Welcome to the online version of From the Political Bureauan evening newsletter featuring the latest reporting and analysis from the NBC News Politics team from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.
In today’s edition, senior political reporter Alex Seitz-Wald reveals an effort by operatives affiliated with a GOP consulting firm to get Cornel West on the ballot in a key state. In addition, Andrea Mitchell, Chief Washington Correspondent and Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, explains the status of ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
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Employees with ties to the Republican Party help Cornel West win elections in a key state
By Alex Seitz-Wald
Cornel West’s independent presidential campaign failed. His former campaign manager says he knows nothing about ballot access. And West spent more on graphic design than collecting petitions in his most recent campaign finance report.
But tens of thousands of signatures have been collected on behalf of the famed left-wing academic in key states, thanks to self-organized grassroots volunteers — and some help from outside operatives affiliated with a Republican consulting firm.
Democrats fear West’s potential to siphon votes from President Joe Biden where he is on the ballot in a close election, and some Republicans are publicly discussing ways to sway West and other minor candidates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Jill from the Green Party to give a boost. Stein hoping to split the anti-Donald Trump coalition.
In North Carolina, a new party formed in the state to get West on the ballot announced Monday that its “entirely voluntary effort” had submitted more than 30,000 signatures, despite having virtually no oversight and not receiving a “cent.” of West’s campaign.
But internal emails obtained by NBC News, social media posts and other evidence suggest that someone on the outside — though it’s unclear who or how much they spent — tried to help West get out the vote in North Carolina, even as his The grassroots allies were not fully aware of it.
Emails from election officials show that the pro-West Justice for All Party has allowed three people to collect and deliver signatures for them across the state — and all three are current or former employees of an in Colorado-based Republican political firm called Blitz Canvassing.
Blitz Canvassing has worked for numerous Republican House and Senate candidates and received more than $14.6 million in payments for Never Back Down, the main super PAC backing former Republican presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis , campaign finance reports show.
Read more from Alex here →
Within the tense state of negotiations between Israel and Hamas
By Andrea Mitchell
A week after the president announced a new Israeli ceasefire and hostage agreement, none of the players involved can even agree on who proposed it — let alone whether it can ever become a reality.
The US and Israel are taking opposing measures to pressure Hamas to accept the deal: the US through diplomacy, Israel through military action. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been burning up the phone lines trying to get every Arab leader and the G7 to sign off on the plan. Now Blinken is following up on those calls, announcing today that he will travel to the Middle East next week – his eighth trip to the region since the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin NetanyahuDespite agreeing to the deal as a member of Israel’s War Cabinet, he has since walked away from it and continues the attacks on Rafah.
U.S. officials say privately that Netanyahu’s tactics are misguided and are largely a political response to prevent far-right ministers from toppling his coalition government if he ends the war. Arab diplomats tell NBC News that both Hamas and Israel are open to “phase one” – a six-week pause in hostilities, accompanied by the release of hostages and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners.
But, they say, Hamas wants the ceasefire to be permanent in the second phase, a condition Israel will not accept.
Israel also objects to Hamas playing any role in Gaza after the war. The US and Hamas do not want Israel to remain there as a security force. All this has put further strain on the already difficult relationship between Biden and Netanyahu. The president has further inflamed these tensions, telling Time Magazine that “there are every reason” for people to conclude that Netanyahu is prolonging the war for his own political survival.
Biden tried to clean that up later, says Gabe Gutierrez of NBC News he doesn’t think Netanyahu is playing politics.
But with the administration deploying Middle East negotiator Brett McGurk to the region — and CIA Director William Burns detouring to Doha midweek to meet with Egyptian and Qatari counterparts — brokering a ceasefire and release of hostages acceptable to both Israel and Hamas direct diplomacy at a much higher level. I’ll be on site with Blinken next week to report on his attempt to get a deal across the finish line.
That’s all from The Politics Desk for now. If you have any feedback – like it or not – please email us at politicsnieuwsbrief@nbcuni.com
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This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
