agency which monitors elections has effectively shut down the federal election commission says it no longer has enough members to operate this despite intelligence agencies warning that the 2020 presidential elections are at risk of foreign meddling a white house correspondent kimberly health reports for a political revolution. it's more than a year away but u.s. politicians are already campaigning to become america's next president but there is fear foreign governments will interfere with the 2020 vote both congress and u.s. intelligence agencies warn foreign meddling from not just russia but also china and iran is now threatening the next u.s. election the russians are absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our elections making matters worse the federal election commission or f.e.c. that preserves the integrity of u.s. voting has stopped fully functioning that's because last month the commission's vice chair resigned the 6 member agency is now down to just 3 members it needs 4 to operate. the f.e.c. is considered one of the front line agencies combating election interference

held at the federal election commission in washington. this is two hours. >> a few more people still milling up and down stairs. we have a very important guest with a limited timeframe. we will go ahead and get started i am the chair of the federal election commission. i am delighted to welcome you

agency which monitors elections has effectively shut down the federal election commission says it no longer has enough members to operate after the resignation of its vice chair last month this despite intelligence agencies warning that the 2020 presidential elections or at risk from foreign meddling are white house correspondent kimberly reports well a political revolution. more than a year away but u.s. politicians are already campaigning to become america's next president but there is fear foreign governments will interfere with the 2020 vote both congress and u.s. intelligence agencies warn foreign meddling from not just russia but also china and iran is now threatening the next u.s. election the russians are absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our elections making matters worse the federal election commission or f.e.c. that preserves the integrity of u.s. voting has stopped fully functioning that's because last month the commission's vice chair resigned the 6 member agency is now down to just 3 members it needs 4 to operate. the f.t.c. is considered one of the frontline

agency which monitors elections is effectively shut down the federal election commission says it no longer has enough members to operate off to the resignation of the vice chair last month this despite intelligence agency's warning that the 2020 presidential elections are at risk from foreign meddling our white house correspondent kimberly halter reports political revolution was more than a year away but u.s. politicians are already campaigning to become america's next president but there is fear foreign governments will interfere with the 2020 vote both congress and u.s. intelligence agencies warn foreign meddling from not just russia but also china and iran is now threatening the next u.s. election the russians are absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our elections making matters worse the federal election commission or f.e.c. that preserves the integrity of u.s. voting has stopped fully functioning that's because last month the commission's vice chair resigned the 6 member agency is now down to just 3 members it needs 4 to operate. the f.e.c. is considered one of the frontline

compared to australia, the federal election commission does everything related to the elections. the ballot paper looks the same, except for the name of the candidates, whatever constituency you are going in. i can walk into any ballot station around australia and get the one from my constituency, if i am traveling that day. so on some level it is very functional when you have this overarching centralized system. at the same time, it is easier to hack a single system, where as in the european union for example, they just had parliament elections, 28 countries voted at the same time, but they had 28 different systems. it would be harder for russia or any others to get into 28 different systems all at once. the fact there is a patchwork is not necessarily bad, but at the same time i also had a great experiment at a conference last year where i hacked a u.s. voting machine. i was given five minutes to solve a hacking problem. it was not in an election, i would not do that, i am a good guy. i am not a skilled person. i did some computer classes in grade school and if i can figure it

so in a nutshell, what should the american people know about what the federal elect commission does? judy, the federal election commissions the originalal "follow the money" agency. we were set up in the aftermath of watergate, to make sure that the american people know who is funding the political campaigns that they are seeing every day. >> woodruff: so normally, you're supposed to have, by law' six commissioners. you are down to three right now: a democrat, a republican, and an independent. what does that mean, in terms of what you were able to do and ?wh you're not able to >> well, the good news is that we have a terrific staff, andti they are cing to come to work and do their jobs every day, and most of the work doese get done by aff. but the decisions that the agency has tmake, those have be made by a minimum of four commissioners. and right now, as you pointed out, we only have three. we have roughly 250 enforcement matters that are in the-- somewhere in the hopper, and we need commissioners present inon order toude those matters and make decisions so that these things aren't

compared to australia, the federal election commission does everything related to the elections. the ballot paper looks the same, except for the name of the candidates, whatever constituency you are going in. i can walk into any ballot station around australia and get the one from my constituency, if i am traveling that day. so on some level it is very functional when you have this overarching centralized system. at the same time, it is easier to hack a single system, where as in the european union for example, they just had parliament elections, 28 countries voted at the same time, but they had 28 different systems. it would be harder for russia or any others to get into 28 different systems all at once. the fact there is a patchwork is not necessarily bad, but at the same time i also had a great experiment at a conference last year where i hacked a u.s. voting machine. i was given five minutes to solve a hacking problem. it was not in an election, i would not do that, i am a good guy. i am not a skilled person. i did some computer classes in grade school and if i can figure it

failed as a trump judicial nominee, but he still had a very important job as a member of the federal election commissionto maintain fair, transparent elections. peterson was appointed twice, twice served as the body's chairman in 2010 and 2016. but after 11 years in the job, peterson announced last week he was resigning from the already shorthanded commission, leaving the fec unable to conduct the most fundamental aspects of its mandate, including processing complaints of election malfeasance. and what kind of opportunity would cause someone who spent the last decade at the fec to cripple the agency with their exit? reportedly they'll be part of a law firm. it doesn't mean much to most people, but a "washington post" report from 2016 described the firm's specialty, as, quote, helping wealthy donors, corporations and political action committees influence elections, often in secret. that's right. matthew peterson, the failed judicial nominee essentially shut down the fec heading into the 2020 election to join a law firm that specializes in helping rich people and corporations influence elections in secret

federal election commission chair ellen weintraub just tweeted out yesterday a memorandum which points courts and the federal election commission have held that things like polling data and other information counts as a thing of value. for it to be a felony, it would have to be worth at least $25,000, but, you know, you don't need to have an exact market price when prosecutors are trying to put, you know, some cocaine into evidence. they're not going to look at what the price is at cvs. they're going to call on some periods of time and say, what is this worth? if you're sending rudy giuliani halfway around the world to try to dig this thing up in a multi-mimulti multi-million-dollar campaign, it's at least worth $25,000. >> i'm going to put up the mueller report, page 227, and they are explaining why they were trying to file charges under the federal statute. a foreign entity that engaged in opposition research and provided opposition research to a campaign could make a better tendency to ingratiate the owner than things of value. at the same time, rick hasen, no division has treated t

. >> the federal election commission told cnn that what you're proposing is not legal to give families sure you're on solid legal ground? >> we have an army of lawyers who signed off on. >> it and we're sure that this is perfectly legal. >> so during thursday's democratic primary debate, yang promised to provide ten winners of an online raffle with $1,000 a month. for an entire year. even if his presidential campaign has ended by that point. the cash contest echoes the central proposal of his campaign, the freedom dividend, calling for the government to provide $12,000 in universal ba to all americans over the age of 18 and the federal elections commission prohibits the use of campaign fund force personal use. >>> let's gets a check of the weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> what do you have for us? >> if you like good weather, do you have good news? >> i do. for you. as we go into the middle of september, we're still in the peak month of a hurricane season and we get a couple of big storms every year and it looks like humberto will be one of those big storms. it became

according to hollywood reporter that cites the official results and statistics from the federal elections commission and hollywood's top $100.00 list only 3 have donated to republicans and during the 2016 elections 90 percent of hollywood's donations went to hillary clinton they even made an amusing ad only way we can prove that to you is by having lots of famous people lots of famous people lots and lots of famous people just kind of famous people repeating how important poor and important or important how important it is. kollywood has even threatened to take action against those who don't adhere to their liberal values remember george's anti abortion law well there was a call for a boycott of the state we cannot in good conscience continue to recommend the industry remain in georgia if h.b. 481 becomes legal the movie world has always pushed back against traditional values however it also glamorizes well and the american dream values that are very important to american conservatives now hollywood is one of america's most powerful institutions and there is no question that it is not acting when it

agency which monitors elections has effectively shut down the federal election commission says it no longer has enough members to operate that has potentially serious consequences for the 2020 presidential elections is our white house correspondent. a political revolution. is more than a year away but u.s. politicians are already campaigning to become america's next president but there is fear foreign governments will interfere with the 2020 vote both congress and u.s. intelligence agencies warn foreign meddling from not just russia but also china and iran is now threatening the next u.s. election the russians are absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our elections making matters worse the federal election commission or f.e.c. that preserves the integrity of u.s. voting has stopped fully functioning that's because last month the commission's vice chair resigned the 6 member agency is now down to just 3 members it needs 4 to operate. the f.t.c. is considered one of the frontline agencies combating election interference it was working to bolster transparency for online political

according to hollywood reporter that cites the official results and statistics from the federal elections commission and hollywood's top $100.00 list only 3 have donated to republicans and during the 2016 elections 90 percent of hollywood's donations went to hillary clinton the movie world has always pushed back against traditional values however it also glamorizes well and the american dream values that are very important to american conservatives now hollywood is one of america's most powerful institutions and there is no question that it is not acting when it comes to its feelings about the donald the more you hate the more creative you hate especially in hollywood the more you. achieve and seek favor of your fellow hollywood types who in their right mind in hollywood that would ever want anybody to know that they're exercising their 1st amendment right to support a candidate sometimes people really do care necessarily for trump as much as they do consider this to be a good business move there are people who contribute to democratic causes republican and the like but it's a it's a it's a suicide

ellen: the federal election commission is supposed to have six members, no more than three can be of any one political party. a couple years ago, one of my democratic colleagues resigned and that spot is still not filled. a year and a half ago, one of my republican colleagues resigned and that spot was not filled. one month ago, and i had less of a week's notice and that this would happen, another republican colleagues resigned and then we got down under four. why have they not been replaced? i do not know. the commissioner has to be nominated by the president and confirmed by the senate and it has not happened. ryan: we have seen that the wto as well. i need to do the fact check as a journalist. the administration has been starving the appellate judges from that body so it does not function, so i cannot speak to the motivation, but i can see a pattern. the gentleman in the green shirt. >> hi. my name is zach and i am a sophomore at american university. what is the number one thing that federal, state, and municipal governments can do to ensure election security in the 2020 election?

in august, the federal election commission deadlocked 2-2 on whether to investigate this matter at all. the f.e.c. is so locked up on this now that they wouldn't even investigate. fec commission wine trawb in frustration wrote some allegations are too serious to ignore, too serious to simply take the n.r.a.'s denials at face value. too serious to play games with. yet, in this matter my colleagues ran their usual evidence-blocking play, and the commission's attorneys placed too much faith in the few facts the n.r.a. put before us. so we can't even look into the extent of russian interference in our politics through the n.r.a. it goes on. last fall the campaign legal center and gifford center filed complaints with the federal election commission alleging that the n.r.a. was evading the anticoordination rules of our elections between the trump campaign and with various republican senate campaigns. the complaints allege that the n.r.a. and the campaigns coordinated spending through a g.o.p. media consulting firm. what did the media consulting firm do? it set up a series of shell corporatio

. >> the federal election commission -- whether you believe in these or not, they exist.here they are. individuals are primary, $2700 max. total of $5400. you have these huge packs, companies can set up for advocacy purposes, individuals set them up as well and have significant amounts you condone it but there's still limits. google can influence an election in a significant way. they have to report anything. what would you suggest the value of their influence in american dollars might be? >> if they allow companies to buy the influence that they are having, it would be in the billions. it's priceless really, they can do things on a massive scale that no company or campaign can do they can do things invisibly. it's hard for a campaign can do. they can do things in a way that leaves no paper trail. >> unless somebody isn't caught it takes a picture says okay, now i have it, i have a trail for you. is anyone doing it other than you? >> to my knowledge, and this is sad to say but to my knowledge, there's just me and my helpers and associates, that's it. >> when we come back,

in august the federal election commission deadlocked 2-2 on whether to investigate this matter at all. the fec is so locked up on this that they wouldn't investigate. and commissioner weintraub wrote some allegations are too serious to ignore, too serious to take the n.r.a. at face value, too serious to play games with. yet in this matter, my colleagues ran their usual evidence-blocking play. and the commission's attorneys placed too much faith in the few facts the n.r.a. put before us. so we can't even look into the extent of russian interference through politics through the n.r.a. it goes on. last fall the legal center filed complaints with the commission alleging the n.r.a. was avoiding the rules, with the various senate campaigns. the complaint alleged that the n.r.a. and campaigns coordinated spending through a g.o.p. media consulting firm. what had the media consulting firm done? it set up a series of shell corporations through which the campaigns paid. we've all used media consulting firms in getting to the senate. which of those media consulting firms set up shell corporations

bring: i mean, i want to you in here because you were oft of this today, and course, the federal election commissiontake away as we push forward to the election? is big tech ready to handle the misinformation ready -- ready to handle the misinformation that may be coming apple -- may be coming? >> i have to say the facebook supreme court external oversight board is dealing with facebook's own community guidelines with respect to the kind of content they want to see. the disinformation threat is different. that is much more of a society-wide cross-platform threat. we talk about the different vulnerabilities we had to our election integrity ranging from the infrastructure that deals voting, voter registration, tabulation -- that is the hard infrastructure. there is the data security for candidates, party, et cetera. the disinformation threat is a different piece, and i want to say -- i want to point everybody if you care about the spectrum of bills, stanford university put out a very important report on all of those types of vulnerabilities to our elections and a whole series of recommendations. today

. >> the federal election commission. >> you know, whether you believe in these campaign laws are notyou might have a problem with some of those but there they are and you have to comply with them. the visuals are limited on how much they can give in the primary, $2700 max, a total of $5400. you have these huge packs of companies that they can set up for advocacy purposes, set up tax as well, they have significant amounts you can donate but there still limits, but google can influence an election is you're saying in a significant way and they do have to report anything to the fec. what would you suggest that the value of their influence in american dollars might be. >> if they would allow companies to buy the influence that they are actually having it would be in the billions. it's priceless really because again, they can do things on a massive scale that no company, no campaign can do, and they can do things invisibly, that's hard for campaign to do, and they can do things in a way that leaves no paper trail. >> a kind of hit and run tactics. hit and pull out, no paper trail, someday

there was to be a hearing on capitol hill last week about federal election commission that cannot enforceampaign finance laws right now because it does not have enough members to do its job that got canceled took a lot is falling to the way side on capitol hill. jon: the people a busines peopls not getting done. >> thank you. jon: saving cold industry was a campaign promise from president trump, now he is president, cole conumtion is decreasing -- coal consumption is decreasing. >> in montana. is trump country, he promised a ca aoa l revival, with scrapping obamaer is clean power plant, and pledging 39 million to make kolcold-- coals plants cleaner,y run since 1975. >> there is nothing he dock do t it market economics are so compelling, it is massive federal subsidies to keep coals alive. reporter: cheap neutral ga too s from fracking. >> just going to be more and more expensive to run a coal fired power plant. >> climate politics are also killing coals, washington state passed a law this unit must be ca ao. >> by 2025. -- has become a tigh knit commu, everyone here is somehow connected t

the remarks came during a symposium hosted by the office of the federal election commission chair, ellen weintraub and the global digital policy incubator. this is two hours. >> a few more people are still milling up and down stairs, but we have an important guest with a limited timeframe, so we are going to get started. i am ellen weintraub, chair of the federal election commission and i am delighted to welcome you to digital disinformation and the threat to democracy, information integrity in the 2020 election. a symposium i am cosponsoring with pan america and the digital policy incubator. this information has become a newly potent threat in the digital era. it has weaponize dare most cherished freedoms, some discord and undermined democracies worldwide. in the west we saw russia deploy disinformation as one of its tools, when, in the words of the mueller report, the russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion. alarms are being sounded throughout america's intelligence community, in the halls of congress by the departments of home

held at the federal election commission in washington. this is two hours. >> a few more people still milling up and down stairs. we have a very important guest with a limited timeframe. we will go ahead and get started i am the chair of the federal election commission. i am delighted to welcome you. information integrity in the 2020 election. a symposium that i am cosponsoring with an america in stanford's global digital policy innovator. this information has become a newly potent rat in the digital era. it it is weapon eyes are most cherished freedom. discord and undermine democracy worldwidee. here in the u.s. we saw russia deployed disinformation as one of its tools when in the words wof the molar report the russin government interfered ino the 2016 presidential election and sweeping and systemic fashion. alarms have been sounded throughout american intelligence community. department of homeland security and justice. by many of the experts are generously taken time to speak to you today. they warned that these attacks are ongoing. they

and has given $115,000 to democratic groups over the last we 10 years according to the federal election commission former president barack obama, 2016 candidate hillary clinton and the 2004 campaign of john kerry. in this latest drug overdose incident at but which happened on september 11th the alleged victim and survived but buck has previously been investigated although never charged over two separate incidents in which two men died in his west hollywood apartment, both overdosed on meth. prosecutors say the incident last week offered new evidence of a pattern, writing in their court filing, quote, from his home in a position of power buck manipulates his victims into participating in his sexual fetishes which include supplying and personally administering dangerously large doses of narcotics to his victims. district attorney jackie lacey said she decided to act against buck because of concerns for those whose life circumstances, quote, make them more vulnerable to criminal practices. >> 20 people arrested, 18 charged in connection to mob style beatings and robberies in minneapolis that were cau

. >> larry noble the former general counsel of the federal election commission told cnn that what you'reposing would not be legal. it's not legal to give those ten families money from your campaign to use however they want, but are you sure that you're on solid legal ground? >> yeah, we have an army of lawyers who have signed off on it, and we're sure that this is perfectly legal. i do want to reflect for a moment on the fact that if i gave a million dollars to media consultants or hired a small army of canvassers no one would blink an eye. but if we give the money directly to the american people somehow that's problematic. it just speaks to how messed up our system is where giving money directly to americans actually raises eyebrows. >> during thursday's democratic primary debate, you may recall yang promised to provide ten winners of an online raffle with a thousand dollars a month for an entire year even if his presidential campaign has ended by that point. the cash contest echoing the central proposal of husband canal pai campaign, the freedom dividend that provides for the governmen