EXCLUSIVE: Democrat Governors Arranged Meeting With Biden White House to Thwart Trump Agenda, Emails Show

White House officials under outgoing President Joe Biden may have colluded with staffers representing a coalition of Democrat governors planning to thwart President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda, according to a watchdog group and internal emails obtained from the coalition, known as Governors Safeguarding Democracy. 

The precise date of the meeting is not clear, but it appears to have been either Dec. 16 or Dec. 17. The emails refer to planning for the meeting but do not include the topics discussed.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis are the co-chairs of Governors Safeguarding Democracy, which is part of the Governors Action Alliance. 

The emails were obtained by the private nonprofit watchdog group Government Accountability and Oversight through a public records request and shared with The Daily Signal. 

The emails show that on Dec. 2, Governors Action Alliance CEO Julia Spiegel emailed Democrat state officials in numerous states about plans for Governors Safeguarding Democracy. 

One of the agenda items was “WH Meeting & Priority Asks.” 

The email further explained: “Gov. Pritzker’s Chief of Staff Anne Caprera will host a call with the administration to discuss lock-in asks. If your office would like to join this meeting, please email Julia Spiegel … by the end of this week.”

On Dec. 11, Allegra Chapman, managing director for Governors Safeguarding Democracy, sent an email to staffers for the governors of Illinois and Colorado with the subject line, “Time to talk on Fri re WH mtg pre-call?”

“Hi team! I’m reaching out now to set up a time for any/all offices planning to join the WH meeting next week (likely on Mon or Tues) to touch base first,” Chapman wrote. “That way, we can know who will be on next week, what the priorities are, what each office’s ask(s) might be, and who will cover what on the call with the WH.”

If the meeting occurred, it suggests the outgoing Biden administration followed the pattern of the previous Democrat administration, said Chris Horner, attorney for Government Accountability and Oversight. 

Horner said this reminds him of the time after the 2016 election when the outgoing Barack Obama administration set legal probes of the first Trump presidency in motion. Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, was involved in digging into incoming Trump administration officials. 

“One can’t help but be reminded by this of the outgoing Obama-Biden team’s work to plant land mines and derail its successor during the 2017 transition,” Horner told The Daily Signal in a statement. 

Referring to the possible meeting between Biden officials and staffers from Governors Safeguarding Democracy, Horner said it raises the question of how they sought to plant landmines and derail Trump this time: “What information did the Biden White House pass along to assist with this ‘GSD’ (‘Governors Sock-puppeting for Donors’) project; what were these ‘priority asks;’ were any privileges or obligations violated in doing so; was Susan Rice involved, again; and, of course, will there be any accountability this time?”

The emails from Spiegel and Chapman did not state what was discussed in the meeting. But an email from Chapman to state officials on Dec. 20, which would have likely come afterwards, talked about immigration. 

“Many offices worked with GovAct [Governors Action Alliance] to urge the Biden administration to finalize regulations that modernize and improve visa and employment authorization processes,” Chapman wrote. 

“The administration has now taken action to finalize rulemaking in three requested areas: H1-B modernization; Automatic Employment Authorization Extension; and H-2 visa modernization,” Chapman continued in the Dec. 20 email. “Collectively, these rules have the impact of increasing protections for immigrants and improving outcomes for businesses in your communities in the face of anticipated federal actions next year.” 

Before launching Governors Safeguarding Democracy on Nov. 13 after Trump’s election, the Governors Action Alliance launched the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, an abortion advocacy group that boasts it spent $535 million to expand abortion at the state level. 

The Governors Action Alliance is a project of the Global Impact Social Welfare Fund, a left-leaning advocacy group that has given grants to liberal groups advocating for gun control and stronger environmental regulations, according to the Capital Research Center, a think tank that monitors nonprofits. 

The Governors Action Alliance received $500,000 last year from liberal billionaire Pierre Omidyar’s group the Democracy Fund. 

The Daily Signal reached out to the Governors Action Alliance and both Spiegel and Chapman directly for comment and to ask if the planned meeting actually occurred and what was discussed. 

The Daily Signal also contacted the press offices of both Pritzker and Polis with similar questions about the meeting. The Daily Signal further reached out to the press contact for Governors Safeguarding Democracy. 

None responded by publication time. 

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