A Rupert Murdoch-owned establishment media outlet with a contentious relationship with President Donald Trump hosted staff members for prominent House Democrats in February to offer strategic communications advice.
The leftwing Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) sponsored and financed an all-expenses-paid trip for a Democrat-heavy group of congressional staffers to New York City February 27-28 to meet with representatives of the Wall Street Journal, Sludge first reported.
PPI, founded in 1989 by the Democratic Leadership Council “as the intellectual home of the New Democrats,” is an arm of the self-described “center-left” Third Way.
Among the attendees of the bipartisan trip were staff for the leader of the House Democrats’ campaign arm and the House Democrats’ chief deputy whip.
The publications briefed staffers on how to better collaborate to spread their bosses’ messages, according to government documents.
The purpose of the junket, which included meals at swanky Manhattan steakhouses, was “[m]eetings with media organizations and reporters to better our understanding of their goals and how we can get our message out through their channels,” according to a post-travel disclosure form on the House Ethics Committee’s website from one of the attendees, Nicholas Martin, the top communications staffer for Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) chair Rep. Suzan DelBene (WA).
According to House Ethics Committee documents, also attending were staff for Democrat Reps. Julie Johnson (TX), Greg Stanton (AZ), George Whitesides (CA), Jared Golden (D-ME), Brad Schneider (IL), and Sharice Davids (KA) – the chief deputy whip. Staff for Republicans Andy Barr (KY), Julia Letlow (LA), and William Timmons (SC) attended the PPI-organized event as well.
Staff for additional offices possibly attended the event as well, although no other filed post-travel disclosure forms were found by Breitbart News.
The House Ethics Committee-approved itinerary for the group of (at least) seven Democrat and three Republican staffers including a private dinner with PPI staff at a Manhattan steakhouse as well meetings with Wall Street Journal staff, among others.
Post-travel disclosure forms approved by the House Ethics Committee and on file with the Clerk of the House indicated the group would visit Fox News studios for a tour and meeting with producers (Sludge also reported the meeting took place). But a Fox News spokesperson told Breitbart News after original publication of this story that no meeting took place.
“The Progressive Policy Institute never scheduled a tour or networking discussion with FOX News producers and bookers and the network has no record of a meeting with our staffers ever taking place,” a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement.
A source with direct knowledge of the group’s updated agenda confirmed to Breitbart News the group did not meet with Fox News and instead met with Amazon officials, although that is not reflected in the itinerary of the post-travel disclosure forms.
The itinerary did include a coveted Wall Street Journal Editorial Board Discussion, characterized in ethics forms as a “[c]onversation with Paul Gigot, editor of the WSJ editorial page, and columnists about how the editorial page approaches covering Congress and publishing viewpoints from individual members.”
A source confirmed to Breitbart News that WSJ meeting took place.
The Murdoch-owned Journal was traditionally considered Republican-friendly before President Donald Trump rose to political power in 2015 and 2016, but has often criticized and traded barbs with Trump, with the paper’s editorial pages often attacking his economic and trade policies.
On March 13, Trump hammered the Journal for “having no idea what they are doing or saying.”
“They are owned by the polluted thinking of the European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of ‘screwing’ the United States of America,” Trump wrote.
The February congressional staff visits also included a visit to NBC studios, a Columbia University School of Journalism Roundtable, a Discussion with Moody’s Credit Rating Agency, a visit to the New York Stock Exchange, and a social media workshop with the Google communications teams.
UPDATE: This story and headline have been updated to reflect that despite post-travel disclosure forms reflecting the PPI-funded group met with Fox News, no meeting took place.
Bradley Jaye is Deputy Political Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye.
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