220;there&#8217;s no question that the churches cannot engage in political activity, including the publishing and distributing of statements on behalf of any campaign.&#8221; Arnold argued that while Harris was legally allowed to support McAuliffe in the video, she may not be in the clear from a legal perspective.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think there&#8217;s an ethical question on whether or not our elected officials, for political purposes, can engage with another entity and essentially get them to break the law,&#8221; Arnold told the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em>. &#8220;I would argue that it is not ethical to engage in activities that break the law, whether you&#8217;re breaking it or enticing someone else to break it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>CREW president Noah Bookbinder, meanwhile, in his Thursday complaint admonished Psaki, writing that the press secretary mixed &#8220;official government business with support of a candidate for partisan political office in the weeks before the election&#8221; and engaged in &#8220;political activity while on duty.&#8221; Psaki addressed the controversy during a Friday CNN interview, during which she pledged to &#8220;be more careful with my words next time.&#8221; Penalties for Hatch Act violations <a href=\"https:\/\/osc.gov\/Services\/Pages\/HatchAct-Federal.aspx#tabGroup51\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">include<\/a> removal from federal service suspension and a civil penalty.<\/p>\n<p>The White House did not return a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Psaki and Harris, McAuliffe&#8217;s liberal allies have employed controversial schemes to hurt Youngkin and promote Democrats. Liberal dark money operative David Brock, for example, has used his &#8220;pseudo-news outlet&#8221; to send Virginia voters <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/elections\/dark-money-dems-fake-newspaper-virginia-election\/\">unsolicited mailers<\/a> that attack Youngkin with debunked claims, including one page that falsely contends Youngkin has a plan to &#8220;eliminate the state income tax.&#8221; The move sparked concern among ethics experts, as Brock&#8217;s &#8220;progressive news&#8221; outlet is not subject to campaign finance laws that require political groups to disclose where their funding comes from.<\/p>\n<p>Democratic operatives have also targeted Youngkin through a shadowy political action committee that runs ads designed to look like they came from a Republican outfit. That PAC, Accountability Virginia, took at least $250,000 from Virginia utility company Dominion Energy and went on to release social media spots that question Youngkin&#8217;s support for the Second Amendment. Dominion CEO Robert Blue asked for the PAC to refund the company&#8217;s donation on Monday, saying he &#8220;failed to vet&#8221; the group&#8217;s &#8220;intended activities.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>McAuliffe, who took tens of thousands of dollars from Dominion during his 2013 gubernatorial campaign, did not return a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elections VP Harris, press sec Psaki face criticism over questionable electioneering actions  President Biden and Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe \/ Getty Images &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-900655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}