Latest news with #CommitteeonHouseAdministration
Axios
12-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
Trump administration fires top U.S. copyright official
Musk last month responded to a call on X to "delete all IP [ intellectual property ] law" by saying, "I agree." What they're saying: Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.) alleged in a Saturday statement that it's "surely no coincidence" that Trump acted less than a day after Perlmutter "refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk's efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works to train AI models." The ranking member of the Committee on House Administration that oversees the Library of Congress and U.S. Copyright Office said firing Perlmutter "tramples on Congress's Article One authority and throws a trillion-dollar industry into chaos." The American Federation of Musicians union said on Facebook Sunday Perlmutter's firing "will gravely harm the entire copyright community." The other side: Conservative nonprofit the American Accountability Foundation told the Daily Mail last month called for the firings of Perlmutter and the now-ousted Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden to "return an America First agenda to the nation's intellectual property regulation."
The Guardian
24-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trump targets Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue with memorandum
The Republican president is taking aim at a Democratic fundraising platform, issuing a presidential memorandum to crack down on supposed foreign contributions to elections, an unsubstantiated claim from the right.. Donald Trump announced the memo on Thursday, directing the attorney general to investigate, and report to the president, 'concerning allegations regarding the use of online fundraising platforms to make 'straw' or 'dummy' contributions and to make foreign contributions to US political candidates and committees, all of which break the law'. ActBlue, the largest online donation platform on the left, has anticipated the presidential action. Its CEO and president, Regina Wallace-Jones, sent an email this week saying the organization expected an executive order targeting it, and that the threat of these investigations had 'caused many in the ecosystem anxiety and distress'. 'If we look past rumors and innuendo, here is what we know to be true: Nothing will deter or interrupt ActBlue's mission and work to enable millions of Americans to participate in our democracy,' she wrote. 'There is an ongoing and persistent effort to weaken the confidence of the American people in what's possible. This is the next version of 'the big lie.'' ActBlue is the main platform used to collect donations for Democratic candidates and causes. The move is among several actions the Trump administration has taken to 'cripple the left', the New York Times has reported, part of a 'series of highly partisan official actions that, if successful, will threaten to hobble Democrats' ability to compete in elections for years to come'. The memo comes amid ongoing unsubstantiated claims on the right about the fundraising platform. Elon Musk has tweeted about ActBlue multiple times since Trump took office. 'Something stinks about ActBlue,' he said in one post. Republican lawmakers have called on the treasury department to investigate ActBlue. Representative Darrell Issa wrote to the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, in March, saying the department should investigate whether ActBlue facilitated donations from 'terror-linked organizations and non-profits', based on reporting in rightwing media that the platform had cut ties with a Palestinian organization that advocates for divestment in Israel. Congressman Bryan Steil, the chair of the Committee on House Administration, requested documents from ActBlue in October 'related to the platform's donor verification policies and potential vulnerabilities that foreign actors may exploit to illegally participate in the US political process'. Those documents showed that the platform had updated its policies to automatically reject certain donations from gift cards and other avenues, Steil said. The organization has seen internal strife, the New York Times reported, leading to departures of senior officials. Republicans demanded more documents from ActBlue based on the departures, the paper reported. The attack on the fundraising platform comes as Democrats prepare efforts to win back majorities in Washington in the midterms. On Thursday, the Democratic National Committee announced a plan to revitalize state Democratic parties by sending monthly donations from the national party to the states, with more funding going to red states.
CBS News
24-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
GOP House Majority Whip Tom Emmer calls for ethics investigation into DFL Rep. Angie Craig's town hall stops
Amid Democratic Minnesota U.S. Rep. Angie Craig's town hall stop on Wednesday in St. Cloud, Republican House Majority Whip Tom Emmer — who represents the area —wants the House to launch an ethics investigation into her. Craig is among several Democrats, along with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who have been making town hall stops in GOP-led districts to highlight the absence of Republican leaders at local events during the first months of President Trump's second term. "Every single Minnesotan deserves someone from Washington to come here and tell you what is happening," Craig told the crowd Wednesday in St. Cloud. On Wednesday, Emmer — and fellow House Republican delegation members Brad Finstad, Michelle Fischbach and Pete Stauber — sent letters to the House Committee on Ethics and the Committee on House Administration urging a review of possible ethics violations by Craig. They claim Craig is using her taxpayer-funded office to bring attention to campaign events and fundraising. "This misuse of public resources erodes the trust Americans place in their elected officials and undermines the integrity of our institutions, which is why we are calling on the House Ethics Committee and the Committee on House Administration to thoroughly review Rep. Craig's conduct," the letter states. Craig's office released this statement on the matter on Wednesday: "Minnesota's Republican Representatives have stood idly by while the Administration has started a global trade war, cut thousands of jobs and run roughshod over our government agencies and Minnesota's middle class. While her Republican colleagues have refused to show up and answer to their constituents in person, Representative Craig is actively showing up in their districts. Once again, her Republican colleagues are trying to avoid doing their job." Last week, Craig told WCCO she will make a decision by the end of this month about whether she will run again to represent her district in the south metro, or whether she will run to replace Democratic U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, who announced in February that she won't seek reelection next year.
