Joaquin Castro Names Big Trump Donors, Trump Supporters Complain
Andrew Harnik/Associated Press
We ran the numbers: There are 501 news articles covering this topic. 23% (115) are left leaning, 38% (190) center, 39% (196) right leaning.
This week, Representative Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas, tweeted out a list of 44 San Antonio area residents who have maxed out their donations to President Trump’s re-election campaign. Castro serves as the chairman for the presidential campaign of his brother, Julian Castro, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination. Republicans have accused Castro of doxing the Trump donors, and some of the donors have received threatening phone calls and pledges to boycott their businesses. Republicans in the House of Representatives have called for an ethics investigation of Castro.
A left-leaning article from the New York Times emphasizes that Castro’s actions, while detrimental to the donors, were legally protected by the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court case, which upheld the public disclosure of campaign donations. Additionally, economic boycotts are protected by the First Amendment, the article notes. However, they also note “Some legal scholars have argued that in the internet age, when anyone can quickly look up the campaign contributions of their neighbors, it makes more sense to set a higher limit for public disclosure.”
Centrist coverage by The Hill focuses on the House conservatives’ appeal to the Ethics Committee to investigate Castro for his actions. The representatives argued that Castro’s disclosure of Trump donors was intended to “chill the free speech and free association rights of Americans.”
Right-leaning coverage from Fox News focuses on the fact that Castro has now received an official Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint as a result of his tweet. The article adds that there is “a precedent set by a 1989 court case that grants regular citizens “practical obscurity,” even though their donations are a matter of public record.”
From the left
Trump’s Opponents Want to Name His Big Donors. His Supporters Say It’s Harassment.
New York Times