Eric McDaniel | NPR

Eric McDaniel | NPR

@ericm.cd

Congress Reporter, NPR News

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Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

As the president promises election fraud bounties, sues California and Alaska, and 1000 DOJ election observers prepare to head to voting sites, my reporting from August about the expansive Democratic and good governance group effort to protect America's election infrastructure.

npr.orgHow Democrats in Congress are preparing for Trump midterm election interferenceAs Election Day draws nearer, Democrats are preparing for a range of scenarios, intent on avoiding what they see as the failure of imagination that kept lawmakers from anticipating the Jan. 6 attack.
Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

When I see stories about companies like Microsoft offering buyouts to 60,000 employees, all I can think about is how small journalism is as an industry. I think NPR has about 1,000 people. Public media as a whole was around 19,000 before Congress disolved the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Eric McDaniel | NPR reposted

Marshall Steinbaum
@econmarshall.bsky.social

🚨🚨New version of our student debt cancellation paper is out.🚨🚨 Using a nationally representative credit panel, we follow borrowers whose federal loans were canceled in 2021–2024 for up to four years. Cancellation raised homeownership, credit scores, and credit access. 1/20

Eric McDaniel | NPR reposted

Adam Bonica
@adambonica.bsky.social

Once mass spam texts were made legal, younger donors vanished, leaving a grassroots fundraising machine that subsists on squeezing vulnerable seniors, some of whom give hundreds of times a day. It’s a horrific model. Consultants get generationally wealthy, and the party hollows out its future.

Jake Grumbach@jakemgrumbach.bsky.social

We found that as of right now 73% of your campaign donation goes back to the consultants and vendors (!!!), four times more than just 20 years ago. Only 13% to ads. Even I was shocked.

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

NEW from me: The top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees say they are operating under the presumption that President Trump and his allies will allege fraud related to this year's midterms in order to justify election interference.

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Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

"I think everybody realizes what's at stake here. I mean, the irony of celebrating our 250th anniversary and this the first year we had a completely corrupt election?" Warner said. "I think people know what's at stake."

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

NEW from me: The top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees say they are operating under the presumption that President Trump and his allies will allege fraud related to this year's midterms in order to justify election interference.

View full thread
Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

"I think any potential mishap, from seating of members of Congress to the count after the fact, I know both of us have spent time with former military members, intel members, business leaders, civil society to make the case that if something happens, you have to speak up," Warner said.

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

NEW from me: The top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees say they are operating under the presumption that President Trump and his allies will allege fraud related to this year's midterms in order to justify election interference.

View full thread
Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

"There is a plan there," Warner said, noting that a constellation of more than 75 groups are still meeting on a regular basis, "fully lawyered up."

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

But he suggested that the responsibility to protect democracy is much broader than good governance groups and lawmakers themselves, and extends to the press and the public at large.

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

NEW from me: The top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees say they are operating under the presumption that President Trump and his allies will allege fraud related to this year's midterms in order to justify election interference.

View full thread
Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

Himes specifically emphasized that "we have never seen an operation to actually interfere and, as of now, we are not seeing either the capability or the intent to interfere."

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

Their preparations for a possible fraudulent claim of foreign interference is one part of a much larger election integrity effort by the Democrats and good governance groups.

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

NEW from me: The top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees say they are operating under the presumption that President Trump and his allies will allege fraud related to this year's midterms in order to justify election interference.

View full thread
Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

"Iran is probably more looking at disruption in Europe. They've been more anti-Trump. China's been more selective, oftentimes on local races or smaller issues, oftentimes with Chinese nationals involved."

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

Still, Himes said that there is "a "profound distinction" between those influence campaigns and actual interference in election infrastructure itself, "which is messing around with the voting rolls, with the machines … which is very, very difficult."

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

NEW from me: The top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees say they are operating under the presumption that President Trump and his allies will allege fraud related to this year's midterms in order to justify election interference.

View full thread
Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

The lawmakers said that they had received one classified report on Tuesday from the DNI's office, which detailed what they described as a "grabbag" of intelligence on meddling efforts, including the sort of Russian and Chinese campaigns that have come to be expected in American elections.

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

"The state of play, I would argue, is Russia, similar to prior occasions, is going after Democrats, usually with misinformation," Warner said.

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

NEW from me: The top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees say they are operating under the presumption that President Trump and his allies will allege fraud related to this year's midterms in order to justify election interference.

View full thread
Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

"When Jay Clayton assumed his role as DNI, we asked and received the required classified summary of influence and interference," Himes said.

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

"We have not received a bunch of things that we have asked for," including, he said the statutorily required reports about the state of play 120 days, 60 days and 30 days before the election. The ODNI office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

NEW from me: The top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees say they are operating under the presumption that President Trump and his allies will allege fraud related to this year's midterms in order to justify election interference.

View full thread
Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

Both lawmakers said that they are in close contact with top Trump intelligence officials, even as they allege that those leaders have failed to provide legally-mandated pre-election reports to Congress assessing the state of play regarding foreign election meddling efforts.

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

NEW from me: The top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees say they are operating under the presumption that President Trump and his allies will allege fraud related to this year's midterms in order to justify election interference.

View full thread
Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

Or, Himes said, if the president "decides to use allegations of foreign interference as an excuse to seize ballot boxes, question the validity of the election."

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

"If, at noon on election day, the president announced that the Iranians have undertaken operation," Himes said, "I'm on TV saying 'I'm Gang of Eight and I have received no such briefing, no such information, and I have no reason to believe that this is accurate.'"

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

NEW from me: The top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees say they are operating under the presumption that President Trump and his allies will allege fraud related to this year's midterms in order to justify election interference.

View full thread
Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

Himes and Warner are members of the Gang of Eight, senior lawmakers who oversee the nation's spy agencies and receive confidential briefings.

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

In a briefing for reporters, Warner and Himes said they have made clear to Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton and other intelligence leaders that they must be immediately reachable by phone on and after Election Day in the event that Trump alleges foreign interference in the election.

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

NEW from me: The top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees say they are operating under the presumption that President Trump and his allies will allege fraud related to this year's midterms in order to justify election interference.

View full thread
Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

Speaking alongside Himes on Wednesday, Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that one way the president could do that: claiming foreign interference in the voting process.

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

NEW from me: The top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees say they are operating under the presumption that President Trump and his allies will allege fraud related to this year's midterms in order to justify election interference.

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

"We start with the premise that the president is going to do that. It would be irresponsible not to, speaking as somebody who was in the chamber on January 6, 2021," said Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn.

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

"We're making the assumption that the president is not going to accept the results of what looks to be a very challenging election for him and his party," Himes said.

Eric McDaniel | NPR reposted

Martin Austermuhle
@maustermuhle.bsky.social

A new report on truancy in D.C. says that some Latino students are truant because the increased presence of ICE, other federal agents, and National Guard had "negative impact on their families." One kid said he was "genuinely afraid to step outside" after his dad was deported.

Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

Janeese Lewis-George greenlight Waymo challenge

Omar Wasow@owasow.bsky.social

“American roads are becoming deadlier for walkers. Between 2009 and 2024, pedestrian deaths increased 72% across the U.S., federal data show. Over the same period, such deaths declined in most other developed nations, according to United Nations data. In road safety, the U.S. is an outlier.” 🎁

wsj.comThe Deadly 1.5-Mile Corridor That Shows the Fatal Flaw in America’s Road DesignSix lanes and crosswalks a half-mile apart: How American urban-planning is failing walkers.
Eric McDaniel | NPR
@ericm.cd

NEWS: Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., was among the offices targeted. His statement to me:

Eric McDaniel | NPR@ericm.cd

NEW: The FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service are looking into a series of suspicious mailings sent to state election officials and congressional offices. Officials say some of the mailings contained a powdery white substance.