The New York Times - USA (2020-10-17)

A18 Y THE NEW YORK TIMES NATIONALSATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2020

Election

Senior lawyers for the Trump
campaign set up a small law firm
last year that is working for Mar-
jorie Taylor Greene, a Republican
House candidate in Georgia with a
history of promoting QAnon, a
pro-Trump conspiracy theory.
While federal filings show that
the firm, Elections L.L.C., princi-
pally collects fees from the presi-
dent’s campaign and the Republi-
can National Committee, it also
does work for a number of con-
gressional candidates, and none
more so than Ms. Greene, under-
scoring the connections between
QAnon and Mr. Trump and his in-
ner circle. The latest example
came Thursday night, when Pres-
ident Trump repeatedly declined
to disavow QAnon at a televised
town hall.
Ms. Greene is one of several Re-
publican candidates who openly
espouse the collection of bogus
and bizarre theories embraced by
followers of QAnon, who have
been labeled a potential domestic
terror threat by the F.B.I. and who
former President Barack Obama
warned Wednesday were infiltrat-
ing the mainstream of the Repub-
lican Party. QAnon imagines,
falsely, that a Satanic cabal of pe-
dophile Democrats are plotting
against Mr. Trump, plays on anti-
Semitic tropes and stokes real
world violence — and has been ex-
pounded on at length by Ms.
Greene in videos.
Elections L.L.C. was founded
last year by Justin Clark, Mr.
Trump’s deputy campaign man-
ager, and Stefan Passantino, a for-
mer top ethics lawyer in the
Trump White House. Matthew
Morgan, the Trump campaign’s
counsel, is also a partner at the
firm. Ms. Greene’s campaign has
made 14 payments to the firm
since last year, worth nearly
$70,000 in total, the most of any
congressional campaign.
Mr. Passantino appears in
records filed with the Georgia sec-
retary of state as the lawyer who
incorporated Ms. Greene’s cam-
paign committee, though the full
scope of his work for the candidate
is unclear. He also does legal work
for a Georgia political operative,
Jason D. Boles, who is a personal
friend of Ms. Greene’s and who
helped set up her campaign. (Mr.
Boles has been a recent subject of
controversy, after it emerged that
he had helped bankroll an effort to
infiltrate and discredit voting
rights groups in North Carolina.)
Mr. Passantino worked in the

White House as a deputy counsel

in charge of ethics policy until

2018, and among other things, he

dealt with personal financial dis-

closures related to the president’s

eldest daughter and adviser,

Ivanka Trump. Last year, he was

hired by the Trump Organization

to handle investigations by Demo-

crats in the House of Representa-

tives. Some of the money that the

Trump campaign has paid to Elec-

tions L.L.C. has also been directed

to him, federal filings show,

though it is not clear for what

work.

Neither Mr. Clark, Mr. Morgan

nor Mr. Passantino commented

for this story. In a statement, the

Trump campaign said, “Elections

L.L.C. is a law firm like many oth-

ers that do campaign work. Just

like any other law firm, its lawyers

have clients that have no relation-

ship to other lawyers of the firm or

their clients.”

The campaign did not elaborate

further, nor did it say whether Mr.

Passantino was the only lawyer

who had performed work on Ms.

Greene’s behalf. Ms. Greene’s

campaign did not reply to re-

quests for comment, but earlier

this year she told Open Secrets, a

site run by the Center for Respon-

sive Politics, that Mr. Passantino

worked as her lawyer and Elec-

tions L.L.C. did compliance work

related to elections filings.

The fact that a law firm with

close ties to the White House is do-

ing work for one of the most prom-

inent proponents of QAnon shows

how quickly the conspiracy the-

ory has moved from the far-right

fringe to the center of Republican

politics, presenting a significant

challenge to the party at a time

when it is already being rejected

by many moderate voters.

Ms. Greene has said, without

evidence, that after the 2018 elec-

tions there was “an Islamic inva-

sion into our government offices,”

once questioned whether a plane

had actually crashed into the Pen-

tagon on Sept. 11, 2001, and has

said we have “a once-in-a-lifetime

opportunity to take this global ca-

bal of Satan-worshiping pe-

dophiles out.” She has also sug-

gested that “Saudi Arabia, the

Rothschilds, and Soros” — refer-

ring to George Soros, the financier

and supporter of progressive

causes — are “the puppet masters

that fund this global evil.”

While some of her comments

have been condemned by House

Republicans, Mr. Trump has em-

braced her candidacy and called

her “a future Republican star” and

“a real WINNER!” He has also

frequently retweeted postings by

QAnon followers. During a con-

tentious exchange at the televised

town hall Thursday over his pro-

motion of false conspiracy theo-

ries, he said of QAnon: “I know

nothing about it. I do know they

are very much against pedophilia.

They fight it very hard.”

His campaign has presented an

uneven response to QAnon. It can-

celed the appearance of a QAnon-

connected speaker at the Republi-

can National Convention this

summer, and last month, Vice

President Mike Pence canceled an

appearance hosted by QAnon sup-

porters.

But campaign officials have

struggled to explain their support

for Ms. Greene.

“QAnon is not something that

we focus on,” Tim Murtaugh, a

spokesman for the Trump cam-

paign, told MSNBC in August

when asked about Ms. Greene.

“We have a lot of things that we

work on here in the campaign,” he

added. “And chasing down vari-

ous conspiracy theories is not one

of them.”

Ms. Greene, for her part, said in

a Fox News interview published

in August that QAnon was not a fo-

cus of her campaign, adding, “My

campaign message the entire

time was save America, stop So-

cialism.”

The creation of Elections L.L.C.

reflects an ongoing pattern by

Trump campaign officials of col-

lecting payments through new

businesses they set up around the

campaign, a practice honed by the

former campaign manager, Brad

Parscale, before his ouster this

summer. Mr. Clark also set up a

firm called National Public Affairs

last year with Bill Stepien, who re-

placed Mr. Parscale as campaign

manager in July.

The founders of Elections

L.L.C., Mr. Clark and Mr. Pas-

santino, are also both prominent

partners at Michael Best, a Wis-

consin-based law firm that has an

affiliated lobbying and govern-

ment relations firm chaired by

Reince Priebus, the former R.N.C.

chairman, who worked with both

men while he served as Mr.

Trump’s first White House chief of

staff. Mr. Clark is on leave from

Michael Best, while Mr. Pas-

santino chairs its government

regulations and public policy

practice.

The firm’s managing partner,

David Krutz, said that Elections

L.L.C. had no affiliation with his

firm and said Mr. Passantino

“maintained a clear division of

work” between the two firms. (An

associate at Michael Best, Nathan

Groth, has also done work for

Elections L.L.C.)

With Election Day approach-

ing, Ms. Greene appears to be as-

sured of victory. Her primary op-

ponent, a conservative neurosur-

geon named John Cowan, used the

slogan “All of the conservative,

none of the embarrassment,” and

once told Politico, “She deserves a

YouTube channel, not a seat in

Congress. She’s a circus act.”

But Ms. Greene handily pre-

vailed in her heavily Republican

district, and her Democratic oppo-

nent has dropped out of the race.

“The Republican establishment

was against me,” Ms. Greene said

in her victory speech after a run-

off in August. “The D.C. swamp is

against me. And the lying fake

news media hates my guts. It’s a

badge of honor.”

Trump Campaign Lawyers Are Aiding a Leading QAnon Supporter

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican congressional candidate in

Georgia, has posted videos going into detail about the QAnon

conspiracy theory. Justin Clark, President Trump’s deputy cam-

paign manager, co-founded a firm that works for Ms. Greene.

DUSTIN CHAMBERS/GETTY IMAGES

JESSICA HILL/ASSOCIATED PRESS

By DANNY HAKIM

Stephanie Saul contributed report-
ing and Rachel Shorey contributed
research.

WASHINGTON — For nearly
four years, congressional Republi-
cans have ducked and dodged an
unending cascade of offensive
statements and norm-shattering
behavior from President Trump,
ignoring his caustic and scatter-
shot Twitter feed and penchant for
flouting party orthodoxy, and
standing quietly by as he aban-
doned military allies, attacked
American institutions and stirred
up racist and nativist fears.
But now, facing grim polling
numbers and a flood of Democrat-
ic money and enthusiasm that has
imperiled their majority in the
Senate, Republicans on Capitol
Hill are beginning to publicly dis-
tance themselves from the presi-
dent. The shift, less than three
weeks before the election, indi-
cates that many Republicans have
concluded that Mr. Trump is head-
ing for a loss in November. And
they are grasping to save them-
selves and rushing to re-establish
their reputations for a coming
struggle for their party’s identity.
Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska
unleashed on Mr. Trump in a tele-
phone town hall event with con-
stituents on Wednesday, eviscer-
ating the president’s response to
the coronavirus pandemic and ac-
cusing him of “flirting” with dicta-
tors and white supremacists and
alienating voters so broadly that
he might cause a “Republican
blood bath” in the Senate. He was
echoing a phrase from Senator
Ted Cruz of Texas, who warned of
a “Republican blood bath of Wa-
tergate proportions.” Senator
Lindsey Graham of South Car-
olina, one of the president’s most
vocal allies, predicted the presi-
dent could very well lose the
White House.
Even the normally taciturn Sen-
ator Mitch McConnell, Republican
of Kentucky and the majority
leader, has been more outspoken
than usual in recent days about
his differences with the president,
rejecting his calls to “go big” on a
stimulus bill. That was a reflection
of the fact that Senate Republi-
cans — who have rarely broken
with the president on any major
legislative initiative in four years
— are unwilling to vote for the

kind of multitrillion-dollar federal

aid plan that Mr. Trump has sud-

denly decided would be in his in-

terest to embrace.

“Voters are set to drive the ulti-

mate wedge between Senate Re-

publicans and Trump,” said Alex

Conant, a former aide to Senator

Marco Rubio and a former White

House spokesman. “It’s a lot easi-

er to get along when you’re win-

ning elections and gaining power.

But when you’re on the precipice

of what could be a historic loss,

there is less eagerness to just get

along.”

Republicans could very well

hang on to both the White House

and the Senate, and Mr. Trump

still has a firm grip on the party

base, which may be why even

some of those known for being

most critical of him, like Mr. Sasse

and Senator Mitt Romney of Utah,

declined to be interviewed about

their concerns.

But their recent behavior has

offered an answer to the long-pon-

dered question of if there would

ever be a point when Republicans

might repudiate a president who

so frequently said and did things

that undermined their principles

and message. The answer ap-

pears to be the moment they

feared he would threaten their po-

litical survival.

If some Senate Republicans

have written off Mr. Trump’s

chances of victory, the feeling may

be mutual. On Friday, the presi-

dent issued his latest Twitter at-

tack on Senator Susan Collins of

Maine, one of the most endan-

gered Republican incumbents, ap-

parently unconcerned that he

might be further imperiling her

chances, along with the party’s

hopes of holding onto the Senate.

In a statement on Friday, Mr.

Romney assailed the president for

being unwilling to condemn

QAnon, the viral pro-Trump con-

spiracy movement that the F.B.I.

has labeled a domestic terrorism

threat, saying the president was

“eagerly trading” principles “for

the hope of electoral victories.” It

was his second scathing state-

ment this week criticizing Mr.

Trump, although Mr. Romney cou-

pled both screeds with critiques of

Democrats, saying the two parties

shared blame.

Yet Mr. Romney and other Re-

publicans who have spoken up to

offer dire predictions or expres-

sions of concern about Mr. Trump

are all sticking with the president

on what is likely his final major act

before the election: the confirma-

tion of Judge Amy Coney Barrett,

a favorite of conservatives, to the

Supreme Court.

The dichotomy reflects the tacit

deal congressional Republicans

have accepted over the course of

Mr. Trump’s presidency, in which

they have tolerated his incendiary

behavior and statements knowing

that he would further many of

their priorities, including in-

stalling a conservative majority

on the nation’s highest court.

Still, the grim political envi-

ronment has set off a scramble, es-

pecially among Republicans with

political aspirations stretching be-

yond Mr. Trump’s presidency, to

be on the front lines of any party

reset.

“As it becomes evident that he is

a mere political mortal like every-

one else, you’re really starting to

see the jockeying taking place for

what the future of the Republican

Party is,” said Carlos Curbelo, a

former Republican congressman

from Florida who did not support

Mr. Trump in 2016. “What we

heard from Senator Sasse yester-

day was the beginning of that

process.”

In an interview, Mr. Curbelo

said that his former colleagues

have known for months that Mr.

Trump would one day become

“subject to the laws of political

gravity” — and that the party

would face the consequences.

“Most congressional Republi-

cans have known that this is un-

sustainable long term, and

they’ve just been — some people

may call it pragmatic, some may

call it opportunistic — keeping

their heads down and doing what

they have to do while they waited

for this time to come,” he said.

It is unclear whether Republi-

cans will seek to redefine their

party should the president lose,

given that Mr. Trump’s tenure has

shown the appeal of his inflamma-

tory brand of politics to the crucial

conservative base.

“He still has enormous, enor-

mous influence — and will for a

very long time — over primary

voters, and that is what members

care about,” said Brendan Buck, a

former counselor to the last two

Republican House speakers.

What Mr. Sasse and Mr. Cruz

may be aiming for, he added, is a

last-ditch bid to preserve Republi-

can control of the Senate.

“If you’re able to say it out loud,

there is an effective message that

a Republican Senate can be a

check on a Democratic-run Wash-

ington,” Mr. Buck said. “It’s just

hard to say that out loud because

you have to concede the president

is done.”

On the campaign trail, Republi-

cans are privately livid with the

president for dragging down their

Senate candidates, sending his

struggles rippling across states

that are traditional Republican

strongholds.

“His weakness in dealing with

coronavirus has put a lot more

seats in play than we ever could

have imagined a year ago,” said

Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster

and consultant. “We always knew

that there were going to be a num-

ber of close Senate races, and we

were probably swimming against

the tide in places like Arizona, Col-

orado and Maine. But when you

see states that are effectively tied,

like Georgia and North Carolina

and South Carolina, that tells you

something has happened in the

broader environment.”

In 2016, when Mr. Trump, then a

candidate, looked increasingly

likely to capture the party’s nomi-

nation, Mr. McConnell assured his

members that if he threatened to

harm them in the general election,

they would “drop him like a hot

rock.”

That did not happen then and it

is unlikely to now, with Republi-

cans up for re-election readily

aware that Democratic voters are

unlikely to reward such a rebuke,

especially so close to Election

Day. But there have been other,

more subtle moves.

Despite repeated public en-

treaties from Mr. Trump for Re-

publicans to embrace a larger

pandemic stimulus package, Mr.

McConnell has all but refused,

saying senators in his party would

never support a package of that

magnitude. Senate Republicans

revolted last weekend on a confer-

ence call with Mark Meadows, the

president’s chief of staff, warning

that a big-spending deal would

amount to a “betrayal” of the par-

ty’s base and tarnish their creden-

tials as fiscal hawks.

A more personal rebuke came

from Mr. McConnell last week

when the Kentuckian, who is up

for re-election, told reporters that

he had avoided visiting the White

House since late summer because

of its handling of the coronavirus.

“My impression was their ap-

proach to how to handle this was

different from mine and what I in-

sisted that we do in the Senate,”

Mr. McConnell said.

Fearing a Rout on Capitol Hill, Republicans Start to Break Ranks With the President

Senator Mitch McConnell, left, the normally tight-lipped Republican majority leader, rejected President Trump’s calls to “go big” on a

stimulus bill. Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, unleashed on Mr. Trump in a phone call with constituents on Wednesday.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANNA MONEYMAKER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

A sense that ‘the laws

of political gravity’

are still in full force.

By CATIE EDMONDSON