February 25 and 26, 2018


News and Views


“LEICESTERSHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE SAID A TWO-FLOOR BUILDING SUFFERED A "PANCAKE COLLAPSE," AND SAID IT WAS UNKNOWN IF ANYONE WAS TRAPPED INSIDE. OFFICIALS SAID THERE IS A HAZMAT TEAM ON THE SCENE.” I HOPE NOBODY WAS KILLED OR INJURED, AND THAT NO BAD GUYS WERE INVOLVED. MOST OF THE TIME IT TURNS OUT TO BE A GAS LEAK, ETC.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/leicester-england-explosion-reports-live-updates-2018-02-25/
CBS NEWS February 25, 2018, 4:37 PM
Police respond to "major incident" in Leicester, England -- live updates

Photograph -- British police say they are responding to a "major incident" in Leicester, England. BBC NEWS

British police responded to a "major incident" in Leicester, England, after an explosion caused a building to collapse along a busy thoroughfare. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear.

Authorities said "all emergency services" responded to the incident, which closed Carlisle Street and part of Hinckley Road.

Four people were taken to a nearby hospital following the incident, the East Midlands Ambulance Service said Sunday.

Officials at the scene said they were conducting a search and rescue operation, BBC News reports. A police spokesperson said six fire engines responded to the incident.

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service said a two-floor building suffered a "pancake collapse," and said it was unknown if anyone was trapped inside. Officials said there is a hazmat team on the scene.

Video footage from the scene showed rubble on the street and smoke and flames still pouring from a building.


BBC East Midlands
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@bbcemt
This footage shows the aftermath of an apparent explosion in the Hinckley Road area of Leicester. Police have declared a "major incident." More information as we get it.

3:34 PM - Feb 25, 2018
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A witness at the scene told CBS News she heard a "bang" and thought it was a car accident. She said emergency services arrived within minutes and that she could see the fire about 200 meters away.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


THIS IS JUST YOUR FUN STORY FOR THE DAY. AT LEAST 5 YEARS OR SO AGO THERE WAS A STORY ABOUT A MAN WHO WAS GIVEN THE SAME KIND OF TICKET FOR RIDING HIS LAWNMOWER DOWN THE STREET.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-accused-of-riding-horse-on-california-freeway-arrested-for-dui/
CBS NEWS February 25, 2018, 12:38 PM
Man accused of riding horse on California freeway arrested for DUI

Photographs -- Man Accused Of Riding Horse On California Freeway Arrested For DUI

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Authorities say a man accused of riding a horse on a freeway in Southern California was arrested for driving under the influence, CBS Los Angeles reports. The California Highway Patrol says Luis Perez of Placentia had a blood-alcohol level of more than double the legal limit when they allege he took his horse on the 91 Freeway.

Officers say the 29-year-old hoofed it into Bellflower where they arrested him.

Perez, according to police, failed a field sobriety test and was booked into jail.

The horse was unharmed and was back with Perez' mother.

Perez was being held in lieu of more than $50,000 bail.



PERSONALLY, I FEEL SORRY FOR THIS SHERIFF, BECAUSE HE STRIKES ME AS BEING HONEST AND REALLY CARING ABOUT THIS SITUATION. USUALLY POLICE GET INTO TROUBLE FOR EXCESSIVE VIOLENCE, BUT THIS TIME IT IS FOR WHAT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE COWARDICE. I TRULY HOPE NOT.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-sheriff-under-growing-pressure-over-handling-of-parkland-shooting/
CBS/AP February 25, 2018, 3:16 PM
Florida sheriff under growing pressure over handling of Parkland shooting

PARKLAND, Fla. -- The Florida sheriff whose department responded to this month's high school massacre defended his leadership Sunday while insisting that only one of his deputies was on the scene as the gunman killed 14 students and three staff members.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel told CNN that investigators are looking into claims that three other deputies were on the scene but failed to enter the school when the chance to save lives still existed. To date, the investigation pointed to only one deputy being on campus while the killer was present, he said.

Israel also labeled as "absolutely untrue" reports that the deputies waited outside even though children were inside the building needing urgent medical treatment.

Israel and the sheriff's office have come under withering scrutiny after last week's revelation that deputy Scot Peterson did not go in to confront the suspected shooter, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, during the Valentine's Day attack. It is also facing backlash for apparently mishandling some of the 18 tipster calls related to the suspected shooter. The tips were among a series of what authorities now describe as the clearest missed warning signs that Cruz, who had a history of disturbing behavior, posed a serious threat.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott's office said Sunday that he asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Rick Swearingen to investigate the law enforcement response to the shooting. The agency confirmed it would start the investigation immediately.

Israel's office said it welcomes the investigation and "will fully cooperate with FDLE, as we believe in full transparency and accountability."

State Rep. Bill Hager, a Republican lawmaker from Boca Raton, is calling on Scott to remove Israel from office because of the missed red flags.

Israel vowed not to resign, saying he has shown "amazing leadership." He said Hager's letter "was full of misinformation" and "shameful, politically motivated."

House Speaker Richard Corcoran stepped up the pressure Sunday, calling on Scott to suspend the sheriff.

"In the years leading up to this unspeakable tragedy, Sheriff Israel, his deputies, and staff ignored repeated warning signs about the violent, erratic, threatening, and antisocial behavior of Nikolas Jacob Cruz," Corcoran said in a letter signed by dozens of lawmakers.

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David Begnaud
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@DavidBegnaud
73 elected Republicans in Florida are urging Governor @FLGovScott to suspend @browardsheriff Scott Israel for “incompetence and dereliction of duty” following the Parkland school massacre & response to it.

Today, the sheriff told @jaketapper “I’ve given amazing leadership.”

2:52 PM - Feb 25, 2018
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Israel insisted that lapses were being investigated. He told CNN that a deputy who responded to a Nov. 30 call referring to Cruz as a "school shooter in the making" was being investigated by internal affairs for not filing a report. The sheriff said the employee was placed on restrictive duty.

"There needed to be [a] report. And that's what we are looking into - that a report needed to be completed, it needed to be forwarded to either Homeland Security or a violent crimes unit," Israel said.

NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch told ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" that critics shouldn't blame her organization, gun owners or semiautomatic weapons for the shooting, but Cruz for his own actions and the Broward Sheriff's Office and the FBI for failing to stop him despite warnings that he was a potential school shooter.

"Can we actually look at what really could have prevented this?" Loesch told Stephanopoulos. "That firearm did not walk itself into the school. ...The Broward County Sheriff's Office allowed that firearm to go into that school."

The FBI has acknowledged that it failed to investigate the tip about Cruz that the agency received on Jan. 5.

David Hogg, a Stoneman Douglas senior who has become a leader to the student movement, told Stephanopoulos that Loesch's comments are "disgusting." He said Loesch's goal is to "distract" the American public and to benefit the gun manufacturers.

Stoneman Douglas students have been pushing for tougher gun laws. Most want AR-15s banned and the age for buying rifles in Florida raised to 21, as it is for handguns. Many want all semiautomatic rifles banned. Uniformly, they want stronger background checks so people like the 19-year-old suspect, who was known to be mentally unstable and violent, cannot buy guns.

"They act like they don't own these politicians. They still do. It is a Republican-controlled House, Senate and executive branch. They could get this done. They have gotten gun legislation passed before in favor of gun manufacturers," he said.

The Associated Press obtained a transcript of the phone call, which spanned more than 13 minutes. During the call, the woman described a teenager prone to anger with the "mental capacity of a 12 to 14 year old" that deteriorated after his mother died last year. She pointed the FBI to several Instagram accounts where Cruz had posted photos of sliced-up animals and rifles and ammunition he apparently purchased with money from his mother's life insurance policy.

"It's alarming to see these pictures and know what he is capable of doing and what could happen," the caller said. "He's thrown out of all these schools because he would pick up a chair and just throw it at somebody, a teacher or a student, because he didn't like the way they were talking to him."

Later Sunday, Stoneman Douglas administrators, teachers, parents and students are scheduled to meet at the school to discuss its scheduled reopening. Students return to class on Wednesday.

Kailey Brown, a 15-year-old freshman, said at a rally last week that she will not be scared when she returns. She was in the building where the shooting happened.

"I am going to come back strong with my friends and show that we love each other so much and we are going to get through this," she said.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



LET’S BE REAL. NOTHING WILL “WORK” 100%, BECAUSE THERE ARE TOO MANY VARIABLES SITUATION TO SITUATION; BUT SEVERAL THINGS ARE VERY IMPORTANT – GET SEMI-AUTOMATIC AND AUTOMATICS OUT OF THE HANDS OF ALL CIVILIANS, NO MATTER THEIR SEX OR AGE OR NATIONALITY OR ANY OTHER GROUP, AND DON’T LET ANY GUN OF ANY KIND BE BOUGHT BY ANYONE WHO IS UNDER 21 YEARS OLD, AND DO, DO CHECK THEIR NAME ON THE LIST OF MENTALLY ILL OR EX-CRIMINAL STATUS. OH, YES. WE NEED TO STOP THOSE REPUBLICANS WHO ARE BLOCKING THE COMPLETION OF THOSE LISTS. IT ISN’T AN UNACCEPTABLE INTRUSION INTO PRIVACY TO GET THAT INFORMATION ON PEOPLE WHO BUY GUNS. REGISTER EACH ONE, AND KEEP TRACK ON THOSE WHO HAVE BOUGHT MORE THAN TWO OR THREE GUNS. BEING “A GUN NUT” IS THE FIRST STEP TO USING THEM, MANY TIMES. IF WE DO A COMBINATION OF THESE THINGS, THE NUMBER OF GUN KILLINGS WILL GO DOWN. CERTAINLY, SOME PEOPLE WILL BUY THEM AT A GUN SHOW, FROM THEIR NEIGHBOR, ETC.; AND CERTAIN OTHERS WILL USE A KNIFE, BUT THEY WON’T BE ABLE TO KILL OR INJURE AS MANY PEOPLE AT ONE TIME AS AN AR-15 WILL.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ending-gun-violence-in-america-what-works-and-what-doesnt/
By EMILY TILLETT CBS NEWS February 25, 2018, 1:10 PM
Ending gun violence in America: What works, and what doesn't?

In the wake of yet another deadly school shooting, individuals directly affected by gun violence tell CBS News' "Face the Nation" that new legislation and measures to protect schools are needed now more than ever. The demand for action, however, is largely being driven by emboldened student activists calling for change.

President Trump has signaled he would be open to supporting bipartisan legislation on more stringent background checks and raising the age limit of those who can purchase high-capacity weapons. He has also called on the Justice Department to explore regulations that would ban "bump stock" devices. Over the last several days, he has embraced proposals to arm teachers in classrooms.

The panel of five people personally impacted by gun violence say such measures are not the best way to strengthen the safety of schools.

Transcript: Americans affected by gun violence on "Face the Nation," Feb. 25, 2018

"When I think very practically about myself sitting in a second grade classroom on the floor -- criss cross applesauce with my students, teaching, reading -- the last thing I would be ready for in the split second that it might happen is having to pull out a firearm and pull it from my hip and intervene in that way," said Michele Gay, a former teacher who founded Safe and Sound Schools after her daughter was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. "Further, having worked with school resource officers so closely for the past five years, we know the level of training that they undergo."

Orlando Police Chief John Mina echoed that concern, saying teachers already have a litany of daily responsibilities and aren't prepared to handle firearms in a stressful situation.

"Law enforcement throughout the country -- not only did they get through, you know, hours and months and weeks of training, but they also carry firearms every day and deal and use their firearms, sometimes in stressful situations. And for a teacher to be educating students at one second and then be responsible for responding in a high stress situation with a firearm with not enough training or mental preparation, I don't think it's a good fit. I'm definitely against that," Mina said.

Austin Eubanks, a survivor of the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, said he's opposed to the idea as well.

"I do believe that we have to strengthen schools by way of architecture, metal detectors or perhaps additional security personnel. But I do think that those two functions have to be completely separate. Educators have to focus on education and security officials need to focus on security," said Eubanks.

The panelists agreed that in the days after the shooting, student activists who have mobilized and demanded answers from lawmakers are energizing the debate around gun control.

Nicole Hockley of Sandy Hook Promise said there's a stark difference between adults advocating on behalf of their children versus students advocating for themselves, like they are in Parkland.

"These are articulate teenagers sharing their experience and demanding that the adults listen to them," Hockley said. "So I think the politicians need to stop their nonsense fighting and instead just kind of shut up and listen a little bit to these kids and listen to what they're demanding, because this can't continue. We can't keep letting our kids die and feel unsafe in their schools."

Hockley added, "Their energy and their drive, that energized me because, you know, I've been in this fight for five years. They're at the start of a very long journey, but they have tools in terms of social media and stuff that I didn't really have at my fingertips. They are organizing and mobilizing at an incredibly rapid rate and and they're not listening to what other people are telling them to say. They're speaking for themselves. They're being authentic. And I think that has power."

Andy Parker, father of Alison Parker, a reporter for CBS Roanoke affiliate WDBJ who was killed live on air, said that while the White House held two separate listening sessions this past week in an effort to formulate a response to mass shootings, the move might be too little too late.

"When you have to hold a note card that says, 'I hear you,' I mean, come on. That's unimpressive to say the least," said Parker.

For more on the roundtable watch the full panel discussion on "Face the Nation" above.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



BERNIE PLAYING DIRTY? I HOPE NOT, AND I DO DOUBT IT. HE DIDN’T DISPUTE THE MUELLER STORY THAT HIS CAMPAIGN WAS AIDED BY THE RUSSKIES, AND I BELIEVE HE SHOULD, OR COME OUT AND SAY THAT IF IT HAPPENED, HE KNEW NOTHING ABOUT IT AT THE TIME. BUT HOW TRUTHFUL IS POLITICO AND ESPECIALLY THIS OPERATIVE, MATTES?

I’VE USED POLITICO STORIES SEVERAL TIMES, BUT MAYBE I SHOULDN’T. I DID CHECK THEIR TRUTHFULNESS ON THE NET, AND IT SAID THEY ARE MAINLY RELIABLE ABOUT FACT, BUT THAT THEY DO LEAN TO THE LEFT. BUT THE ONE THAT I INSTINCTIVELY DON’T TRUST IS MATTES. WHEN SOMEBODY STEPS IN AND STARTS A RUMOR AGAINST SOMEONE IT IS VERY OFTEN TO DEFLECT ATTENTION AWAY FROM THEMSELVES. I WONDER IF HE WAS SPYING FOR RUSSIA? WHY IS HE MAKING THIS CLAIM NOW, ANYWAY. DID MUELLER LINK HIS NAME WITH RUSSIA, TOO? DID POLITICO PAY HIM A FEE FOR THIS “INFORMATION?” THIS IS THE KIND OF RUMOR MONGERING THAT RUSSIA IS FAMOUS FOR.

HIS IS ONE OF THOSE STORIES, THOUGH, THAT IS MORE ODD THAN DAMNING TO SANDERS, AND SO VAGUE IN ITS’ STATEMENTS THAT IT DOESN’T REALLY IMPART ANY INFORMATION – TO MY MIND ANYWAY. IF HE DIDN’T KNOWINGLY ACCEPT MONEY FROM A FOREIGN SOURCE, AND I FEEL SURE THAT HE DIDN’T, THEN HE IS NOT AT FAULT. THIS IS HOW UGLY STORIES GET STARTED IN SMALL TOWNS WHERE HOUSEWIVES HINT AND HINT, AND WINK AND NOD, AND SOMEONE’S NAME GETS TOTALLY RUINED. THAT’S WHY I LIKE A CITY.

POLITICS
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/24/bernie-sanders-russian-trolls-false-story-423413
Bernie Sanders promoted false story on reporting Russian trolls
The Vermont senator’s claim of sharing suspicious activity with the Clinton campaign never happened.
By EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE 02/24/2018 06:56 AM EST

Photograph -- Sen. Bernie Sanders and his top aide were at turns defiant and defensive during and after his interview with a Vermont radio station, even initially disputing special counsel Robert Mueller’s finding in his indictment last week that the Russians backed his campaign. | Pete Marovich/Getty Images

Bernie Sanders is taking credit for action to combat the Russian incursion into the 2016 election that he didn’t have anything to do with — and didn’t actually happen.

Twice this week, in response to questions about whether he benefited from the Russian effort, as prosecutors allege, or did enough to stop it, Sanders said a staffer passed information to Hillary Clinton’s aides about a suspected Russian troll operation.

It turns out that the purported Sanders’ staffer who said he tried to sound the alarm was a campaign volunteer who acted on his own, without any contact or direction from the Vermont senator or his staff. When the volunteer, John Mattes of San Diego, said he communicated with the Clinton campaign in local press accounts, he was confusing it for a super PAC supportive of Clinton.

He also doesn’t know why Sanders is taking all the credit. “I’m going to send him a bill for my back pay,” Mattes joked.

“He could have called me,” Mattes added. “He maybe doesn’t have my phone number.”

Mattes’ claims, made in two phone interviews with POLITICO, came after Sanders and staffers offered numerous and conflicting answers in the span of a few hours on Wednesday about what he did about Russian meddling. Sanders and his top aide were at turns defiant and defensive during and after his interview with a Vermont radio station, even initially disputing special counsel Robert Mueller’s finding in his indictment last week that the Russians backed his campaign.

Sanders told two versions of the false story.

First, on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, he said, “It turns out that one of our social media guys in San Diego actually went to the Clinton campaign in September and said something weird is going on.” Then, on a Vermont Public Radio interview Wednesday, he referred to “a guy who was on my staff” who checked out suspicious activity and went to the Clinton campaign. “And he said, ‘You know what? I think these guys are Russians,’” Sanders said.

Sanders has not himself addressed his claims that a staffer shared information with the Clinton campaign, though a statement from an unnamed aide said he’d been basing his comments on public reporting and “using the word ‘campaign’ expansively.”

His former campaign manager and confidant, Jeff Weaver, said in an interview the senator did not verify what he’d read.

“He does not know. All he knows is what was reported,” Weaver said on Wednesday.

Asked to explain why Sanders would repeat a story he didn’t know was true and turned out not to be, Sanders spokesperson Arianna Jones said he’s “not a great fan of reporters who try to provoke controversy where none exists.” She reiterated the point the senator has made through the week about how he campaigned hard for Clinton.

Jones further defended Sanders’ assertions by noting that Mattes, in an MSNBC interview on Thursday, said again that he’d been in touch with the Clinton campaign. That claim, like his earlier one, was mistaken.

Asked why the senator relayed the Mattes story without checking it, Jones responded, “It sounds as if you're suggesting that we should no longer trust the reporting of outlets like NBC and that the information they provide requires independent verification?” She said that Sanders had referred to Mattes as being on his campaign because “Bernie considers the tens of thousands of people who volunteered during 2016 a part of his campaign.” She eventually acknowledged that Sanders “misspoke” in calling Mattes a member of his staff, but reasoned, “There were more than 1,000 staff members over the course of the campaign.”

Mattes, 67, describes himself as a “part-time researcher, part-time lawyer [and] part-time consumer advocate.” He said he figured out what the Kremlin was up to by tracking and digging in to suspicious Facebook accounts he’d noticed commenting on pro-Sanders pages once the primary ended.

Rick Gates is pictured. | Getty Images
New indictments revealed against Manafort after Gates pleads guilty
By JOSH GERSTEIN and DARREN SAMUELSOHN

Mattes acknowledged, though, that he didn’t come to suspect Russia was involved until weeks after the Clinton campaign publicly raised concerns about Russian hacking. He said he never talked to anyone on the Clinton campaign itself, though he believed that the researcher he spoke with at the pro-Clinton American Bridge PAC, run by David Brock, was tantamount to reaching the campaign.

“David Brock was all I knew of the campaign,” Mattes said. “No one at American Bridge* said, ‘Call up Hillary, call up John Podesta or anybody.’ …. If they weren’t sharing it with Hillary, that is their responsibility.”

Mattes is adamant that anyone who claims that American Bridge was not tantamount to the Clinton campaign is being naive, though campaign finance laws prohibit interaction between entities such as those.

Mattes shared with POLITICO email exchanges he had with an American Bridge researcher, whom Federal Election Commission records show was on staff through the end of 2016. In one of them, the researcher responded “this is amazing” to a link Mattes sent from a site he claimed was Macedonian. It appeared to be a news article about Clinton receiving debate questions in advance.

The researcher, whose name Mattes shared under condition it not be published, did not respond to attempts by email or Facebook to verify Mattes’ claims of contact or information.

A spokesperson for American Bridge declined to comment.

Mattes, who said he’s a lawyer who’s been involved lately in class action suits against a major car rental company and Delta Airlines, worked as a researcher for the Senate, and afterward for several news organizations. His involvement with the presidential campaign started with a Skype conversation with Sanders in the spring of 2015 conducted from a local fast food restaurant along with several other volunteers. The conversation, before the campaign was announced, was the only time Mattes said he's spoken with the senator.

His interest was sparked by seeing a flurry of accounts joining Bernie Sanders pages on Facebook after the primaries were over. That seemed unusual, as did their names.

“No profile on Facebook, no history on Facebook, and to me what was striking is that to me these people were emerging out of the ground and all they wanted to do was join Bernie Sanders groups,” Mattes said.

President Trump on school safety and armed teachers
Midterm campaign Trump debuts at CPAC
By LORRAINE WOELLERT and CRISTIANO LIMA

Digging more, he said he found that multiple accounts were using the same names and posting articles he found “wildly over the top” bashing Clinton. He noticed strange typos in them, too.

“In the second week of September, I felt comfortable enough with what [I was] seeing to share it not just with my friends,” Mattes said.

He said he also shared his findings with “someone on [Barack] Obama’s national security staff” just before the election.

“This person in blunt terms said, ‘John, we are seeing Putin’s fingerprints, and Putin is paying for all of it,’” Mattes said.

Asked who this person was, Mattes would only say that it was “a high-level person.”

Daniel Lippman contributed to this report.


AMERICAN BRIDGE 21ST CENTURY PAC

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Bridge_21st_Century
American Bridge 21st Century
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

American Bridge 21st Century is a progressive American Super PAC that supports Democratic candidates and opposes Republican candidates.[1] It was founded by David Brock in 2010 and is associated with Media Matters for America. It is an opposition research hub for the Democratic Party.[2] The group physically tracks and monitors Republican candidates and officials and uses social media to deploy its findings.

Methods

American Bridge PAC employs over 50 "trackers" to follow and record Republican candidates across the country.[3] These trackers are equipped with high-tech recording gear and are assigned Republican targets to follow and record. According to the New York Times, the organization "aims to record every handshake, every utterance by Republican candidates...looking for gotcha moments that could derail political ambitions or provide fodder for television advertisements by liberal groups."[4] USA Today described the group's goal as "uncovering an unguarded moment, a controversial position, a gaffe or flip-flop, anything that can be used to torpedo a political foe's campaign."[5] The organization compiles opposition research dossiers on the Republican candidates they are targeting. The group's opposition dossier on Mitt Romney was 2,500 pages long. American Bridge PAC attempts to tie Republican candidates to the Koch brothers.[6]

The PAC discovered that the Trump Institute's book was plagiarized, with at least 20 pages coming from a 1995 Success Magazine article.[7]

Donors

American Bridge PAC is largely funded by Democratic donors and labor unions. Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros was the group’s largest donor for the 2012 and 2014 cycles, contributing $1 million in 2012 and over $1 million in 2014. In 2012, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees donated $575,000.[1] American Bridge was one of several progressive political groups to coordinate fundraising efforts for the 2012 elections.[8]