Aired in Manhattan, Long Island and the Bronx in October 2020.

Aired in June, July and August 2020 in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Long Island and the Bronx.

Part 1:

The emails and calendar entries Democracy Forward recently received, and which Newsweek obtained, show that Trump’s chief of staff worked with the Office of Management and Budget and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission  to rearrange meetings on the equal pay transparency rule to accommodate the first daughter’s schedule.

“It’s clear from the emails that we’ve uncovered that Ivanka and her staff were instrumental in the administration’s decision to actually go forth with the rollback,” Democracy Forward spokeswoman Charisma Troiano told Newsweek on Tuesday.

Ivanka Trump was not visibly included in the email threads that had multiple redactions, but she was listed as an invited participant, along with six other OMB and EEOC staff members, for a meeting to discuss the rule that would have required companies with 100 employees or more to submit data on wages by gender, race and ethnicity.

In an April 20, 2017, email, Trump’s chief of staff Julie Radford wrote to Kailey Pickitt, executive assistant to the OMB director: “Neither myself or Ivanka can attend this,” the documents show.

Pickitt then rescheduled the meeting to April 27, 2017, with the following description: “The purpose is to discuss an EEOC form that requires employers to provide certain wage data.” After more scheduling conflicts, the meeting was moved again and finally took place on May 2, 2017.

On July 10, 2017, Radford and acting EEOC chair Victoria Lipnic had an extensive email exchange on the rule rollback, and Radford forwarded Lipnic’s notes to OMB staffer John Gray for further discussion. The content is redacted.

“Attempting to keep this initial call relatively small so we can determine best next steps and direction,” Radford wrote in a July 12, 2017, email to staffers involved in the talks.

On August 30, 2017—the day after the Trump administration announced the rule designed to close the wage gap would be stayed and reviewed—OMB press secretary Meghan Burris emailed Josh Raffel, at the time a White House spokesman for Ivanka Trump, a statement attributed to her supporting the rollback, along with those of three other business and workforce leaders.

“Ultimately, while I believe the intention was good and agree that pay transparency is important, the proposed policy would not yield the intended results,” read Trump’s statement, issued publicly that day. “We look forward to continuing to work with EEOC, OMB, Congress and all relevant stakeholders on robust policies aimed at eliminating the gender wage gap.”

Troiano said that Trump’s statement alone could imply that she merely announced support for the rollback, when in fact her chief of staff was involved with White House officials on the issue, showing the first daughter “had more of a hand in this than simply just being complicit.”

The EEOC, after six years of analysis, found that collecting pay data was necessary to enforce anti-discrimination laws and secure pay equity, yet the Trump administration “unlawfully halted equal pay transparency rules with virtually no explanation,” Troiano said.

Business groups argued that the rule was burdensome and would do little to achieve its stated aim. Supporters, though, said it would have helped companies make positive steps toward equal pay.

“If you look at companies that already have to monitor themselves or monitor themselves voluntarily, they typically do find issues that need fixing,” Ariane Hegewisch, program director at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a Washington-based think tank, told NBC News last year.

When Ivanka Trump became a senior White House adviser, she vowed to advocate for women, children and families. On Equal Pay Day in April 2017, days before the first emails, she tweeted: “#EqualPayDay is a reminder that women deserve equal pay for equal work. We must work to close the gender pay gap!”

In a longer post that day on Instagram, she wrote: “I am proud to work towards this goal alongside my father and in support of the administration’s commitment to women and families.”

#EqualPayDay is a reminder that women deserve equal pay for equal work. We must work to close the gender pay gap! https://t.co/CcwsoBXWdF

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) April 4, 2017

But on Equal Pay Day this April, she was silent on the issue, prompting Democracy Forward to sue the OMB over its failure to respond to the watchdog’s public records request from November seeking documents on Trump’s role in the rollback decision.

What came out of them “flies in the face of her supposed advocacy of women,” Troiano said. “I think it’s very important that hypocrisy is exposed.”

The OMB and White House did not respond to Newsweek‘s requests for comment. The EEOC declined to comment.

https://www.newsweek.com/ivanka-trump-equal-pay-complicit-obama-1093833

Michael Wildes, the lawyer for the first lady’s parents Viktor and Amalija Knavs, would not comment when reporters outside the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York City asked if the Slovenian couple had become American citizens that morning using chain migration.

But Wildes later told The New York Times, when asked whether that was their route to citizenship, said, “I suppose.”

“It’s a dirty—a dirtier word,” Wildes said of chain migration. “It stands for a bedrock of our immigration process when it comes to family reunification.”

Wildes said Melania Trump sponsored her parents so they could be granted green cards, and that the Knavs “then applied for citizenship when they were eligible.”

Video: Melania Trump's parents have been granted U.S. citizenship, according to their lawyer Michael Wildes @Newsweek pic.twitter.com/6sODPA0lzd

— Jessica Kwong (@JessicaGKwong) August 9, 2018

The first lady’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham declined to comment on the Knavs because they are not members of the Trump administration.

President Trump has repeatedly denounced and called for the termination of the very process that his in-laws used to become citizens.

Shortly after a terrorist attack on Halloween in New York City, allegedly committed by a driver from Uzbekistan, the president tweeted, “CHAIN MIGRATION must end now! Some people come in, and they bring their whole family with them, who can be truly evil. NOT ACCEPTABLE!”

Last September, the president tweeted that he would not accept an immigration bill that includes the process. “CHAIN MIGRATION cannot be allowed to be part of any legislation on Immigration!” he tweeted. And in his State of the Union address in January, the president claimed: “Under the current broken system, a single immigrant can bring in virtually unlimited numbers of distant relatives,” and said his administration was working on a plan that would limit such sponsorships.

Wildes had long refused to comment on how the Knavs became legal residents. Outside the federal building after the Knavs became citizens, Wildes said they had “applied on their own,” and responded to an inquiry by Newsweek on chain migration in the late afternoon with, “Cannot comment other than the award of citizenship.”

https://www.newsweek.com/melania-trump-parents-chain-migration-president-1067121

One of a couple dozen bite-sized items Levinski is serving up at her Trump impeachment-themed house party are symbolic “Comey cake balls,” made of white Oreo cookies with cream cheese and rolled in powdered sugar.

“Those are next to the sign for obstruction of justice—since Trump fired him,” Levinski told Newsweek, referring to former FBI Director James Comey. “It’s a means to educate people on the different offenses.”

Trump’s firing of Comey because of “this Russia thing” and his request that Comey let go of an investigation on ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn make a clear case for obstructing justice, contend the president’s critics including the “Need to Impeach” campaign that organized the parties ahead of Presidents’ Day.

The campaign was launched by major Democratic donor Tom Steyer last October and has already made headlines with a series of television commercials as well as billboards in New York City’s iconic Times Square. Saturday’s parties are just the latest step in Steyer’s efforts. The campaign sent party hosts including Fairfax, Virginia, resident Levinski a list of what they said were impeachable offenses around which to plan their gatherings aimed at pushing Congress to begin proceedings to remove Trump from office.

Based on that list, Levinski, a swing voter who has supported Democratic candidates for the past few years, also baked up a few desserts to coincide with the ongoing investigation into Russian collusion.

Her “Kremlin cake balls” are red velvet cake dipped in blue candy coating and white chocolate frosting “so when you bite into it, it will look like the Russian flag,” Levinksi said. “Putin pudding cups” include vanilla pudding over a wafer with golden sprinkles on top “since he’s so close to [Vladimir] Putin,” Russia’s president, Levinski added. She’s also preparing “Moscow strawberries” soaked in vodka and rolled in sugar “since of course, everything about Moscow is vodka.”

To go along with another impeachable offense listed by the campaign, directing law enforcement to investigate and prosecute political adversaries for improper and unjustifiable purposes, Levinski concocted a “Lock her up-side-down cake” alluding to Hillary Clinton and Trump supporters’ chant to “lock her up.”

“That’s an offensive type of thing where he shouldn’t be trying to put his adversary in prison for running against him,” said Levinski, who voted for Clinton.

The list of alleged impeachable offenses, and thus the array of tasty treats, did not end there.

To make Trump’s alleged offense of abusing his presidential pardoning power in pardoning former sheriff Joe Arpaio—who was convicted for contempt of court after ignoring an order to stop detaining and searching people based on the color of their skin—Levinski baked “pardon pow(d)er cookies” dusted with powdered sugar.

The provided list of impeachable offenses also included claims that Trump advocated violence and undermined equal protection under law by giving cover to neo-Nazis who rallied in Charlottesville. To signify that action, Levinski created “Trump puppets,” chocolate police badges traced from wax paper.

Even the threat of nuclear war was not beyond marking with a sweet treat. Trump’s fiery threats toward North Korea landed him in Need to Impeach’s impeachable offense of engaging in conduct that grossly endangers the peace and security of the U.S. So Levinski made “nuclear buttons” of brownies with strawberries or raspberries pressed on top of them.

Levinski will also be providing her guests with something to help wash down all those baked delights. Whether it is appreciated, though, is another matter. She said she bought a bottle of Trump Blanc de Blanc sparkling wine “against all my better judgment” for the impeachable offense of violating the United States Constitution’s Emoluments Clause.

“It’s made by their family and they get all the profits for that,” she explained. “He hasn’t fully removed himself from all these business practices.”

Not everything created for the party was for consuming, however. For the final impeachable offense on the list, undermining the freedom of the press, Levinski bought a roll of toilet paper with Trump’s Twitter feed printed on it for the bathroom.

“That’s the fake news that people get to read,” she said.

Besides the treats around impeachable offenses, Levinski was also creating “Fire(ball) and Fury shooters” dedicated to Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, “Dark and ‘Stormy Daniels’” cocktails named after the porn star Trump allegedly had an affair with, and “grab ‘em by the cookie” cookies “since Trump was saying grab ‘em by the you know what,” Levinski said, referring to Trump’s lewd remarks about women caught on an infamous leaked “Access Hollywood” tape.

Not everyone is so happy to discuss their plans to celebrate what they hope will be the president’s impending removal from office. Levinski said that some of her invited guests who are government employees were hesitant to RSVP.

“It’s sad that in a time like today, we’re so politically charged that you can’t go to a party with Comey cake balls because you’re worried what your boss might think because they might see you on Facebook,” Levinksi said.

Indeed, Need to Impeach is encouraging parties across the nation to share their festivities on social media, if they feel comfortable.

“If we say we have a logical reason why you should impeach the president, that is not a powerful statement,” Need to Impeach founder Steyer told Newsweek. “It’s only when the people’s voices get together that it really matters.”

The campaign has collected more than 4.7 million signatures on a petition demanding Congress take action to remove Trump from power. The parties have turned “the average day person into an advocate and given them the opportunity to talk to friends and family members,” Need to Impeach spokesman Erik Olvera told Newsweek.

Food is an “effective way to connect people no matter their political party or beliefs,” Levinski’s cousin Becki Melvie, who owns a boutique cooking school and kitchen store and helped brainstorm the recipes, said.

Levinski agreed and anticipates her party will be filled with healthy an educational discussion.

“I don’t think anybody will be offended because there’s so much humor to the desserts,” she said. “I think everybody is going to feel like they ate too much sugar.”

http://www.newsweek.com/trump-impeachment-parties-try-entice-congress-remove-president-810054

The disenfranchisement occurred in Sedgwick County and was a direct result of a law pushed by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a member of Trump’s voter fraud commission, which requires disabled voters’ signatures on their ballot envelopes. Until Kobach’s Secure and Fair Elections (SAFE) Act passed in 2011, ballots were not tossed if a disabled person’s signature did not exactly match one on file or if someone else signed on behalf of a physically unable voter.

As a result, 23 unsigned ballots from disabled people were tossed in a local election where only 24,120 votes were cast according to deputy elections commissioner Laura Bianco. Some of the races in the county were decided by far fewer than 23 votes.

“If you’re a person with quadriplegia or a senior and don’t have the same ability to mark a ballot as you did when you were younger,” the ballot would be thrown out, Rocky Nichols, executive director of the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, told Newsweek. “It’s really a problem for people with disabilities. We need to get it fixed.”

Jim Howell, a member of the Sedgwick County Commission, which acts as the board of canvassers, said he believes it is an “unintended consequence” of the law.

Despite the result, Howell actually voted for the SAFE Act while on the state legislature, he told Newsweek.

Another county commissioner agreed that depriving disabled voters of a voice in elections is unjust, but that the SAFE Act otherwise is a good law for Kansas.

“We need to have voting requirements that are logically legitimate and make sure that we have people registered to vote before they vote, but I think in our zeal to make sure this is a good, strict law that perhaps we’ve gone overboard,” county commission chairman Dave Unruh told Newsweek. “It’s the only one that I have had a personal issue with.”

Director of Elections Bryan Caskey, who works under Kobach, said that the November 13 election was the first time he had been made aware that disabled voters’ mail-in ballots were not being counted. Changes in state law must go through the legislature.

“If we decide to introduce a bill, the secretary [Kobach] will make the decision, and we can go before the legislature—just like anybody else,” Caskey told Newsweek.

State Representative Blake Carpenter, who lives in Sedgwick County and is vice chairman of the elections committee, said he plans to introduce a bill that can remedy the problem in some way.

“I would think this is not a partisan issue,” Carpenter told Newsweek. “I think that both Democrats and Republicans will be able to agree that this is an issue and will be something that will be able to get fixed pretty quickly.”

Nichols of the disability rights center, which provides free legal services to the disabled, requested the names of the voters whose ballots were discounted and said he left a meeting with Caskey “feeling good about the fact that the secretary of state’s office seemed legitimately and rightfully concerned about this issue.”

The “unintended consequence” is perhaps the only statue of the SAFE Act that stakeholders in the state and voting rights activists are on the same page on.

Most state lawmakers and county commissioners back the more controversial parts of the law—that Kansas residents must prove U.S. citizenship when registering to vote and provide a photo ID when casting a ballot in person—while disability rights activists were opposed to the act as a whole since Kobach introduced it.

People with disabilities struggle significantly more to gather and present such documents, Nichols said.

“We think that’s an artificial barrier, and we think it’s a barrier to everyone, but it uniquely harms people with disabilities,” he told Newsweek.

Little evidence has surfaced that noncitizens were voting in Kansas, as Kobach claimed to justify the SAFE Act. Trump convened his Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in May to come up with evidence that millions of noncitizens voted in the 2016 election. The panel, led by Kobach, requested voter information from all 50 states but faces multiple lawsuits and will not meet for the remainder of this year.

Howell last week introduced an item for the county’s legislative platform that would cause the state legislature to review and update the procedure for someone with total disability to successfully complete the mail ballot process. It was approved 4-1 by county commissioners last Wednesday.

County Counselor Eric Yost acknowledged the disabled voters’ ballots was a “serious issue.”

“I’m still kind of investigating to see what the cause of it is,” Yost told Newsweek. “If it’s our election commissioner or secretary of state or just the law itself, if we’re following it too faithfully.”

http://www.newsweek.com/disabled-americans-lost-voting-rights-under-trump-election-fraud-commissioners-720492