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Gillibrand Hosts Women for Biden Event: Campaign Update

Watchdog Seeks Names of Anti-Sanders Donors: Campaign Update

(Bloomberg) -- New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand hosted a virtual women’s event for Joe Biden on Thursday, providing a reaffirmation of her support for the presumptive Democratic nominee as he faces an accusation of sexual assault.

“I believe in women. I think women make the difference in every election. When women turn out to vote, Democrats win,” Gillibrand said, adding that “with Joe Biden at the top of the ticket it’s going to make all the difference in the world.”

Gillibrand, who has been a strong advocate for women’s rights and a proponent of the MeToo movement, has said she stands by Biden after a former Senate aide, Tara Reade, accused him of assaulting her in 1993. Biden has denied the claim and called on the National Archives and Senate to release any relevant documents. The allegations were not discussed during the virtual event.

Two years ago, Gillibrand led the campaign that forced Senator Al Franken of Minnesota to resign after allegations of sexual misconduct arose against him. His ouster spurred a debate about whether he was forced out too fast, without proper vetting of the accusations.

Gillibrand’s hosting of the Women for Biden event on Thursday follows her strong defense of the former vice president when she was asked about the Reade allegations during a conference call with reporters in April. “Vice President Biden has vehemently denied these allegations and I support Vice President Biden,” Gillibrand said. Biden has committed to picking a female running mate, though Gillibrand isn’t among the names he has mentioned for the role.

Her event came on the same day as the release of Reade’s first on-camera interview since Biden appeared on MSNBC last week and denied her accusation for the first time on television. Reade said Biden should acknowledge her claim that he sexually assaulted her is true and quit the 2020 presidential race.

Watchdog Seeks Names of Anti-Sanders Donors (12:01 p.m.)

An outside group that spent $4.8 million trying to derail Bernie Sanders’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination should be required to disclose its donors, a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission says.

After Sanders won the New Hampshire primary in February, moderate Democratic donors funded the Big Tent Project, set up to run ads attacking him, according to the filing by the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan watchdog organization. At the time, Sanders was ahead of several more centrist candidates, including presumptive nominee Joe Biden.

The Big Tent Project ran online and digital ads attacking Sanders, arguing that his nomination and campaign policy proposals would ensure four more years of President Donald Trump. Most of the ads were targeted to Nevada, South Carolina and Super Tuesday states. Some ads implored voters to “Vote no on Bernie Sanders.”

That makes the group, which ranks ninth for outside spending in 2020, a political committee that should have disclosed its donors to the FEC, the Campaign Legal Center says. Instead, the Big Tent Project claimed to be a nonprofit, a status afforded to groups if they don’t influence federal elections as their primary purpose.

The donors behind the group that tried to stop Sanders have remained anonymous. Unlike political committees, nonprofits don’t have to disclose their donors to the FEC. -- Bill Allison

Coming up:

On Thursday, Joe Biden will hold a virtual rally in Tampa, Florida, as well as a virtual roundtable with African American leaders in Jacksonville.

Oregon is due to hold its Democratic primary on May 19. The state has conducted all statewide contests by mail since 1998.

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