The Wall Street Journal - 02.08.2019

А4 1 F.riday, August 2, 2019 ~ W L С^10 ·^11 12 lt Т ~ К^8 F А М^1 l^3 4 S &^7 ·8^9 О I Х Х ** ТНЕ WALL SТREET JO RNAL,

u.s. EWS

Small Donations Add Up for Democrats

!
8:
:! :::,

At least 2.3 mill.ion smal)

donors conrributed to Demo-

cratic presidenti.al contenders

in tl1e fust half of the year, ac-

cording to а Wall Streer Jour-

ВyChadDay,

Da nny Dougherty

and Маиr,ееп Li11ke

nal analysis of new data from

ActВJue, t he onli11e paymeпt

processor used Ьу fiose candi-

dates.

WШ1 tlte Vemocratic pri-

mary focus,ed on attracting

grass-rOQts donations, the Act-

BLue data, filed with the Fed-

eral EJection Commission late

Wedn.esday, is prov:idi:ng the

fi:rst detailed look at the щti­

verse of donors w)ю, jn small

increments, are a.dding up to

Ьig money for the crowded

field of ca1111idates.

Tlte data a1·en t а co1npJete

picture of those g:iving to

Democratic campaigns Ьecause

,do11ors who give small

amounts directly to candi-

dates, bypassing Actвlue,

aren't included.

But it captшes the vast ma•

jority of such donors who gave

in the first half of 2019 , pro-

vidmg а revealing look at who

t l1ey m:e, wl1ere they iive and

when they gave.

Overall, реор]е who have

given $200 01· less in total to а

specific presidentiaI candidate

through ActВlue acco1.mted for

at Least $90 million t hroiigh

~ z
z
~
~ о
"' z
~

June 30, according to the

Journa]'s, analysis of more 1han

14 million i:ontribution.s That

dollar amoWtt is near)y 85% of

all small-donar money brought

in Ьу t11e Democratic presiden-

tiaJ campaigns in the first ha]f

of 2019 and. more than 43 % of

all money given to the candi-

dates over the same time, ac-

cordmg to federal fШngs.

Тhе data l1amt11er ]1ome

how АсtВ\це J1as Ьесоте the

bedrock of Den10cradc fu11d-

rajsing, driven Ьу the plat-

form's one-stop-shop approach

t11-at aJlows clonors to easiJy

give to muJtipJe candidates.

RepuЫicans are now trying to

replicate that snccess wit h

their own payment condцit

саПеd Wil1Red, wh.icl1 Presi-

d.ent Тrwnp's cainpaign and

other top GOP groups have e11-

dorsed.

Тhе data further reiлforce

Vennont Sen. Bemie Sanders's

grass-roots fundraising prow-

ess compared with his presi-

dential rivaJ:s.

The strategy of continually

pulling iп 1arge amotmts of

small donations-even а few

dollars at а time-e.naЬled Мr.

Saitders to compete deep mto

the 2016 primary and it is fueJ;.

ing his campaign this year. Вut

the ActBlue data show just

how mucl1 his арреа1 ta smaH

donors is dwamng others in

the crowded presidential field.

Мr. Sanders is beating ali

other top-tier candidates m at-

DonorDash

Through the fir51: half of 20i9, Веглiе Sanders attracted the most s mall donors in large swaths of

the cou пtгу. However, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg and Beto O'Rourke raised more small

donations than other top candidates in thelr home stat es.

Candldates with themost smc1ll·dollar donors Ьу ZIP Code

Sanders O'Rourke Klobuchar Buttlgieg ■ Warren Biden

Wash.

( Sanders and Кlobuchar

~ each had 167 small donors N.Н.:-l

Mont Nд Vt. 1 Маlпе

0 11!- Minn

ldaho Wyo. S.D.

Sandersand

Ne<1, Buttlgieg had) еЬ.

Utah 13donors О

Ulif. Colo. ((ап.

Wis. N.V. Mass.

Mkh Connl

lowa Ра. N.J R.I.

Ohio

..

llt lnd. ~d.гDel.

W.Va. Va.

Мо. Ку.

Tenn.

N.C

Ark. s.c.

ss. Ala. Ga.

La.

Fla.

,Note: Small-4Qllar dono<$ ~ !(lentlfi~ il\ lho$<> giv\ 119 S2QO or less to а campaign. Milp comЬi!lf5 donors ln ZIP Cadeнliaring t/\e flrst three ~igi~.

Dooocs glvlng to rrdUpleQndfdall!s illl! count@d fur eacl\. Ana~ls coversfop 10 leadfng candldilll!S baS@d onpollfng as or July :n. AП!ilS wмre no

candida!e r~ised funds from at feast 10 small donors are excluded.

Sошсе: WSJ ;inalysls of ActВlue dat.i

tracting small·dollar donors in

la1:ge swaths of the country,

according to the Journal s

ana\ysis.

But some candidates are

Ъreaking l:hrougl1 in small

ways, partkularly in th.!!ir

home states.

Formeг Техаs Rep. Beto

O'Rourke, Мinnesota Sen. Amy

Юobuchar and Sottth Bend

[nd. Mayor Pete Bu.ttigieg are

enjoying support: among peo-

pie donating small amoW1t s iJ

th.eir home states. And whiJ.e

not on the same magmtude as

Мr. Sanders, former Vice Pres-

ident Joe Biden and Sens. Eliz·

aheth Waпen of Massachu-

setts and Кamala Haпis of

CaШornia are drawing in do·

Тhе 10 presldentlal hopefUls who :partldpated ln Wednesda)'!s deЬate ln Delrolt. Lower-tler c:andldates haire four weeks to meet tougher requlrements for the next deЬate.

Race Hits Winnowing Phase for Next Debate

ВУ TAJUNJ PARТI

For most of the two dozen

Democratic presidentiaJ candi-

dates, the next fоцт weeks will

determine if they can keep

their White House l1opes a\lve.

With the crowded rouncts of

debates in Miarm and Detroit

1юw over, on)y seven candi-

dates have so far m.et tlte

quaJifications-hittit1g at Jeast

2% in four natio11al po1ls and

raising money from 130 ООО

uпique donors- set Ьу th.e•

Democratic Nationa1 Commit•

tee for the September deЬate

in Houston. Тl10se candidates

are former Vke Presid.ent Joe

Biden, Vermont Sen. Вernie

Sanders, Massachusetts Sen.

Elizabeth Waпen, California

Sen. Kainala Rar1is; South

Bend Mayor Pete .Buttigieg,

New Jersey Se:n. Со1у Вooker

and former Texas Rep. Beto

O'Rourke.

Three more candidates at·e

clo е to qualifying 7 Former

housing secretary Julian Cas-

tro and entrepreneur Aлdrew

Yang have met the donoг

tlU'eshoid, an d Мlnnesota Sen.

Amy Юobuchar has met the

poШng criteria and is c!ose to

the donor t lu-eshol.d. Whether

the Houston ga:tl1ering is

spread over one night or two

will depe.nd on how many can-

didates quaJify.

Mai1y of the candidates who

sdll neect to meet those re-

quirements were looking to

break out Ьefore а. natio:na] aы­

dience duruig this w,eek's de-

bates but instead found them-

selves mostly overshadowed

Ьу the top contenders. Even

those who managed to draw а

Ьit of the spotlight could still.

struggle to traitslate the'ir de-

bate perfoпnance into а rise in

polls.

Candidates now have tmti

Atig. 28 to hi.t those tlпesho]ds

and secure а spot. If they de-

eide to st.ay Ьt the .race with·

out making it to the next de-

bate stage, it would on1y get

harder to 0 ffer а cre<tiЬle ar-

gument of their e\ectaЫlity to

voters and to compete for re•

sources, strategists say.

"The de:Ьate really solili-

fied everybody's s[anding,'

said Zac Petkanas, а Demo-

cratic strategist who worked

on Нillary Clinton's 2016 cam-

paign. "It's going to Ье appar-

•ent wJю's on the adults tаЫе

and who's on the ldds tаЫе.

,And in this case the kids dOlt't

eve11 get а taЫe-they're eat-

ing on the floor."

The щ1even divislon of re-

sources Ьetween the top-tier

,candidates and the rest of the

field was already clear from

the second-qwute1· fundraisi:ng

reports fi]ed with the Federa\

Electioн Cammission last

Se en andidat

l1av о far m.et tbe

qu lifi ati n for

the Houston debate.

month. Тhе reports sl1owed

tltat tl1e t.op five candidates

\шd raised three-fourths of the

totu raised Ьу а1) the candj-

dates.

That disparity in resources

between the top conte11ders

and the rest ofthe field is only

-expected to grow. Major do-

nors wbo have Ьееn keeping а

cJose еуе on tl1e field and de-

bate performances, are sched-

uled to host ga.tl1eri11gs for

some of the leading candidates

in New York City and the

Hamptons in August, tradi-

tionally а titne for poUt.ica

fundra1sers.

ВоЬ Shrum, а veteran Den1-

ocratic strateg1st, said there

couЖd Ье <:banges in the top-

tier candidateS' standiпgs, Ьц_t

he doesn't ·expect а major re-

shuffling ,of the field.

"['d Ье sш·prised if there

was any movement," Mr.

Shrt1m said.

Some of the leading cancli-

dates said after this week's de-

bate that they were ready to

Ье on stage аП togethe1:-in-

stead of split цр into two

nigh,ts- and to have more time

to explain their positions.

"1 understand why it has to

Ье that way, but I'm looking

forward to getting to the place

where we can actually ex-

change ideas," Мr, Biden said

Thursday.

Ms. Harris said on CNN's

New Day on 'ТJшrsday that th.e

сштеnt settiлg for the debates

puts а target on the back of

the top ca1tdidates, wl10 h.ave

to take а ]ot of incoming f)ak

f1·01n otl1er candidates trying

to stand ош. "1 did11't need а

1·ed sцit to Ье easy to fi11d, it

turns out," she joked.

Most of tlte ca11didates will

soon see each other at events

i11 early voti11g states where

tbey wШ have anotber shot at

building some momentum fo1·

their· campaigns.

ТЬеу wi\1 head to Nevada

011 Satnrday for the Aшerican

Federatio.n of State, County

an.d Mul1icipal Employees'

Public Service Forum where

according to the gro11p, candi-

dates wilI Ье asked aЬout their

"specific plans to invest in

public services and to give

working реор)е а seat at the

tаЫе Ьу making it easier to

join а 1.mio11."

The ann.uaJ: lawa State Fair,

llistoric.ally а key event for

p1·esidential candidates ·that

draws te11s of thousands of

people daily, will follow over

several days, starting on

Тh.tu-sday. Candidates will give

speeches an.d meet voters

While grilling meat or eating

pork chops on sticks.

New York Subpoenas Trump Firm on Daniels Payment

ВУ REIIECcA ВALr.нлus

AND М!СНАЕL RO'ПIFElJ)

Ma:nhattan state prosecu.tors

have subpoenaed the Тrump

Organizadon for documents re-

)ated to а hush payment to а

former aduJt-Гlhn star during

the 2016 election, according to

а person familiar with the mat-

ter, the latest investigation to

examine th.e company's in·

volve:ment in t l1e payment.

Тhе subpaena soцght docu.-

ments lrom tl1e ,company,

owned Ьу President тrump and

managed Ьу his sons, related to

the $130,000-payment МichaeJ

Cohen, а fonner Тrwnp lawYet;

made to Stephanie Clifford in

October 201 6. Ms. Clifford,

known professionally as

Stonny Daniels, Jtad alleged an

affair with Мr. Тrump, Which

he has deлied.

The Ma:nhartan district at-

torney's office has aJso suЬpoe­

naed Ame1·jcan Media Inc.,

puЫisher of the Natianal Вn­

quirer, people familiar with the

matter said. Ameпcan Media

made another payment, also

arr:mged Ьу· Мr. Cohen, to а

former РlауЬоу mode] who al•

leged an affair with Мr. 'I'rump.

Тhе president has also de1'1i.ed

that affair.

мr. Cohe:n ln A!ugпst 2018

pieaded guИty to federa[

charges, includiлg two cam•

paign· filtance violations re·

lated to tlte h11sh paymenrs,

whi.ch he has said he .ar,·anged

at Мr. Т111щр's diJ"ectio11. Мr.

Тrump has denied wrongdoing.

Mr. Cohen began а tlU'ee-year

prjson sentence in Мау.

Marc Mukasey, an attorney

for th.e T.rump Organization,

called th.e investigation а "po-

litical blt job." [n а stateme11t,

he said, "lt's just harassment of

the president, Ыs family, and

hi.s bL,siness, using subpoenas

and leaks as weapons. We will

respond as appropriate."

The subpoenas were re-

ported earlier Ьу the New York

Тime.

А spokestnan for cyrus

Vance, the Manhattan district

attorney, declined to cornment.

Tl е su.bpoenas соше weeks

after the federal. рrоЬе into the

hush-money payments, run Ьу

the Manhattan U.S. attomey' s

office, appeared to close with·

out any i11dictn,ents of Тrump

Organization executives.

ManЬattan federal prosecu-

tors advised the court ]ast

month. that they had effectively

conclыded their campaig11-fi-

nance investigatian.

Тhе Wall Street Journa] pre-

viously reported tha.t prosecu-

tors were examimng discrepan-

cies Ьetween Мr. Cohen's

ac;count and that of All.en Wejs-

seJberg, the Trump Orgafriza-

tion's longtime <:hief fmancial

officer who tesdfied Ьеfо1·е а

grand jury l.ast sununer.

[n addition to the Manhat·

tan ,district attomey's office,

congressioпa1 investigators are

continuing to probe the hush

payments and what role Тnunp

Orgarrizatian. exec11tives played

in them.

Last шonth, the House Over-

sight committee chairшan

asked Manhattan federaI pros-

ecutors whether а Justice De-

partm.ent policy barring

chai"ges against а sitting presi-

dent p\ayed an.y roie in theil'

decision not to indict Mr.

Тrump for campaign-flnance

vio]ations in which he was im-

plicated. Тhе chairman, Rep.

EЦjah Cummings (D., Md.}, also

requested the evidence prose-

cutors gathered during their

campaign-Гmance investiga.-

tia.11.

When Mr. Cohen appeared

in federal сош1 ln August 2018,

l1e said he arranged tl1e hush

payments at the president's di·

rectlon. Since then, prosecu-

tors in Decetnber court ri.Jings

ltave ilnplkated the p1·esident

in the scheme. мr. Тrump has

denied wrongdoing.

nors across the country, а sign

of their wide appeal i11 the

Democratic e\ectorate.

Тhе ActBlue data also give

some insight into when the

money fiowed into the differ-

ent campaigns during the early

part of th.e primary e\ection as

most candidates were just

starting their presidential blds.

Мl·. Sanders, Ms. Warren

and Mr. Butdgieg saw smaJJ-

dolJar donations steadily pour

in throughout the ftrst half of

tlte year .. AJl three aJso regis-

tered а bump Ьt donations

neai· the end of June, when

Democrats he1d th.eir first de-

bates of the priшary and the

campaig11s were Ьlanketing

their supporte.rs with fundi-ais-

ing appea1s to bolster their

second-quarter fundrrosing

numbers.

Ms. Harris and former

Housjng ;щd Urba11 Develop-

men.t Secretary Julian Castro

also received boosts in dona·

tions after stJ-ong perfonnance

during the first debates of the

Democmtic. primary at tЬе end

of June.

But other top candidates

didn't experience the same

pattern. Mr. O'Rourke, Ms.

Кlobuchar, New Jersey Sen.

Cory Booke1: and entrepreneш

Andrew Yang saw t.heir small-

dol1ar support piateau in the

weeks after thelr initia1 cam·

paign announcements.

-Julie Вykowicz

contrib11ted to rhis article.

Comey

Won'tBe

Prosecuted

ForMemos

ВУ ВУиоNТлu

AND SADIE GURМAN

WASIONGTON-The Justice

Depart1ne11t won't p1·osecute

former FВI Director James

Comey over his disseminatio

of memos detaillng his encoun-

ters with President T1·.ump

which contained classitied in-

(ormation, а person faшiliar

with the шatter said Тhursday.

Mr, Cotney has said he co11-

sidered the шemos personal,

rather than government, docu-

ments. Shortly after Мr. Тrump

fJred hin1 ln Мау 20 17, the ex-

FBI chief gave theщ to DanieJ

Richman, а law professor in

New York, in the hope that the

informatio11 they contained

would Ьесоше puЫic and

prompt the appointment of а

speciaJ coщ1sel to investigate

Russia's interference i11 the

2016 eJection.

The mem.os reveaJed wh.at

Мr. Comey viewecl as the presi-

dent's early efforts to shut

down tl1e FВI investigatian into

Rцssia'S actions. Не \1as said J1e

kept them to presei-ve а con-

temporaneous reco1·d of his en·

counters with Мr. Тrump.

Мr. Comey said that he

viewed his encotmters with Мr.

Тшmр as an atteшpt to estab-

lisb а ' patronage reJationship';

with the president- sometlung

the former FВI dil-ector consid-

ered inappropriate. Мr. Trump

has denied any wi·ongdoing in

bls inteтactions with Мr.

Comey.

Мr. Comey knew that at

\east one of the fош memos he

provided to Мr. Richman con•

tained classified information,

and he said he made

appropriate redactions to pro-

tect that material before pass-

ing it along.

As FBI director, Mr. Comey

had the ]egaJ aiithority to deter-

mine whar bureau information

was classified and what wasn't.

Once he left govemment, how-

ever, the determination fell to

other officials. Тh.е FBI deerned

some of the info1mation ciassi-

fied sometime during 201'7, Тhе

Wall Su·eet Joшnal J1as previ-

ousJy reported.

Тhе FВI's determination that

at least two of the memos con·

talned classified information

triggered an investigation Ьу

the Justice Department's i11-

spector general, Мic}}aer Horo-

witz, last year. Prosecutors

have since determined the case

didл't warrant criminal

charges, the petson said.

Мr. Horowitz's office de·

clined to discuss the investiga-

tion. А iawyer for Мr. Comey

declined to comment

Тhе decision not to charge

Мr. Cotney was fkst reported

Ьу The Нill newspaper.

-Aruna Viswanatha

cor1tribute.d to tl1is QYDCle..