Communications Re Judicial Nominations

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Communications Re Judicial Nominations Delrahim, Makan EOP/ WHO From: Delrahim, Makan EOP/WHO Sent : Tuesday, January 31, 2017 4:46 PM To: Delaplane, Blake W. EOP/ WHO Cc: Teller, Paul S. EOP/ WHO; McGa hn, Donald F. EOP/WHO; [email protected] Subject: FW: Join Conf. Call Speaker Line no later than 8:30pm Tonight Blake here is the call. It will be only 15 minutes and we can do this in Don's office. You may dial in for your pre-conference 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time of 8:30 using the Conference ID below. Ifyou are a Presenter: please alert the Meeting/Event Specialist. Conference (b) (6) ID: Speakers, lnt'I Toll: (b) (6) Garv A :Marx Senior Advisor, JCN (b) (6) w,vw. judicialnetwork:.com @ garymarx From: Gary Man< [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, January 30, 2017 6:41 PM To: Gary Man< Subject: Join Conf. Call: SCOTUS Norn. to be Named by Pres. Trump Tomorrow@ 8pm Dear Friends & Allies, As you may know: word out that the White House will be announcing the SCOTUS nominee at 8:00pm Tuesday evenmg. I wanted to remind you that there will be a coalitions conference call that will take place 15 minutes after the nomination announcement by the President concludes. We estimate this call to be around 8:30pm. Please note that this im·itation is not transferable and that individuals 111·ho are not on our list will not be pennitted to join by the conference call operator. Call information will be sent to you tomorrow. Stay tuned. Please join a conference can to discuss this nominee's biography, background: philosophy and rulings. We ..,vffi have a number of speakers present their perspectives including Leonard Leo and 007 Document ID: 0.7.420.501854 Jonathan Bunch ofthe Federalist Society, Canie Severino of Judicial Crisis Net\,·ork and Ed Whelan ofthe Ethics & Public Policy Center and National Review's Bench Memos. 1n addition, as previously discussed, JCN and other coalition members will be focused on putting pressure on key democratic senators who are up for re-election in 2018 in states like Montana~ Misso~ Indiana~ Nmth Dakot~ Ohio~ Florida~ Pennsylvani~ Michigan: Wisconsin and West Virginia. Here are some basic Talking Points to use in Rapid Response~ THE CASE FOR CONFIRMATION President Trump kept his promise to nominate an exceptionally qualified individual who has a record of applying the Constitution as the Framers meant it to be. This nominee is a widely respected, decent person whose record makes it clear that he will be fair to all, regardless of background or beliefs. Like Justice Scalia, he believes that judges should base their decisions on the law and the Constitution, not their own policy preferences or personal feelings. President Trump went further than any presidential candidate in history by sharing his list of potential Supreme Court nominees with the American people. Exit polls showed that the Supreme Court was the top issue for one in five voters. The American people have spoken, and it is now time for the Senate to give the Nominee a full and fair hearing and to confirm her so that the Court is at full capacity. 008 Document ID: 0.7.420.501854 From: Nathanael Bennett (b) (6) Date: February 1, 2017 at 11:36:21 AM EST To:(b)( 6) - James Burnham Email Address Subject: Jay Sekulow Meeting James, Congrats on a terrific nominee! I understand you are coordinating meetings for Judge Gorsuch. Any chance he might have just a few minutes to meet my boss, Jay Sekulow, sometime on Thursday or Friday? Jay is a regular advocate in front of the Court and has been hitting the media circuit hard in favor of the judge (Hannity, 700 Club, etc). He would love to just very briefly say hello if that is a possibility. Again, congrats. Extremely strong pick. Thann Bennett ACU 015 Document ID: 0.7.420.121504 Nomination ofNeilM. Gorsuch to be Associate Justice of the SupremeCourt Questions for the Record SubmittedMarch24, 2017 QUESTIONSFROMSENATORFEINSTEIN Not Responsive Records 1 021 Document ID: 0.7.420.121574-000004 Not Responsive Records 27. Outside groups including Heritage Foundation and Federalist Societyplayed an unprecedented role in the Supreme Court nomination process President Trump stated that “we’re going to have great judges, conservative, all picked bythe Federalist .” Society (Donald Trump, Breitbart News Interview, June016). 13, 2 In September, when your name was added Trump’s to President second shortlist, he specificallythanked both the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist The WallStreetSociety. Journal wrote an article discussing Leonard Leo’s role in selecting conservative Supreme Court nominees and specifically stated that “the week after the election… Mr. Leo was summoned to Trump Tower” to discuss “winnowing” the list. (Wall Street Journal, “Trump’s Supreme Court Whisperer,” Feb. 3,017) 2 a. When didyou first meet LeonardLeo? 28. Iunderstand you sat on a panel with Mr. “The Leo Life entitled, and Legacy of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia” on September 016.3, 2Your name was put on President Trump’s second short list September on 2 016.3, 2 a. Didyou discuss the Supreme Court vacancy withMr. Leo when you interacted with himon September 3or at any time before you name was put on the list? b. Whydo you think the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation recommendedyou for inclusion on Trump’s Mr. list? 29. On the first day of questioning, Senator Blumenthal asked you about officials from the Heritage Foundation who discussed the Supreme Court with you. In response to his question you said: “Tomyknowledge,Senator, fromthetimeoftheelection tothetimeofmy nomination,Ihavenot spokentoanyonethatIknowoffrom Heritage .” a. Didyou speak to anyone from the Heritage Foundation 16 prior election to the 20 about theSupreme Court? How many conversations withpeoplefromHeritage did you have? When did they take place? b. Didyou speak to anyone from the FederalistSocietybefore or after the election?If so, what topics andissues didyou discuss? 8 022 Document ID: 0.7.420.121574-000004 neebn oi tadnuoFegat c. ireHe hd tnay teicoSts i laredeFe hmtorfs laudividnievaH r iehtl iatedesaelp, osf? Igniraen hoi tanmions ihtr on foi taraperpruon ydievlovni involvement. Not Responsive Records 023 Document ID: 0.7.420.121574-000004 Nomination ofJudge Neal. Gorsuch,ofColorado, tobeanAssociateJusticeofthe UnitedStatesSupremeCourt QuestionsfortheRecord Submitted March24,2017 QUESTIONSFROMSENATORSHELDONWHITEHOUSE Not Responsive Records 024 Document ID: 0.7.420.121574-000008 Not Responsive Records 5) OnQuestion 26of your Judiciary ommittee C Questionnaire, youdescribed your experience in the selection process and all listed interviews or communications with anyonein the Executive Office of the President, the Justice Department, the President-elect transition team orthe presidential campaign. Question 26 also asked list any you interviews to or communications with outside groups atthe behest of the Executive Office of the President, the Justice Department, the President-elect transition team or the presidential campaign. a) You indicated that you communicated with Leonard Leo on December 2, 2016 and the week following January 6, 2017. Please provide more information circumstances (how those calls were arranged, who else participated) and content of your communications with Mr. Leo. b) Did you have any addition communication Mr. withLeo? If so, please describe the date and contents of the communication. c) You did notlist any communication with outside groups. Is that still accurate? answer If you have communicated with outside groups, please list the names of groups, the representatives involved, the dates of the communications, and the contents of the communications. d) Did any outside groups inassist preparing you for your Senate Judiciary Committee hearing? If so, which groups? Not Responsive Records 025 Document ID: 0.7.420.121574-000008 1 1 NOMINATION OF THE HONORABLE NEIL M. GORSUCH TO BE AN 2 ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 3 (DAY 4) 4 5 Thursday, March 23, 2017 6 United States Senate, 7 Committee on the Judiciary, 8 Washington, D.C. 9 The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:33 a.m., 10 in Room SH 216, Hart Senate Office Building, Hon. Chuck 11 Grassley, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. 12 Present: Senators Grassley [presiding], Hatch, 13 Graham, Lee, Sasse, Flake, Crapo, Tillis, Kennedy, 14 Feinstein, Leahy, Durbin, Whitehouse, Klobuchar, Franken, 15 Coons, Blumenthal, and Hirono. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Alderson Court Reporting 1-800-FOR-DEPO 026 Document ID: 0.7.420.61583-000007 165 Not Responsive Records 6 Senator Whitehouse. Ms. McGhee, welcome. I 7 appreciate that you are here and the work that Demos has 8 done to shed some light on the problem of money in politics 9 and the influence that it gives special interest groups. 10 We have kind of an unusual circumstance here in that 11 President Trump originally outsourced the creation of the 12 list from which Judge Gorsuch was selected to a pair of 13 well-known right-wing interest groups. And then the 14 notification to Judge Gorsuch that he describes in his 15 description of the selection process, the opening sentence 16 is, "On or about December 2, 2016, I was contacted by 17 Leonard Leo," who is the head of one of those same special 18 interest groups. 19 Then it has been reported in the news that the White 20 House outsourced the political campaign on behalf of Judge 21 Gorsuch to those interest groups, and, we indeed, have seen 22 reports of a $10 million political campaign to try to 23 influence the Senate in Judge Gorsuch's favor through a 24 front group, so we do not know who the real Itdonors are. 25 is dark money that is behind that entire And operation.
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