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After yesterday’s war of words between Donald Trump and Congresswoman Frederica Wilson (D-FL), her office began receiving several threatening phone calls. As Trump doubled down on his claim that the Congresswoman was fabricating his conversation with the family of Sgt. La David Johnson, the mother of the fallen soldier said she too felt disrespected by the president. After claiming he has called every Gold Star family, relatives of nine of the 43 military members who have died during Trump's presidency tell AP that they haven't heard from him. Only after one slain soldier's father accused the president of going back on a promise to send a check for $25,000, the WH said yesterday that the money had been sent. While all this was happening, Donald Trump was tweeting about NFL players disrespecting the country. Speaking of, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said yesterday that though team owners want players to stand, they will not force players to do so. Oh, and remember when we told you Trump expressed support for the bipartisan Senate proposal that would stabilize health insurance markets by offering short-term funding for subsidies to insurers? Just hours later, he backed away from that endorsement. And there’s this: VP Mike Pence’s brother takes steps to launch a congressional bid. The diversity leading the nation’s capital never leaves us short on content. So let's get to that...
- Amex’s Ken Chenault steps down.
- The Obama letters. Read some excerpts from notes he sent his college girlfriend.
- Senator Bob Menéndez (D-NJ) calls on Google to help stop counterfeiters.
- Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) slams congressional colleagues over Americans with disabilities.
- Tom Pérez just nominated new DNC members who would greatly increase diversity numbers. See who below.
- Son of Ugandan immigrants announces run against Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY).
- VA Gubernatorial candidate leaves Lt. Gov. nominee off flier.
- Congressional Hispanic Staff Association election results are in.
- Fox News is refusing to turn over records in racial discrimination suit.
- Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA) wants investigation into controversial DEA law.
- Loretta Lynch and SCOTUS justices head to Harvard Law for bicentennial.
- Justice Clarence Thomas now has a spot at NMAAHC.
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor speaks about being a woman of color on the high court.
- Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) intros bill calling for more gun violence research.
- House Committee to investigate hurricane recovery efforts currently underway in Puerto Rico.
- The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe sues Amazon and Microsoft.
- #TBT: Meet the first Black artist to paint the official White House portrait.
- Eric Holder says Trump crossed a line.
- ACLU files FOIA request on report of FBI surveillance of African Americans.
- Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) demands subpoena for Michael Flynn records.
- There’s a new actor lined up to play Colin Powell.
- Join us on Monday to hear from former NFL players about the intersection of sports and social justice. RSVP in FOMO!
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Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) with Comedy Central's Jim Jeffries. | |  |
Spencer Overton from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies at the American Association of Blacks in Energy's 2017 Energy Policy Summit in DC. | |
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Lawmakers Both Criticize and Court Amazon
Lawmakers are flipping the script on Amazon. In an interview with Recode, Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) who represents a slice of Silicon Valley, said, “I do think it puts people in a difficult situation, because obviously, on the one hand, you want to speak out strongly on issues of privacy, on issues of antitrust, on issues of tax [compliance]. But I think also many of these members say, ‘Look, 50,000 jobs in our environment, which may not require college degrees, is like winning the lottery.’” Earlier this year, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) sounded alarms about Amazon’s $14 billion purchase of Whole Foods. At the time, Booker told Recode that the deal could create new headaches for disadvantaged communities already lacking in grocery options. After the deal went through, Booker saw a new opportunity in Amazon’s desire to set up shop outside of its Seattle roots and he joined New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie to pitch Newark as the best site for HQ2. More here.
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Menéndez Calls on Google to Help Stop Counterfeiters
Senator Bob Menéndez (D-NJ) on Wednesday called on Google CEO Sundar Pichai to provide specific information on the screening process it employs to verify that AdWords customers are legitimate businesses and not fraudulent websites. Menéndez says this will protect consumers from being cheated by foreign counterfeiters who are buying the search engine’s online advertising products to market fake, inferior knock-offs. “Nearly half a trillion dollars of global imports are counterfeited or pirated,” the Senator wrote in a letter to Pichai. “There is a growing online component to this piracy: websites often use stolen images from legitimate businesses to advertise their products and trick consumers, but their final products rarely live up to consumers’ expectations. Beyond disappointing consumers, counterfeit products can endanger lives with auto parts that fail or medicine that makes people ill.” Menéndez added that responding to the proliferation of counterfeiting websites requires a coordinated response between government and business. Read the full letter here.
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Chu Calls for Investigation After Whistleblower Appears on 60 Minutes
Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA), who co-sponsored a controversial law that has hobbled the Drug Enforcement Administration, said Tuesday that the head of the agency personally assured her that the measure would not hamstring law enforcement efforts. She is now calling for an investigation into whether the law is harming enforcement against “bad actors,” and requested hearings to examine whether she was misled. She penned a letter to detail DEA Administrator Chuck Rosenberg’s position on the law since WaPo and 60 Minutes revealed Sunday that it stripped the DEA of its most potent weapon against drug distributors that have allowed hundreds of millions of narcotic painkillers to spill into the black market. The exposé also led Congressman Tom Marino (R-PA) to withdraw his name from consideration to be the administration's drug czar. More here.
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Beats by YOU! In a new series, we'll be featuring interviews with some of our favorite Beat readers including members of Congress, media personalities, journalists, private sector leaders, CEOs, foundation heads, entertainers, and other influencers. Stay tuned!
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The Obama Letters
A series of nine handwritten letters by former President Barack Obama to Alexandra McNear -- his college girlfriend who was at Occidental College in Los Angeles, where the president transferred from -- have been made public for the first time. They were obtained by Emory University’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library in Atlanta. The notes were written from the fall of 1982 to the spring of 1984. The director of the library declined to reveal who had the letters before the library obtained them, other than to say that library officials were contacted by “someone in the rare book world” who acted as a middleman. In a letter dated April 1, 1983, Obama wrote, “I feel sunk in that long corridor between old values, actions, modes of thought, and those that I seek, that I’m working towards.” The letters are written in cursive and feature the occasional cross-out, and the correspondence is often more cerebral in tone, rather than romantic. In a letter from June 27, 1983, that Mr. Obama wrote from Indonesia, he said that while he thought of Ms. McNear often, he was confused about his feelings. “It seems we will ever want what we cannot have,” Obama wrote. “That’s what binds us. That’s what keeps us apart.” In that same letter, Obama mused on being an outsider in Indonesia, where he was visiting his mother and sister. “I’m treated with a mixture of puzzlement, deference and scorn because I’m American, my money and my plane ticket back to the U.S. overriding my blackness.” This was long before self-discovery and young love blossomed over text messages, emoticons, and IG pics. More here.
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Barack Obama to Replace Jefferson Davis
An elementary school in Mississippi has announced that it will change its name from Jefferson Davis IB Elementary School to Barack Obama Magnet IB Elementary School. PTA president Janelle Jefferson told the Jackson Public Schools Board of Trustees on Tuesday night that the community had voted to change the name. “Jefferson Davis, although infamous in his own right, would probably not be too happy about a diverse school promoting the education of the very individuals he fought to keep enslaved being named after him,” Janelle Jefferson told the board. During the 2016-17 school year, the school district’s student population was 96% Black. The Davis community had two weeks to submit their suggestions, and they voted for their candidate of choice on Oct. 5th. Before the vote, students from each class at the school gave presentations on the name they most preferred. Read more here.
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|  | Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Congressman G.K. Butterfield (D-NC) stopping by the offices of Salesforce to talk diversity in tech. | |  | Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Congressman G.K. Butterfield (D-NC) meeting with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Bernard Coleman, and Bozoma Saint John to discuss tech diversity. | |
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Ken Chenault Steps Down from Amex
American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault is stepping down after 16 years, effective February 1, 2018. His retirement has been long in the making. Chenault has been with American Express since 1981, and became CEO in 2001 -- the first Black CEO to helm American Express -- and only one of four Black CEOs on the Fortune 500 list. That’s already down from January, when Xerox CEO Ursula Burns stepped down from her post, leaving no Black women among the country’s largest companies by revenue. With Chenault’s departure, the Fortune 500 will boast just three Black CEOs: TIAA’s Roger W. Ferguson Jr., Merck’s Kenneth C. Frazier, and J.C. Penney’s Marvin R. Ellison. Leaders of the Fortune 500 are already overwhelmingly the same when it comes to the diversity figures: roughly 72% of CEOs are white and male. Chenault will be passing the torch to 58-year-old Stephen Squeri. More here.
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Tech Org Names President
Brenda Darden Wilkerson has been named President and CEO of AnitaB.org, the 20-year-old Palo Alto, CA-based organization formerly known as the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. She was most recently the Director of Computer Science for Chicago Public Schools. The Kansas City, MO native and Northwestern grad is the third woman to head the organization. “I know what it's like to be the only woman. I know what it's like to be the only black person. I know what it's like to be in many of these situations that women will face in tech because I've been there,” she said in an interview with Blue Sky. She secured the post with a recommendation from Megan Smith, who was Chief Technology Officer under President Barack Obama. The two got a chance to meet as part of the work they did together with the national computer science initiatives in the Obama White House. AnitaB.org’s conference this month drew 18,000 people to Orlando, FL. More here.
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|  | The U.S. Postal Service unveils its new National Museum of African American History and Culture stamp. | |  | NM congressional candidate Deb Haaland with Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN). | |
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Pérez Aims for Diversity with Nominees for DNC At-Large Members
A list obtained by The Hill shows that DNC Chair Tom Pérez’s 75 nominees to serve as at-large members would help to greatly diversify the party’s representative membership. If all are elected, Pérez’s nominees would double the number of millennials and Native Americans, and increase the DNC’s LGBTQ presence and representation from Puerto Ricans. The list includes former interim DNC Chair Donna Brazile; NEA President Lily Eskelsen García; CNN commentators Symone Sanders and María Cardona; former Clinton appointee Minyon Moore; former Obama appointees Chris Lu and Rick Wade; Cristóbal Alex, President of the Latino Victory Fund; Ellie Pérez, a “DREAMer” from Arizona; Marisa Richmond, a transgender African American woman, among others. “This year’s slate of at-large DNC member nominees reflects the unprecedented diversity of our party’s coalition,” DNC National Press Secretary Michael Tyler said. See the full list here.
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VA Candidate Leaves Black Running Mate Off Fliers
The campaign of Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam printed some fliers that left out a photo of running mate Justin Fairfax, to accommodate the Democratic-friendly Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA), which has endorsed Northam but not Fairfax. They say Fairfax did not complete the union’s questionnaire and is at odds with the Laborers’ over two controversial natural gas pipelines: the EQT Midstream Partners’ Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Dominion Energy-led Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Both are proposed to cross Virginia. Fairfax, who is running for Lt. Governor, is among the environmentalist Democratic base in Virginia that’s opposed to the pipelines while Northam does not. However, some call it subtle racism. Fairfax would be the first African American elected statewide in Virginia since L. Douglas Wilder became the nation’s first elected Black governor in 1989. Blacks make up roughly a fifth of the Virginia electorate and are crucial for Dems to win statewide. In an interview Wednesday, Fairfax called the move to exclude him a “mistake” by the Northam campaign but wouldn’t go as far to call it racism. Former President Barack Obama will hit the campaign trail with Northam today. More here.
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Son of Immigrants Challenges Yvette Clarke
A 29-year-old son of Ugandan immigrants is challenging Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY). Adem Bunkeddeko announced his bid, with a focus on the housing crisis facing the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights. “We can’t build housing fast enough to meet demand and the rent laws aren’t enough, either. To save our neighborhoods, we need to ensure that residents are also owners who share in the prosperity brought by new investments in the neighborhood.” He says he wants to bring new ideas to a party that has lost its way. Bunkeddeko is a graduate of Haverford College and the Harvard Business School and worked briefly as an investment banker before he became a community organizer and member of Brooklyn Community Board #8. His parents are refugees who fled Uganda’s civil war. More here.
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Congressional Hispanic Staff Association Announces Leadership
On Wednesday, the Congressional Hispanic Staff Association (CHSA) announced that Francisco Bencosme, a Legislative Research Assistant on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been re-elected to serve as CHSA President. Francisco won re-election as a write-in candidate and will begin his second year at the helm of the association. CHSA also announced that Jeff Cruz, Senior Policy Advisor for Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on the Senate Budget Committee, is their newly appointed Director of Leadership Training. Congrats to you both! More here.
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|  | Congresswoman Norma Torres (D-CA) at a senior center in Rialto talking about Social Security. | |  |
Congresswoman Nanette Díaz Barragán (D-CA) at the Congressional Football Game in solidarity with military kids. | |
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Michelle Ye Hee Lee Joins WaPo’s Political Enterprise and Investigations Team
Michelle Ye Hee Lee is joining WaPo’s political enterprise and investigations team, with a focus on the role of money in politics, the paper announced yesterday. She is shifting departments after working with the Post’s Fact Checker team, where she investigated crime, immigration, veterans, and abortion. Before WaPo, Michelle was a government accountability reporter at the Arizona Republic. She serves as the SVP of the Asian American Journalists Association. Born in Seoul, South Korea and raised in Guam, Michelle graduated from Emory University, majoring in international studies and English. See the full announcement here.
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Fox News Won’t Turn Over Records in Racial Discrimination Suit
Fox News is refusing to turn over records involving their former Comptroller Judith Slater, who is accused of mocking Black Lives Matter. Slater allegedly derided Black men and wondered why there wasn’t a “White Lives Matter” movement. Two current employees and a former one -- all Black -- claimed in a lawsuit filed in Bronx Supreme Court that Slater subjected them to “plantation-style management.” The lawsuit demands all emails and other communications that mention police abuse victims “Akai Gurley, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Ferguson, Tamir Rice, Amadou Diallo, Manuel Loggins Jr., Ronald Madison, Kendra James, Sean Bell, Michael Brown, and/or Alton Sterling." Fox filed court papers earlier this month and said the request is part of a "fishing expedition" by attorney Douglas Wigdor that is "obscenely overbroad and purposely designed to be vexatious and harassing." More here.
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How Trump Has Changed Hispanic Media
Donald Trump’s rise in politics has posed unique obstacles for Spanish-language outlets covering politics. Media Matters says that racist attacks on Hispanic journalists have intensified. The conservative Media Research Center launched a campaign against Univisión’s Jorge Ramos for his coverage of Trump, with Fox News feeding the fire and calling for Ramos’ resignation. Media Matters also asserts that Republicans are giving less access to Spanish-language networks. A review of appearances by elected Republican officials on Univisión and Telemundo found that during Hispanic Heritage Month in 2014, an equal amount of elected Republican officials and elected Democratic officials appeared as guests on the networks’ Sunday news shows. During that same time period in 2017, only two Republicans appeared on the Sunday shows, compared to five Democrats. As a candidate, Trump denied press credentials to Univisión, Telemundo, and La Opinión, and blacklisted prominent Hispanic journalists, including Ramos and José Díaz-Balart. More here.
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Morgan Freeman to Play Colin Powell
Last week we told you Tyler Perry would be playing Colin Powell in an upcoming film. Now, perhaps a more believable portrayal, actor Morgan Freeman has been cast to play the former Secretary of State in a biopic from Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertainment. Reginald Hudlin, who is coming off the Thurgood Marshall biopic Marshall, will direct the drama and Freeman is also executive producing. Ed Whitworth wrote the script that was on the 2011 Black List and is set during Powell’s tenure as Secretary of State in the George W. Bush White House. It depicts the lead-up to his 2002 UN presentation. No word yet on when we’ll see this hit the big screen. More here.
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|  | Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA) on Tuesday with Virginia Wesleyan University President Scott Miller at the Access College Foundation 2017 Annual Luncheon. | |  | Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY), ranked as a 2017 Champion in the Campaign to End Obesity, with her personalized box of cereal. | |
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Loretta Lynch Heads Back to Harvard
Former AG Loretta Lynch is heading to Harvard Law School's bicentennial celebration next week. Also on hand to kick off the 200-year commemoration will be Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, and Elena Kagan as part of a procession to the law school on October 26th. Retired Justice David Souter is also expected to be there. They all attended Harvard Law School, as did Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is not expected to attend. Lynch earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and American Literature from Harvard College in 1981 and a JD from Harvard Law School in 1984, where she was a member of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. The Delta Sigma Theta sorority member was also a charter member of the Xi Tau chapter of the sorority while at the school. More on the bicentennial celebration here.
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Thomas Has a Spot at NMAAHC
In late September, the National Museum of African American History and Culture announced it had included a display featuring Justice Clarence Thomas in an exhibit that was installed last month shortly before the museum's one-year anniversary. The display honors both Thomas and Thurgood Marshall, the first Black justice to serve on SCOTUS. Conservatives had previously accused the NMAAHC of political bias for not featuring Thomas initially. More here.
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Sotomayor Talks of Being Woman of Color on the Bench
On Monday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor participated in a question-and-answer session with Queens College students. When addressing a question about minority women in leadership roles, Sotomayor said societal gender separation starts from a very young age “whether we recognize it or not.” Women are taught to have softer voices or to not be as engaged in the classroom, she said. She said many of the things that are assumed to be part of someone’s personality, are actually not, and are instead part of an “ingrained social method of dealing with the world.” She also said that she sometimes feels “great turmoil” inside when she is hearing arguments on the bench but works hard to keep her emotions and personal biases in check. More here.
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|  | Congressman Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) in the district touring subway stations with Metropolitan Transit Authority Chairman Joe Lhota. | |  | The Ford Foundation's Darren Walker presents the 2017 Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom Medal to icon Harry Belafonte. | |
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Murphy Intros Bill Calling for More Gun Violence Research
Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) in sponsoring a bill that would repeal the so-called Dickey Amendment, which prohibits the Department of Health and Human Services from spending federal money “to advocate or promote gun control.” The 20-year-old provision is widely considered to have frozen federal investment in gun violence research. Murphy, whose district includes Orlando, first introduced the bill in response to the Pulse nightclub shooting in June 2016. As of Wednesday, the bill had 97 co-sponsors, all Democrats. More here.
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Committee to Look into Hurricane Recovery Allegations of Mishandling and Misappropriations
The House Committee on Natural Resources has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday, October 24th to investigate the recovery efforts currently underway in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of the devastating Hurricane Maria, including looking into allegations of mishandling and misappropriation of emergency supplies. Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner, Republican Congresswoman Jenniffer González-Colón signed a letter led by committee Chairman Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT) sent on Tuesday to FEMA Administrator William B. Long and FBI Director Christopher Wray about the allegations, which include that aid is being funneled to local political supporters on the island. The letter requests briefings from the FBI and FEMA by October 23rd. More here from Caribbean Business.
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Duckworth: Congress Wants to Make Americans with Disabilities Second-Class Citizens Again
In a pointed WaPo op-ed, Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) says that the policies being introduced and pushed by some of her congressional colleagues would make Americans with disabilities second-class citizens, again. Notably, Duckworth calls out the so-called ADA Education and Reform Act, a bill that has already passed the House Judiciary Committee despite strong opposition from disability rights advocates. “This offensive legislation would segregate the disability community, making it the only protected class under civil rights law that must rely on “education” — rather than strong enforcement — to guarantee access to public spaces. ... If Congress passed this misguided legislation, it would send a disgraceful message to Americans with disabilities that their civil rights are not worthy of strong enforcement. It is not too late to defeat this dangerous legislation and keep every American living with a disability from becoming a second-class citizen,” Duckworth writes. Read her entire op-ed here.
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|  | Airbnb's Janaye Ingram celebrating her birthday this week with friends. | |  | Pine Street Strategies' Don Calloway with Michael Eric Dyson on Wednesday. | |
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Holder Hits Admin’s Crime Policies
During the National Law Enforcement Summit on Crime on Wednesday in DC, former AG Eric Holder slammed the Trump administration’s criminal justice policies. Holder said Trump is pursuing “dangerous” policies on crime that ignore the growing bipartisan consensus on criminal justice reform. “They are not tough on crime, they are not smart on crime,” Holder said, adding that the shift was “disappointing, dispiriting and ultimately dangerous. ... This administration has revealed their lack of judgment [that] will take this nation back to a discredited past.” Since Jeff Sessions became AG and took over at DOJ, the Department has rolled back Obama-era initiatives that helped address racial bias in the criminal justice system. In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Wednesday, Holder also addressed Trump's false accusation that former President Obama never called the families of fallen soldiers. "To imply that President Obama was not appropriately sensitive, was not appropriately involved, was something that I was simply not going to allow to go unaddressed," Holder said. "That made me mad in a way that few other things have." Read more here.
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Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe Sues Microsoft and Amazon
CNBC reports that the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, which captured headlines last month for its unusual patent deal with drugmaker Allergan, is doubling down in the patent space. They filed lawsuits on Wednesday against Microsoft and Amazon, claiming patent infringement. The tribe is a co-plaintiff with small tech firm SRC Labs, which claims the tech giants have been infringing its patents on data processing technologies for years. The company and the tribe are seeking damages and royalties. Allergan paid the tribe $13.75 million after transferring the patent rights and then licensing them back exclusively. This drew a backlash from at least nine members of Congress, with one, Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), introducing legislation seeking to revoke tribal sovereign immunity in this matter. More here.
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The First Black Artist to Paint the Official White House Portrait
On Monday, we told you about the artists that the Obamas chose to paint their official portraits. Kehinde Wiley, famous for portraits of young Black men that incorporate elements of Western art, will paint the former president. Baltimore artist Amy Sherald will paint the former First Lady. Both will be the first Black artists to create official presidential portraits for the Smithsonian. However, on this #ThrowbackThursday, we were reminded by Clinton appointee Minyon Moore about Simmie Lee Knox, who painted the official White House portrait of former President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton. While the Obama artists are the first to hang in the National Portrait Gallery, Simmie Lee Knox was the first African American artist to receive a presidential portrait commission. More about Mr. Knox here.
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Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave the Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics 49 years ago this week. | |  | Colin Kaepernick back in the day as a young Green Bay Packers football fan. | |
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ACLU Files FOIA on Report of FBI Surveillance of African Americans
The ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act request on Wednesday for the FBI to release documents on the surveillance of Black individuals reportedly labeled by the agency as "extremists,” contending that the report might not be constitutional because the government is barred from “from targeting people because of their racial identity or because they take part in First Amendment-protected activities, which include protesting racism and injustice.” Nusrat Choudhury (pictured), an attorney with the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program, said in a statement, “The public deserves to know whether the labeling of so-called ‘Black Identity Extremists’ is the latest flawed example in the FBI’s history of using threats — real or perceived — as an excuse to surveil Black people.” Last week, CBC Chair Congressman Cedric Richmond (D-LA) joined Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and John Conyers Jr. (D-MI) in sending a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting to meet about the origins of the assessment and how it will be used, expressing concern about the assessment given the FBI’s “troubling history” of targeting Black citizens, including Martin Luther King Jr., and other civil rights leaders. More here.
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Cummings, House Dems Demand Subpoena for Michael Flynn Records
Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) was joined by all 18 Dems on the Oversight Committee in a letter sent Wednesday to Committee Chair Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) demanding that a subpoena be issued to compel the WH to produce all of the documents the Committee requested related to former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and his failure to report his foreign travel and contacts. The Dems also requested that Gowdy issue three additional subpoenas to Flynn’s company and two others he conducted business with -- ACU Strategic Partners and IP3/IronBridge -- since they also refused to provide documents relating to Flynn. “The White House has been openly defying this Committee’s bipartisan request for documents,” the members wrote. “Your decisions on this investigation will have a profound impact on the faith that the American people have in Congress to fulfill our duty under the Constitution to exercise robust oversight of the Executive Branch, especially when grave violations of the public trust are at stake.” Click here for more.
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Matsui Pushes FCC to Hold to TV Station Repack Timeline
Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA) joined four other colleagues on both sides of the aisle and signed on to a letter asking FCC Chairman Ajit Pai not to move off the FCC's current timeline for repacking TV stations after the incentive auction and freeing up spectrum for wireless broadband. "We write to urge you to ensure the 600 MHz spectrum...is cleared no later than July 3, 2020, as currently scheduled," they wrote Monday. They said clearing the band of broadcasters as quickly as possible was a critical component of deploying high-speed broadband, including to rural areas -- a particular concern of the FCC's -- as well as many of the letter signatories. Other members who signed include Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Congressmen Peter Welch (D-VT), Steve Scalise (R-LA), and Darrell Issa (R-CA). More here.
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| FOMO
Friday, October 20th, 12P PT/3P ET: A conversation entitled “Advancing Equity and Civil Rights in the Trump Era” with Eric Holder. He will be joined by The San Francisco Foundation CEO Fred Blackwell and The Raben Group’s Michael Torra. San Francisco. Livestream available here.
Friday, October 20th: The Hispanic Heritage Foundation, the Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund, and the Islamic Society of North America, among other groups, sponsor a “Hacking Racism, Bias & Bigotry” at Brown University in Providence, RI.
Click here for more information
Friday, October 20th, 8P: Celebrate Howard University's 150th anniversary with the 20th Annual Howard on the Harbor. Music by DJ D-Nice, with a performance by Doug E Fresh. Tony & Joe's Georgetown Waterfront.
Friday, October 20th - October 23rd: The Thurgood Marshall College Fund’s 17th Annual Leadership Institute. Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 2660 Woodley Road, N.W.
Click here for more information. Members of the media who wish to cover the event must obtain press credentials by contacting Paris Dennard at: paris.dennard@tmcf.org
Monday, October 23rd, 5:30P: The Raben Group hosts “Monday Night Politics: The Intersection of Sports & Social Justice,” with Colin Allred, ex-NFL player turned Obama-era civil rights attorney; D’Qwell Jackson, 11-year NFL veteran; and award-winning journalist, Chris Jenkins of The Washington Post. RSVP here. Monday, October 23rd, 5:30P: Join Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-DC) for a reception in support of One Fair Wage, an initiative to raise the wages of tipped workers. Special guests include DC Councilmember Elissa Silverman and actress Jane Fonda. Click here to RSVP and purchase tickets. Location revealed with RSVP.
Tuesday, October 24th, 10A: The National Urban League hosts a panel, "Future of Work: The Impact of the Tech Revolution on People of Color.” Room G-11 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Click here to RSVP.
Wednesday, October 25th, 11A: A presentation ceremony in the U.S. Capitol to honor Filipino World War II veterans. The event will be livestreamed on speaker.gov/live. More here.
Wednesday, October 25th, 6P: An evening reception in support of Stacey Abrams, candidate for Governor of Georgia. Skadden, Arps, 4 Times Square. NYC. Click here to RSVP or contact zach@gstrategiesllc.com with any questions.Thursday, October 26th, 4P: Lobbyists and Friends Happy Hour, one last outdoor get together before the cold sets in. Dirty Habit, 555 8th Street, N.W.
Thursday, October 26th, 5:30p: A happy hour to benefit the DCCC. 777 6th Street, N.W. RSVP to: Teresa Skala at 202.741.1851 or email: skala@dccc.org
Thursday, October 26th, 5:30p: Artist Amy Sherald will give a free talk at Room 101 of the F. Ross Jones Building, Mattin Center, on the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins University.
Thursday, October 26th, 6P: The Women's Media Awards 2017 honors María Hinojosa, April Ryan, María Elena Salinas, and Gail Tifford, and also recognizes the film Hidden Figures. Capitale, 130 Bowery St., NYC. Click here to purchase tickets.
Monday, October 30th, 5:30P: The 23rd annual ADL In Concert Against Hate. This year's honorees are Gavin Grimm, Tolu Olubunmi, Ann Jaffe, and Chief Louis M. Dekmar. Kennedy Center. Click here to purchase tickets.
Wednesday, November 1st, 6P: Join the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund for the launch of Staff UP Congress, a National Initiative for a Representative Congressional Workforce. Majority Group Townhouse, 19 D Street, S.E. RSVP to: bmoz@naleo.org
Thursday, November 2nd, 6P: Join the Film, Gun Violence Prevention, and Hillary for America alumni communities for a reception in support of Lucy McBath for Georgia House District 37. NYC. Click here for more information and to register. Address provided upon RSVP.
Thursday, November 9th: Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund's Los Angeles Awards Gala. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.Friday, November 17th: The 24th Annual Caribbean American Heritage Awards to honor visionaries from across the Caribbean. J.W. Marriott Hotel, 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. To learn more about the Caribbean American Heritage Awards, visit: www.caribbeanheritageawards.org
Sunday, November 19th: The National Portrait Gallery Second biennial American Portrait Gala, honoring former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, HIV/AIDs researcher Dr. David D. Ho; artistic director, choreographer, and dancer Bill T. Jones; film director, producer, writer, and actor Spike Lee; and multi-award-winning actress Rita Moreno. Click here for more information. Wednesday, November 29th, 8P: Join Congressman André Carson (D-IN) for JAY-Z's 4:44 Tour. Capital One Arena, 601 F Street, N.W. For more information or to RSVP, contact Courtney Hodges or Randy Broz at: 202.403.0606 or email: Courtney@ABConsultingDC.com
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