December 12, 2017

After Crude Trump Tweet, RNC Sends Out Opposition Research Attacking Kirsten Gillibrand

“The political arm of the president.”

President Donald Trump.Susan Walsh/AP

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The Republican National Committee has joined President Donald Trump’s all-out attack on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, blasting out an email Tuesday containing opposition research about the New York Democrat. The RNC’s broadside follows a back-and-forth between Gillibrand and the White House over allegations that Trump—who was infamously caught on tape boasting about assaulting women—had engaged in multiple acts of sexual misconduct before becoming president.

On Monday, three women renewed their misconduct allegations against Trump and called for Congress to open an investigation. Later Monday, Gillibrand called for Trump to resign over the accusations, which she described as “credible” and “numerous.” (Gillibrand was also the first Senate Democrat to call on Al Franken to resign over allegations of sexual misconduct.)

Trump lashed out at Gillibrand in a crude tweet Tuesday morning, declaring that she had previously begged him for campaign donations and that she “would do anything for them.”

Gillibrand quickly responded.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders insisted Tuesday afternoon that Trump’s tweet was not a sexist innuendo and that the president was simply accusing Gillibrand of selling out her constituents in exchange for campaign contributions. 

“There’s no way that this is sexist at all,” said Sanders. “This is simply talking about a system that we have that is broken in which special interests control our government. And I don’t think that there’s probably many people that are more controlled by political contributions than the senator that the president referenced.”

For its part, the RNC stuck mainly to Gillibrand’s policy positions in the oppo research it sent out Tuesday. The email, titled “Gillibrand’s Grift,” accused the New York senator of flip-flopping on a range of issues and of “obstructing President Trump’s agenda.”

Still, the email marks the second time in recent weeks that the RNC has rushed to back up Trump in a fight over sexual misconduct allegations. In November, the RNC cut off its fundraising support for Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore following accusations that Moore had sexually assaulted teenage girls—accusations Moore denies. But the RNC quickly reversed course earlier this month, once again throwing its support behind Moore after Trump endorsed him. As one RNC official told CNN at the time, “The RNC is the political arm of the president and we support the President.”

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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