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Brits advising Harris must register as 'agents of a foreign principal,' election watchdog tells DOJ
[JTN] Center for Countering Digital Hate, the bane of Elon Musk, is registered in U.S. as 501(c)(3), but "there is no material separation between it and the original entity of the same name" in U.K., America First Legal says.

A U.K. group that purports to police disinformation may have to register as "agents of a foreign principal" for alleged election interference, based on its interactions with U.S. policymakers including the attorney general of Connecticut, according to a federal complaint Thursday.

America First Legal formally asked the Justice Department to review the Center for Countering Digital Hate under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, noting its connections to the U.K. and Scottish Labour Party, the Parliament of each, and the White House.

Nine days earlier, former Senate Finance Committee investigator Paul Thacker and Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibbi released their investigation based on leaked documents into CCDH's written plan to "kill [Elon] Musk's Twitter," now X, which was so important to the group it has been listed as "first item in the template of its monthly agenda notes" since January.

CCDH's founder Morgan McSweeney, reportedly "the brains" behind U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's rise to power and his new chief of staff, is even advising the Kamala Harris presidential campaign, Politico reported when she took over the top of the Democratic ticket this past summer.

McSweeney set up the Labour Party's affiliated think tank Labour Together at the same time as CCDH, in the wake of Labour's 2017 election gains, with 30 new members of Parliament.

"McSweeney is lionized, not just for a [Clinton campaign advisory James] Carville-style rightward tilt within the party, but for mastery of fundraising and dark money," Thacker and Taibbi wrote, and Labour Together "has been operating in the U.S. for several years through CCDH."

DOJ has not responded to a query on AFL's request by Just the News on Friday.

CCDH is already the subject of a House Judiciary Committee probe for the Biden administration using its "Disinformation Dozen" list to pressure social media to censor Robert F. Kennedy Jr. among others. AFL previously showed Biden counterterrorism officials sought CCDH's counsel.

CCDH also beat a lawsuit by X earlier this year alleging it illegally scraped tweets to document an increase in supposed hate speech since Musk's purchase and rebranding of Twitter, driving away its advertisers in the process.

It may have more trouble avoiding FARA, at least if a second Trump administration materializes.

"While CCDH is registered to operate in the United States as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, there is no material separation between it and the original entity of the same name established in the United Kingdom," AFL said Thursday. Tax records show three U.S. board members are also on the U.K. board and a fourth, an MP, stepped down from the latter July 11, the FARA letter notes.
Posted by: Frank G 2024-11-04
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=723499