EXCLUSIVE — The National Republican Congressional Committee is brushing off demands from three freshman House Democrats to retract a “tongue-in-cheek” press release claiming the lawmakers supported Hamas.
On Friday, legal counsel from the Elias Law Group representing Reps. Andrea Salinas (D-OR) and Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) and from Olson Remcho LLP representing Rep. Yadira Caraveo (D-CO) sent immediate cease and desist letters to the NRCC, accusing the organization of false statements and defamation after they published several press releases with the headline “allegedly ‘quoting’” the representatives saying “I support Hamas.”
In the Democratic letters obtained by the Washington Examiner, general counsel Rachel Jacobs and Emma Anspach write on behalf of Salinas and Vasquez, arguing that the members have “never uttered the phrase, ‘I support Hamas.’”
“NRCC knows that Representative Vasquez did not make this statement and does not even try to attribute it; this brazen action by NRCC will not go unnoticed,” Jacobs and Anspach wrote. “We demand that you remove these false and defamatory statements and issue a correction immediately. If you do not comply, we are prepared to pursue all available legal actions.”
The press release from the NRCC in question had a headline of “I support Hamas” followed by the name of the member, with a line in the body text that said, “Nothing says ‘I support Hamas’ like withholding help from Israel.”
The NRCC, in three letters to the Democrats’ lawyers and shared exclusively with the Washington Examiner, called these releases “tongue-in-cheek” and that the “commentary” quotes should not be the Democrats’ top priorities.
“Rep. Caraveo argues that the quote is directly attributable to her; despite the fact that the press release goes on to clarify that the title is not a direct quote, but rather a commentary on her recent vote on H.R. 3639 – Israel Support Assistance Act,” NRCC general counsel Erin Clark wrote in a letter on Monday to Andrew Harris Werbrock, Caraveo’s lawyer, that mirrors the other two he sent to Vasquez and Salinas.
Dylan McArthur, campaign manager for Vasquez, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner that “when the NRCC admitted to using a fake quote, it was one of the few times they actually told the truth.”
Clark wrote that while the tone of the release was “sarcastic,” Caraveo’s voting record either suggests she supports Hamas or her “unwillingness to stand up [to] the terrorist organization and its sympathizers in her party’s base.”
“Given her voting record, I find it surprising that Rep. Caraveo would rather use her time and resources to have her attorney write to the NRCC about their use of quotation marks in a press release than explain her voting record to her constituents,” Clark said.
In similar letters to Salinas and Vasquez, Clark argues that the quotation marks in this press release are used ironically, “as instructed by every major style guide.”
“One statement on her website that she condemns Hamas does not negate her voting record on the issue,” Clark wrote to Jacobs and Anspach, speaking about Salinas.
Clark argued similarly in a letter to Jacobs and Anspach regarding Vasquez, saying that the New Mexico Democrat can “issue all the press releases he wants claiming to condemn Hamas, but his voting record tells a different story.”
Jacobs and Anspach pushed back on Clark’s claim of how to use quotation marks, arguing that “attributing a fabricated quotation to a speaker in a manner that injures the speaker’s reputation is defamatory.”
“The Supreme Court has held that ‘quotation marks indicate a verbatim reproduction, and quotations add authority to a statement and credibility to an author’s work,’” Jacobs and Anspach wrote, referring to the Masson v. New Yorker Magazine court case in 1991.
All three House Democrats, who are in their first term in Congress, voted against the Israel Security Assistance Support Act on Thursday, a bill that condemned President Joe Biden’s threats to pause weapons transfers to Israel if the Jewish state invaded Rafah. The resolution passed largely along party lines, with overwhelming GOP support and just 16 Democrats joining in advancing the measure.
The three House Democrats also voted against the Israel foreign aid package, which included $26.38 billion to the Jewish state and about $9 billion in humanitarian aid to civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza. Salinas and Vasquez voted “present” on a resolution condemning antisemitism in the U.S. and abroad, while Caraveo voted “yes.”
Caraveo and Vasquez are considered major targets for House Republicans as they seek to expand their razor-thin majority in the 2024 election. Both of their seats are ranked as “toss-ups” while Salinas’s seat leans Democratic, according to the Cook Political Report.
Jacobs and Anspach demanded in their letters that the NRCC remove the “false statements” from the NRCC website, as well as post a correction “informing the public” that the representatives have “never said ‘I support Hamas’ and that your press release stating otherwise was incorrect.”
“Here, NRCC claims Representative Salinas made a statement that she supports Hamas, an organization that the United States government has classified as a terrorist organization,” Jacobs and Anspach continued. “This fabricated quotation was clearly meant to injure her reputation.”
Werbrock demanded in his letter on behalf of Caraveo that NRCC preserve “all documents concerning, related to, or involving” the allegations against Caraveo such as research, polling, text messages, emails, and other communications.
The press release’s “sole purpose is to subject Representative Caraveo to contempt and ridicule and to injure her reputation and it is plainly false,” Werbrock wrote. “Further, NRCC knows that Representative Caraveo never made this statement, meaning that NRCC has acted with actual malice.”
The Elias Law Group is considered a key component in the Democratic Party’s legal strategy, particularly in the wake of the 2020 election. It was founded by Marc Elias, Hillary Clinton’s legal counsel during her unsuccessful 2016 election. His firm represents at least 150 campaigns and members of Congress and the Democratic National Committee itself, according to Politico.
In 2022, he told Politico in an interview that he wants to keep the Republican Party in check, with several of his legal teams going on offense in swing states to battle the false 2020 election denial claims spread by former President Donald Trump and his allies.
“I don’t want to leave the Republican Party unattended,” Elias said. “I want to babysit them in every case they file.”
The NRCC said to the Washington Examiner it is “not backing down” from Elias and “other liberal lawyers’ ridiculous demands.”
“Instead of supporting Israel and rejecting antisemitism and Hamas, extreme House Democrats try to send their lawyer goons after the NRCC to silence us,” NRCC national press secretary Will Reinert said in an exclusive statement. “It won’t work. These are the facts – Democrats enabled Joe Biden’s shameful strangulation of munitions to Israel, harming our ally’s ability to defend themselves from Hamas’ plan to eradicate the Jewish people.”
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“We suggest if Democrats don’t like us highlighting their votes — they should vote better,” Reinert added.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Caraveo, Salinas, and their respective campaigns for comment.
