theintercept--2020-10-16--In Eric Branstad, the Trump Administration Has Its Own Hunter Biden Problem

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When President Donald Trump abruptly reversed an order penalizing the Chinese telecom company ZTE for selling to North Korea and Iran in 2018, it confused almost everyone. Why was the get-tough-on-China president suddenly caving to their demands? As The Intercept’s Lee Fang and Mara Hvistendahl found out, the story behind Trump’s move on ZTE sheds new light on the role of lobbyists and foreign interests at the highest levels of his administration’s decision-making. And it involves a figure most Americans, even in his home state, have never heard of: Eric Branstad, son of former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad.
President Donald J. Trump: Get the hell out to vote, because if I don’t get Iowa, I won’t believe that one. I may never have to come back here again, if I don’t get Iowa. I’ll never be back. You understand that, Kim?
Ryan Grim: Welcome to Deconstructed. I’m Ryan Grim, and you’re listening to a Trump campaign rally from just this week in Des Moines, Iowa.
DJT: I will say this there has never been a president that has done more for farmers and ranchers. The President
RG: The President took a moment during his rally, as he does, to single out a couple of friends in the crowd.
DJT: Ambassador Terry Branstad. [Cheers and applause.]
RG: Terry Branstad is the former governor of Iowa, the longest-serving governor in U.S. history, in fact. More recently, he was Trump’s ambassador to China. But the show today will focus more on his son.
DJT: Because his son Eric is even better than him. But I’m not going to talk about it. You know, a lot of fathers, they get angry if you say that, “Oh, I’m better than my son.” Those are not great fathers. This guy’s proud. His son is great.
RG: Eric Brandstad is basically unknown outside of Iowa, where he was the chair of Trump’s 2016 campaign. Not long ago, one of our reporters got a tip suggesting she look into Eric.
Mara Hvistendahl: I am Mara Mara Hvistendahl, and I am an investigative reporter with The Intercept.
RG: The tipster told her that Eric was, “the Hunter Biden of Iowa.”
DJT: Hunter was being paid for access to his vice president father, who was specifically put in charge of Ukraine and Russia.
RG: That ended up sending her and her colleague —
Lee Fang: My name is Lee Fang, I’m a reporter at The Intercept.
RG: — down an investigative route that would eventually connect the Branstads to a much bigger story.
MH: I would say the details of this story are not widely known in Iowa. But a lot of people there have long suspected that there is something that is not entirely right with the state’s political dynasty.
[Musical interlude.]
DJT: We have very unfair trade with China. We’re going to have a trade deficit of $505 billion this year with China.
LF: During the 2016 presidential campaign, one of the big campaign lines, one of the big promises by Donald Trump was that he was going to crack down on China, he is going to stop the flow of jobs going overseas, and that he would get tough on a country that he claimed that the political establishment had given a pass for decades and decades.
DJT: I love China, I love the Chinese people, but they laugh themselves — they can’t believe how stupid the American leadership is.
MH: But, for the first few years, the administration somewhat soft-pedaled on that issue. That shifted in 2018.
Newscaster: Trump announcing new tariffs against China. Is this a sign we’re heading into a global trade war?
Newscaster: The message from China is loud and clear: We do not want a trade war, but if you start one, we’ll fight it.
LF: The Trump administration singled out ZTE. This is a major telecoms and electronics producer.
Newscaster: Chinese telecoms maker ZTE is being blocked from exporting sensitive technology from America.
MH: They came into the crosshairs of the Commerce Department because they violated U.S. sanctions by selling to North Korea and Iran.
LF: So the Trump administration proposed an order that prevented U.S. manufacturers from selling or supplying goods to ZTE.
Newscaster: This is a potentially devastating blow to ZTE. American brands provide up to 30 percent of the parts in ZTE smartphones.
LF: This was a company that was seen by many of the Trump administration, many of the national security establishment as a potential rival to the U.S. — not just a business rival, but a national security threat.
Newscaster: Every U.S. intel agency has said that ZTE phones made by a Chinese company close to the Chinese government are at risk of surveillance.
LF: But within a few weeks, the order fell apart and Trump unexpectedly tweeted that he would roll back the sanctions.
Chris Wallace: President Trump shocked a lot of people this week when he tweeted this. Let’s put it up on the screen.
Chris Hayes: “President Xi of China and I are working together —
Brian Williams: “ — to give massive Chinese phone company ZTE —“
Shepard Smith: “ — a way to get back into business fast. Too many jobs in China lost.
Chris Matthews: “ — Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done.”
BW: “Those words from the President amounted to a shocker.”
DJT: President Xi asked me to look at it. I said I would look at it.
Sen Chuck Schumer: President Trump bemoans too many jobs in China lost. What about American jobs?
DJT: Anything we do with ZTE is always, it’s just a small component of the overall deal,
SCS: “The Art of the Deal.” It should be President Xi who writes the book, because he’s taken us to the cleaners on ZTE.
MH: Why the Trump administration decided to make a deal with ZTE —
LF: — why Trump would reverse course, on a target that seems to fulfill a lot of his campaign promises, getting tough on China —
MH: — has always been a bit of a mystery.
Sen Marco Rubio: I disagree on the decision they made about ZTE. Why do you think
Wolf Blitzer: Why do you think they made that decision on ZTE?
SMR: Well, I don’t know. You’ll have to ask the White House what it was based on.
MH: What happened between April 2018 and July 2018?
Newscaster: Joe Biden continues to defend his son, saying that Hunter Biden did nothing wrong.
Tucker Carlson: Hunter Biden’s lucrative relationship with Ukrainian energy company called Burisma.
Newscaster: Is there a whiff of nepotism that Hunter Biden got this privileged position?
Geraldo Rivera: I feel sorry for Hunter Biden: 49 years old, in and out of rehab, he grabbed onto his dad’s coattails and got these jobs.
MH: You know, so someone says to me, Eric Branstad is the Hunter Biden of Iowa. You know, it suggests that he: A) has been riding his father’s coattails and, you know, possibly making money off his father’s position as a prominent politician. And you know, B) that there’s also some connection to China.
Newscaster: What’s the real story about Hunter Biden and China?
Newscaster: President Trump wants China to investigate Hunter Biden’s time on a corporate advisory board.
DJT: His son walked out with $1.5 billion from China. These were not the same Chinese people I just dealt with, I will tell you that.
MH: Eric Branstad really is a fascinating character, much in the way that Hunter Biden is because, like Hunter Biden, he has this checkered past. For many Iowans, one of the defining things about Eric Branstad is that he was involved in this car crash when he was 16 that killed two people. And that was a big controversy in Iowa in the 1990s.
Then that was followed by several other incidents involving alcohol and reckless behavior.
While Eric Branstad’s father Terry was governor of Iowa, Eric Brandstad started an LLC called Matchpoint Strategies, and he took in tens of thousands of dollars from politicians and so forth in the state, to do consulting work and fundraising work on their behalf. There’s no indication that that is illegal, but that does raise questions about whether he is trading on his father’s name.
Newscaster: Decision 2016 coverage this morning: Iowa starts and helps finish the race for the White House.
MH: Terry Branstad and his son Eric Branstad were extremely crucial to Donald Trump winning Iowa in 2016.
Speaker: Nine months and a day after the Iowa caucuses, the campaigns are still focusing on our state. This is a big battleground state.
MH: Iowa plays an outsized role in U.S. presidential politics, because it’s the first state in the country to have any sort of primary.
Newscaster: In Iowa, the urgency is palpable. It went for President Obama twice.
MH: So every four years, candidates come in seeking endorsements. And it was as part of that process that Eric Branstad connected with Donald Trump,
LF: Eric Branstad was essentially barnstorming the state, following each presidential candidate, and pressuring them to support the ethanol biofuel lobby policy agenda. And I think this is how Eric Branstad and Donald Trump got to know each other, because Eric Branstad was courting all the presidential candidates on behalf of the ethanol lobby. And that’s how he came in contact with Trump.
Eric Branstad: I taught him about, you know, what, what ethanol is what biofuels are.
LF: You know, according to Eric Branstad, he was helping Donald Trump tour an ethanol plant and discuss these policy issues with him. And from there, they formed a relationship
EB: That May, he flew me out to New York, and he asked me to be the state director for the general campaign —
MH: And that same month, his father, Terry Branstad, endorsed Trump. That was a really crucial endorsement.
You know, if you remember back in early 2016, many Republicans were still on the fence about Trump; it was a really crowded race in Iowa. Because Terry Branstad has so much influence, he was able to get all of the establishment Republicans to fall in line behind Trump.
Newscaster: Governor Branstad says a lot is at stake in this election. He feels Donald Trump is the best candidate when it comes to national security.
MH: So the Branstads and other Iowa Republicans were basically with Trump from that day on.
EB: We are ready for change. And Mr. Trump brings that change.
Newscaster: Eric Branstad, the son of Iowa’s longtime GOP governor, runs Trump’s operation here —
LF: Eric Branstad became a campaign official paid by the campaign, and Terry Branstad became one of the most important surrogates for the campaign in Iowa, a state he handily carried in the General Election.
Wolf Blitzer: CNN projects Donald Trump will win the state of Iowa with its six electoral votes. With this win in Iowa, Donald Trump expands his lead.
Newscaster: Now, on Today in Iowa, a historic election since Donald Trump to the White House.
Newcaster: In Iowa, a lot of the focus has been on what role Governor Terry Branstad could potentially fill in the Trump administration. His son, Eric Branstad, was the state Director for Donald Trump in Iowa.
DJT: Thank you, everybody. It is great to be back in the incredible, beautiful, great state of Iowa. [Cheers and applause.] Heading up our effort to represent America’s interests in China will be a man you know very well.
MH: Terry Branstad was, in many ways, a very logical choice for ambassador. He had these long-standing ties to China. In part, that’s because Iowa trades so much with China; they’re the major export market for a lot of Iowa’s agricultural products.
DJT: When I was campaigning in Iowa, Terry would always say, “Do me a favor, don’t say anything bad about China.” I said, “Why?” I said, “We have a great relationship with China.”
MH: But it’s also because he actually has a personal relationship with Xi Jinping. The two of them met when Xi visited Iowa in 1985, when he was a low-level Chinese official, and Branstad was in his first term as governor.
So when the time came for Trump to find a role in his administration for Terry Branstad, this seemed like the obvious move.
DJT: And it really dawned on me when I was thinking about ambassadors. I said, “Boy, wouldn’t it be great if I picked a man that really likes China” — and, by the way, China really likes him.
MH: And then Eric Branstad, was appointed to the Commerce Department not long after that.
DJT: China’s going to benefit, and we’re going to benefit, and Terry’s going to lead the way. So I just want to congratulate him. [Cheers and applause.]
MH: When relations between the U.S. and China started to really turn sour with the trade war, people in Iowa who had profited off this relationship were definitely alarmed.
The U.S. had levied tariffs on Chinese goods and, in retaliation, China levied tariffs on pork and soy in the U.S., which really hurt farmers in the Midwest and also really hurt the big ag companies.
Newscaster: Iowa gets hit hard. One of the country’s top soybean producers and the top pork producer.
MH: At several points, Terry Branstad either traveled back to Iowa or, you know, wrote an article in The Des Moines Register telling people in Iowa: Hold tight. This trade war is all gonna make sense at some point. And, you know, kind of stay on Trump’s side.
Newscaster: Is there a point when Iowan farmers abandon Trump?
Iowa farmer: Yeah, there is a point.
Newscaster: There is a point.
Iowa farmer: Yeah.
Newscaster: And where is that point?
Iowa farmer: Gosh, I wish I knew. We might be there.
MH: These tariffs hit Iowa really hard. Many people really suffered as a result of the trade war there.
Newscaster: Among the stories that are front and center this morning, China-based telecom company ZTE is blasting the United States decision to impose sanctions on the company. The U.S. banned American companies from selling to ZTE for seven years. ZTE says the decision is unfair.
LF: When ZTE was being threatened, they retained a lobbying firm called Mercury Public Affairs. It’s a bipartisan lobby shop. They’ve been around for 20 years. They retain a lot of prominent Democrats and Republicans. So this is a firm with a lot of influence, which has staffed up in recent years, hiring more and more people with ties to the Trump campaign and Trump administration.
Just as this ban was being processed and announced, Eric Branstad had left the administration and joined Mercury Public Affairs and ZTE immediately went to work to unwind this order proposed by the Commerce Department.
MH: Eric Branstad came on in Mercury in late February 2018. The trade war broke out in March; the Commerce Department banned companies from selling to ZTE in April.
Trump then suddenly tweeted that he would look into getting a deal for ZTE and, you know, abruptly reversed course. And around that same time, ZTE hired Mercury to lobby on its behalf.
And then in June, Eric Branstad traveled with Brian Lanza, the registered lobbyist for ZTE, to China to meet with two groups. One of those groups is a kind of fake Chamber of Commerce that has ties to the United Front, which is a Communist Party organization that has come under heightened scrutiny in Washington in recent months. And the other group is called the China Development Research Foundation, and that has ties to China’s Ministry of State Security, which is kind of like a cross between the FBI and the CIA.
So we know about these meetings because of posts that Lee and I found on the websites of those two groups in Chinese. The posts claimed that, at the meetings, they discussed Trump administration policy, they discussed the trade war, and they discussed something that they called win-win cooperation between the U.S. and China.
And there was another surprise on the Chinese websites. I was shocked to discover that accompanying Eric Branstad and Brian Lanza on that trip to China was someone named Li Zhao.
Li Zhao is a Chinese-born businesswoman who runs a consultancy in Des Moines called the China-Iowa group. And I knew about her because she actually came up in my book, “The Scientist and the Spy.” In that book, I discuss an industrial espionage case in which a man working for a Chinese company in Iowa was accused of stealing proprietary corn seeds from U.S. companies. Li Zhao had had a number of conversations with the defendant in the case; she was investigated by the FBI; they recorded her phone calls and searched her computer, subpoenaed her emails. But I should, you know, should make clear that Li Zhao was never arrested or convicted of any crime. But her presence on the trip seemed to raise questions about Eric Branstad’s story.
LF: Eric Branstad has told us that this trip had nothing to do with business, that he just went to share cultural stories, old campaign stories, and not really discuss anything in terms of public policy or business. But there’s a little bit of information that appears to undermine that claim. We have some messages from Mercury internally that show that Lanza and Branstad were actually on a trip to set up a Chinese office for Mercury Public Affairs to drum up business for the firm.
In addition, we have some accounts of their meetings from Chinese sources. The Chinese chambers of commerce and Chinese think tanks that sponsored Lanza and Branstad published accounts of those events, and they make clear that Lanza and Branstad were there as representatives of Mercury Public Affairs, and that they discussed the trade war and U.S.-China relations and other issues of public policy concerning the two countries.
MH: It’s not clear from the posts on the Chinese group’s sites whether they specifically discussed the Trump administration’s ZTE order. But what we do know is that a few weeks after those meetings, the administration reversed course and struck a deal with ZTE.
Chris Matthews: President Trump caused jaws to drop on Sunday when he put out that he was intervening to save a Chinese government-owned cell phone company in order to save — catch this — he wants to save Chinese jobs, he said.
Newscaster: Donald Trump mysteriously reversed his position on ZTE.
Newscaster: The nascent trade war is off. ZTE lives to fight another day.
Newscaster: Why now is the president so gung-ho to save a company his own administration punished for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran and North Korea?
Brian Williams: You don’t often hear a U.S. president asking to make a Chinese company great again.
LF: When Trump suddenly announced that he was rolling back his order, that was really shocking to a lot of Washington. A number of leading Republican and Democrat legislators sharply condemned the reversal. You had even John Bolton surprised and saying, you know, he didn’t understand why Trump was reversing course on a whim.
Not long after that, the sanctions were lifted after paying the fine and agreeing to some terms. So it was a lot of buildup, but not a lot of action — basically a slap on the wrist, according to many critics of the deal.
MH: You know, it wasn’t just that ZTE was selling technology to North Korea and Iran. It’s also that the company has close ties to the Chinese military and, you know, just in general, it is a very sensitive technology that can be used for surveillance purposes. It’s sort of the major competitor to Huawei in China and makes similar technology.
The U.S. has really gone after Huawei in the past few years and ZTE has somehow been given a pass. And so why that is, why we’ve gone after Huawei with such fervor, and, you know, let ZTE roll back this order, despite you know, repeatedly breaking Commerce Department regulations has always been a mystery.
Newscaster: Today the White House defended the President’s pledge.
Newscaster: How does President Trump’s statement that too many Chinese jobs are at risk square with his campaign promise that China is stealing American jobs?
Press Secretary Raj Shah: Well, I don’t think this has, frankly, any bearing on the President’s campaign promises.
DJT: I mean, look what I’ve done. Look — who’s done what I’ve done? I took ZTE off. If you remember, I was the one, I did that — that was a personal deal. And then President Xi called me, and he asked me for a personal favor, which I consider to be very important. He’s a leader of a major country.
Sen Chuck Schumer: It’s a security risk and why is President Trump in a simple call with President Xi just letting it continue.
MH: Trump has really gone after Biden for not just things that Hunter Biden has done. But also for Joe Biden’s own alleged softness on China.
DJT: Joe Biden is weak, and will always cave to China who is strong.
MH: PACs supporting Trump have put out ads calling him “Bejing Biden.”
Advertisement: Now, more than ever, America must stop China. And to stop China, you have to stop Joe Biden.
MH: Really going after him for supposedly being soft on China.
DJT: If Biden wins, China will own America and it won’t take long with his son Hunter walking out with all of that money, with no experience whatsoever. No investment experience! He didn’t even have a job.
MH: Brian Lanza himself is a former Trump campaign adviser/ Eric Branstad played a big role in the 2016 campaign and he’s now back working on the 2020 campaign for Trump.
EB: I did the Lake Red Rock boat parade on Saturday. I did the Coralville Reservoir boat parade on Monday. The crowds have been absolutely ridiculously large.
MH: Terry Branstad, just this month, left the ambassadorship in Beijing to go back to Des Moines. And he’s also expected to hit the campaign trail and stump for Trump again.
Terry Branstad: Our great new president, who’s gonna make America great again.
MH: These are not just bit players in the administration; these are people with close ties and close relationships to Trump, who have worked on his campaign, gone to the administration, come out again, gone into lobbying — you know, it’s just really this revolving door that has let in Chinese interests.
LF: When Trump ran for office, he promised to drain the swamp, to get tough on lobbying. But it’s clear over the last four years, he’s staffed his entire administration with people who are business executives, who are lobbyists, who are big campaign contributors. This was a phenomenon in many other administrations, but it got put on steroids with the Trump administration.
MH: I think our reporting shows that interests serving China have swirled around this administration; that lobbyists working on behalf of very controversial Chinese companies have had very good access to this administration.
[Musical interlude.]
Many people wanted to talk about the Brandstads; very few people wanted to talk on the record. But somebody told me at some point: this is the swampiest of the swamp. It’s very swampy.
LF: Eric Branstad, he’s just one of hundreds of examples of folks who staff the Trump administration, who worked in the lobbying and public affairs industry before going in.
MH: The Brandstads still have a fair amount of power in the state. Many people did not want to go on the record criticizing them. But there is a lot of gossip about what is basically Iowa’s political dynasty.
LF: No matter who wins the White House this election, there is going to be a big demand in terms of hiring people who are experts at U.S.-China policy, who have influence at the Commerce Department and other federal agencies.
MH: If Trump loses in November, I don’t think that that will be it for Eric Branstad. I think he will continue to operate, probably behind the scenes. I don’t think he will run for office himself, but he has said that he is encouraging his wife to do so, and there are a number of big positions that will open up in Iowa soon. And so, you know, who knows?
[Musical interlude.]
Zach Young: That was Mara Hvistendahl and Lee Fang. You can read their full story, “China’s Man in Washington,” at theintercept.com.
And that’s our show. Deconstructed is a production of First Look Media and The Intercept. I’m Zach Young. I produced the show. Today’s episode was a little different than what we normally do. Did you like it? Did you hate it? Let us know. You can send us your thoughts at podcasts@theintercept.com.
Today’s show was mixed by Brian Pugh. Our theme music was composed by Bart Warshaw. Betsy Reed is The Intercept’s editor in chief. If you’d like to support our work, go to the intercept.com/give. Your donation, no matter what the amount, makes a real difference.
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theintercept--2020-10-16--Nancy Pelosi Is Talking to the White House About a Coronavirus Deal, but Won’t Tell Anybody What’s i

Nancy Pelosi Is Talking to the White House About a Coronavirus Deal, but Won’t Tell Anybody What’s in It

the Trump administration offered House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a $ 1.8 trillion stimulus deal , which she promptly rejected .
It ’ s $ 400 billion smaller than the House Democrats ’ plan and probably wouldn ’ t pass the GOP-controlled Senate .
A handful of Democrats are calling on Pelosi to take it anyway , and dare Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to be the one to kill it .
Now , Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are back on the phone , and reportedly inching closer to an agreement .
But most House Democrats haven ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in part because no House Democrat other than Pelosi knows what ’ s actually in the proposal .
The top-line spending amounts and some of the major provisions have been confirmed , but no one has seen the text , and no one ’ s sure what else Republicans have stuffed into it .
Meanwhile , the typical lines of battle in the House have been scrambled .
The left is urging Pelosi to quickly cave to Trump and take whatever deal is on offer , while the centrist Problem Solvers Caucus is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ off enough progressives that they can team with Republicans to box McConnell in .
It ’ s politically disorienting , made all the more confusing by Pelosi ’ s inability to put forward anything other than a callous rationale for her objections .
Pelosi defended her strategy in a contentious interview with CNN ’ s Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday , repeatedly lashing out at the host for asking why she wouldn ’ t accept Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin ’ s recent $ 1.8 trillion offer when Americans are being evicted and waiting in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ within the Democratic Party to accept a deal , pointing to California Rep. Ro Khanna and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang , who have called on Pelosi to accept the GOP ’ s offer .
“ I don ’ t know why you ’ re always an apologist and many of your colleagues are apologists for the Republican position , ” Pelosi told Blitzer .
“ Ro Khanna , that ’ s nice .
That isn ’ t what we ’ re going to do .
And nobody ’ s waiting until February @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because people need help now .
But it ’ s no use giving them a false thing just because the president wants to put a check with his name on it in the mail.
” Democratic leaders are asking for $ 2.2 trillion and object to the amount of funding allocated to state and local governments , as well as what they say is an insufficient strategy for Covid-19 testing and tracing .
They also oppose liability protection , which would shield corporations from coronavirus-related lawsuits .
But the dispute over the stimulus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Like Pelosi said herself , Democrats are wary of passing a stimulus bill because it would hand President Donald Trump a political victory , and fear that sending $ 1,200 checks to those who desperately need it could help revive his reelection campaign .
They ’ re holding back , even as millions of Americans face layoffs , unemployment , and potentially evictions .
Pelosi used the same reasoning in a letter to Democratic colleagues earlier this week .
“ A fly on the wall or wherever else it might land in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only wants his name on a check to go out before Election Day and for the market to go up , ” she wrote .
But the effect is that Republicans are now able to shift the blame for the lack of a stimulus over to House Democrats .
On Wednesday , Mnuchin suggested that Democrats are unwilling to make a deal because they don ’ t want to give Trump a win weeks before the election .
On Thursday , Trump tweeted : So far , Khanna is the only progressive Democrat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the $ 1.8 trillion proposal , which includes a new round of $ 1,200 checks and a $ 400 weekly enhanced unemployment insurance benefit .
He first came out in favor of Mnuchin ’ s offer in a tweet over the weekend , saying the $ 1.8 trillion is “ significant ” and more than twice the amount of the 2009 stimulus package passed in former President Barack Obama ’ s first term .
Other progressive lawmakers , many of whom criticized the CARES Act from the left , like Reps. Alexandria @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , D-Minn. , have not come out and questioned the strategy of holding out .
Omar has demanded that relief pass now , but is asking Republicans to pass the HEROES Act .
Ocasio-Cortez has not spoken out about the current offer , though in September , she urged Democrats to hold out for a large package that includes significant health funding and aid for state and local governments .
When asked why other progressive Democrats aren ’ t being as vocal on the issue , Khanna told The Intercept that a number @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more members of Congress are “ going to start to come out and say that , ” adding that he received a “ flurry of supportive texts and calls last night.
” Reps. Abigail Spanberger , D-Va. , a member of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition and Problem Solvers Caucus , and Peter Welch , D-Vt. , are among the lawmakers privately backing Khanna up .
On Wednesday night , they made their support public , hoping to add some pressure for a faster deal within the caucus .
Rep. Tom Malinowski , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump administration ’ s bluff .
Khanna said he doesn ’ t think Democratic leaders should just “ sign on the dotted line , ” but believes their demands are close enough to the Trump administration ’ s offer that they should be able to cut a deal .
“ People are losing their homes , people are facing eviction , people are lining up at food banks to get food for their kids , you have all types of small businesses , restaurants that are facing closure … we have to do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to act before the November election poses a much bigger risk .
Though Joe Biden ’ s chances of winning the presidency next month have never been better , there is no guarantee Democrats take back the Senate .
If McConnell retains control , it ’ s possible there won ’ t be a relief bill for many months to come .
But a major barrier for many would-be supporters of a bill is that they haven ’ t seen the text — and they don ’ t trust Republicans , who seem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ working people .
The president has been more erratic than ever , repeatedly contradicting himself on whether he supports a large-scale stimulus deal or not .
Trump suddenly blew up stimulus talks that had been going on for months only to later call for a series of smaller bills and then finally come back to the table .
McConnell has indicated that the GOP opposes another large stimulus package altogether , and says passing any major pandemic aid legislation is “ unlikely in the next three weeks.
” Still , Democrats have little @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaving the bill ’ s fate up to McConnell .
“ Let ’ s expose that , ” Khanna said .
“ Right now , the country thinks that all of Washington is incompetent and not doing its job .
If we advance this deal , then the country will know that it ’ s one senator from Kentucky that ’ s holding up the relief and at least there will be clarity.
” In this case , he added , there would be “ extraordinary mobilization and pressure ” on McConnell that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of working.
” Unions representing airline workers and others in the transportation industry , which has been devastated by the pandemic , have also been aggressively pushing for a deal .
About 32,000 airline workers have been furloughed since the CARES Act protections expired on October 1 .
Sara Nelson , president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA , said that countless front-line workers are losing their jobs , homes , and health care — which will have ripple effects throughout local governments , other industries , and lead to a slower recovery @ @ @ @ @ @ @ single job is an FAA certified position that requires certain training and qualifications and when you furlough people , they ’ re not keeping up with their qualifications , ” she said .
“ So when you have demand back you have to spend months and even years , depending on the job , to retrain and recertify .
It will not allow us to restart the economy quickly.
” She added that it ’ s important for Democrats to “ lock in ” as much relief as possible , but there needs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no matter what.
” “ We have been acting at congressional offices all over the country for months now , and we have kept this in the public narrative , ” Nelson said .
“ Many , many people thought that we would move on from this and be talking about other things .
We ’ re simply not going to give Congress any kind of permission to bail .
”

Last Friday, the Trump administration offered House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a $1.8 trillion stimulus deal, which she promptly rejected. It’s $400 billion smaller than the House Democrats’ plan and probably wouldn’t pass the GOP-controlled Senate. A handful of Democrats are calling on Pelosi to take it anyway, and dare Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to be the one to kill it. Now, Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are back on the phone, and reportedly inching closer to an agreement.
But most House Democrats haven’t spoken out one way or another, in part because no House Democrat other than Pelosi knows what’s actually in the proposal. The top-line spending amounts and some of the major provisions have been confirmed, but no one has seen the text, and no one’s sure what else Republicans have stuffed into it.
Meanwhile, the typical lines of battle in the House have been scrambled. Pressure from Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., urging Pelosi to quickly cave to Trump and take whatever deal is on offer, has been amplified by progressive media outlets more accustomed to urging Democratic leaders to hold firm, while the centrist Problem Solvers Caucus is doing the same, hoping to pick off enough progressives that they can team with Republicans to box McConnell in. It’s politically disorienting, made all the more confusing by Pelosi’s inability to put forward anything other than a callous rationale for her objections.
Pelosi defended her strategy in a contentious interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday, repeatedly lashing out at the host for asking why she wouldn’t accept Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s recent $1.8 trillion offer when Americans are being evicted and waiting in food lines. Blitzer cited the pressure within the Democratic Party to accept a deal, pointing to California Rep. Ro Khanna and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who have called on Pelosi to accept the GOP’s offer.
“I don’t know why you’re always an apologist and many of your colleagues are apologists for the Republican position,” Pelosi told Blitzer. “Ro Khanna, that’s nice. That isn’t what we’re going to do. And nobody’s waiting until February. I want this very much now because people need help now. But it’s no use giving them a false thing just because the president wants to put a check with his name on it in the mail.”
Democratic leaders are asking for $2.2 trillion and object to the amount of funding allocated to state and local governments, as well as what they say is an insufficient strategy for Covid-19 testing and tracing. They also oppose liability protection, which would shield corporations from coronavirus-related lawsuits. But the dispute over the stimulus isn’t limited to policy. Like Pelosi said herself, Democrats are wary of passing a stimulus bill because it would hand President Donald Trump a political victory, and fear that sending $1,200 checks to those who desperately need it could help revive his reelection campaign. They’re holding back, even as millions of Americans face layoffs, unemployment, and potentially evictions.
Pelosi used the same reasoning in a letter to Democratic colleagues earlier this week. “A fly on the wall or wherever else it might land in the Oval Office tells me that the President only wants his name on a check to go out before Election Day and for the market to go up,” she wrote. But the effect is that Republicans are now able to shift the blame for the lack of a stimulus over to House Democrats. On Wednesday, Mnuchin suggested that Democrats are unwilling to make a deal because they don’t want to give Trump a win weeks before the election. On Thursday, Trump tweeted:
Pelosi is holding up STIMULUS, not the Republicans! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 15, 2020
So far, Khanna is the only progressive Democrat in Congress to speak out in support of the $1.8 trillion proposal, which includes a new round of $1,200 checks and a $400 weekly enhanced unemployment insurance benefit. He first came out in favor of Mnuchin’s offer in a tweet over the weekend, saying the $1.8 trillion is “significant” and more than twice the amount of the 2009 stimulus package passed in former President Barack Obama’s first term. Other progressive lawmakers, many of whom criticized the CARES Act from the left, like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., have not come out and questioned the strategy of holding out. Omar has demanded that relief pass now, but is asking Republicans to pass the HEROES Act. Ocasio-Cortez has not spoken out about the current offer, though in September, she urged Democrats to hold out for a large package that includes significant health funding and aid for state and local governments.
When asked why other progressive Democrats aren’t being as vocal on the issue, Khanna told The Intercept that a number of Democrats privately agree and he believes more members of Congress are “going to start to come out and say that,” adding that he received a “flurry of supportive texts and calls last night.”
Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., a member of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition and Problem Solvers Caucus, and Peter Welch, D-Vt., are among the lawmakers privately backing Khanna up. On Wednesday night, they made their support public, hoping to add some pressure for a faster deal within the caucus. Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., has also suggested calling the Trump administration’s bluff.
Khanna said he doesn’t think Democratic leaders should just “sign on the dotted line,” but believes their demands are close enough to the Trump administration’s offer that they should be able to cut a deal. “People are losing their homes, people are facing eviction, people are lining up at food banks to get food for their kids, you have all types of small businesses, restaurants that are facing closure … we have to do something,” he said.
Read Our Complete Coverage The Coronavirus Crisis
Failing to act before the November election poses a much bigger risk. Though Joe Biden’s chances of winning the presidency next month have never been better, there is no guarantee Democrats take back the Senate. If McConnell retains control, it’s possible there won’t be a relief bill for many months to come.
But a major barrier for many would-be supporters of a bill is that they haven’t seen the text — and they don’t trust Republicans, who seem wholly uninterested in providing any relief for working people. The president has been more erratic than ever, repeatedly contradicting himself on whether he supports a large-scale stimulus deal or not. Trump suddenly blew up stimulus talks that had been going on for months only to later call for a series of smaller bills and then finally come back to the table. McConnell has indicated that the GOP opposes another large stimulus package altogether, and says passing any major pandemic aid legislation is “unlikely in the next three weeks.” Still, Democrats have little to lose in accepting the offer and leaving the bill’s fate up to McConnell.
“Let’s expose that,” Khanna said. “Right now, the country thinks that all of Washington is incompetent and not doing its job. If we advance this deal, then the country will know that it’s one senator from Kentucky that’s holding up the relief and at least there will be clarity.”
In this case, he added, there would be “extraordinary mobilization and pressure” on McConnell that “would at least have a chance of working.”
Unions representing airline workers and others in the transportation industry, which has been devastated by the pandemic, have also been aggressively pushing for a deal. About 32,000 airline workers have been furloughed since the CARES Act protections expired on October 1. Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, said that countless front-line workers are losing their jobs, homes, and health care — which will have ripple effects throughout local governments, other industries, and lead to a slower recovery down the road.
“Almost every single job is an FAA certified position that requires certain training and qualifications and when you furlough people, they’re not keeping up with their qualifications,” she said. “So when you have demand back you have to spend months and even years, depending on the job, to retrain and recertify. It will not allow us to restart the economy quickly.”
She added that it’s important for Democrats to “lock in” as much relief as possible, but there needs to be pressure on all parties “no matter what.”
“We have been acting at congressional offices all over the country for months now, and we have kept this in the public narrative,” Nelson said. “Many, many people thought that we would move on from this and be talking about other things. We’re simply not going to give Congress any kind of permission to bail.”


theintercept--2020-10-17--The Hidden Cruelty of Trump's Executions

she buried her son Christopher Vialva , Lisa Brown arrived at Affordable Burial and Cremation Service , a small funeral home in a strip mall in Killeen , Texas .
Her older sister was waiting , along with the funeral director , who wore a suit and a mask .
The last time Brown had seen her son , he was lying under a blanket on a gurney in Terre Haute , Indiana , where a federal official had declared his time of death .
Now he lay in a casket in a blue pinstripe suit , a prayer shawl @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ I walked over to the casket and put my hand on his chest , ” Brown recalled .
It was the first time she had touched her son in more than 20 years .
Looking down , she saw something she ’ d noticed inside the execution chamber .
“ The whole back of his hand was bruised , ” she said .
The funeral director said it was probably where they had inserted his IV .
“ And I said , ‘ I know it was.
’ ” Brown moved @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and face .
She touched him all over , so eagerly , the funeral director “ probably thought I was mauling my son , ” she chuckled .
“ I was thankful that he said he was an understanding man.
” Brown ’ s sister did the same thing .
“ She was hugging on him and she was touching his chest .
She kissed him on the forehead.
” Vialva had been executed one week earlier , on September 24 , for the carjacking and murder of two youth ministers from Iowa @ @ @ @ @ @ @ old when he shot Stacie and Todd Bagley on the grounds of Fort Hood , not far from the funeral home .
Vialva ’ s co-defendant , Brandon Bernard , was only 18 at the time .
Both were sentenced to death .
After the Trump administration restarted federal executions following a 17-year pause , Vialva became the seventh man killed in the Terre Haute death chamber since July .
Even to those paying close attention , the loved ones of the condemned had remained largely invisible in Terre Haute .
Although the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the families of the victims — and arranges for them to address reporters following the executions — no such help is given to relatives of those facing execution .
Until Vialva , none of the condemned had arranged for family to attend .
Brown was disturbed by the lack of communication from prison officials .
After confirming that she would be in attendance , they did not speak to her until the day before he was to die .
Brown was on an elevator leaving the prison after her last visit with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ manager told her that the Crisis Support Team was waiting to brief her .
Answering her questions in the lobby , they were courteous , almost overly polite .
“ They almost seemed nervous .
You know , like it was a new thing for them .
Which it probably was.
” By the time she woke up on the morning of her son ’ s death , Brown had done as much as she could to prepare herself .
She had even read the filings in a lawsuit over lethal injection , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out using pentobarbital showed clear evidence that the condemned had experienced pulmonary edema : the filling of their lungs with fluid .
“ For me , knowledge is power , ” Brown said .
“ The more I ’ m aware of what can go wrong , the more comfortable I am.
” Still , it wasn ’ t easy to read that Vialva might suffer a sensation akin to being waterboarded — “ that same panic , suffocating , drowning feeling.
” There were also things she could not prepare for .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the parking lot of the Vigo County Sheriff ’ s Office and being taken to the prison , she and her sister would spend two and a half hours inside a van , waiting to be taken to the death house , with just a port-a-potty and a cooler of water bottles nearby for comfort .
Nobody warned that , once they were finally escorted into the witnessing room , the shades would go up so quickly , revealing her son on the gurney .
“ I didn ’ t even have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ knew where her son would be positioned .
She had told him , “ Look at me .
Look to your left.
” He did .
Like his mother , Vialva practiced Messianic Judaism and was deeply devout .
His last words were a prayer for the family of his victims .
Then he said , “ I ’ m ready , Father.
” After the drugs began to flow , she saw him open his eyes wide .
“ Then , once it starts affecting their lungs , they like blow their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ imitating the sound .
“ He did that twice .
And then he yawned once , which is another sign of the drug , because they ’ re trying to get more air.
” Brown described the execution calmly , matter of factly .
But this particular memory spilled out in an anguished sob .
“ What took me aback so much was that when he yawned , it took me back to when he was a baby , ” she said , “ when he would yawn when he was ready to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was holding my hand , ” Brown said .
They saw no signs of struggle .
Instead , she said , she felt an overwhelming feeling of peace wash over her .
“ I prayed for the Father to allow me to feel his spirit leave him and he answered my prayer , ” Brown wrote in a text message later that night .
“ He was looking at me when he died.
” The next morning , Vialva ’ s lawyers dropped off a box of things for Brown at the Drury @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Arriving home in Killeen close to midnight , she went through the contents before going to sleep .
There were photos she had sent him over the years , along with some Bible teachings and legal records .
Vialva ’ s best friend on death row had suggested that it might be comforting for his mom to receive some of the clothes he ’ d worn in his last days .
On his shirts and sweatshirts , she could smell the prayer oils he used to use , which she had ordered for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two letters and a CD .
One letter was to be read at his funeral .
The other was for her .
She inserted the CD into her computer and watched her son reading the second letter .
He told her how sorry he was for his crime and the weight it had placed on her life for so long .
“ Now is the time to lay down your burden , ” he said .
“ No more money wasted on monthly allowances .
No more long drives for prison visits .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ The deed is done and I am in the care of the Father.
” Amid a global pandemic , national protests , and the impending presidential election , news of the federal executions had been largely eclipsed since they began this summer .
Vialva had been dismayed by the lack of national media attention as the men around him went to their deaths .
After the execution of Lezmond Mitchell on August 26 , he wrote to a friend that they had mentioned him on the CNN crawl , but that was it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is taken by the government but not even a segment to talk about it , ” he said .
“ They are a well-oiled death machine now , ” he went on .
“ It was sad watching them walk Mitchell right past me so they could drive him to the death house .
Everything was so clinical.
” Vialva ’ s execution was a painful blow to those who knew and worshipped with him on death row .
“ I just want everyone to know that Chris was the real deal when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sorry for all he had done , ” one neighbor wrote to his own supporters in late September .
As with every round of executions , a wave of anxiety spread across the Special Confinement Unit after Vialva died .
“ We don ’ t know when they will pick someone else , but we believe it will be 3-5 more people in the coming months.
” On September 30 , the Department of Justice announced the next execution date .
Orlando Hall , 49 , is scheduled to die on November 19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ man killed in the federal execution chamber this year .
In a media release , his lawyers noted that Hall was sentenced to death by an all-white jury , one of myriad ways in which the federal death penalty mirrors the same flaws and inequities of state systems .
On October 16 , the DOJ announced execution dates for two more people .
One is Lisa Montgomery , the only woman on federal death row .
The other is Vialva ’ s co-defendant , Brandon Bernard .
Politicians on both sides have remained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Although it was the Trump administration that was preparing to take his life , Vialva was particularly critical of the Democrats before he died .
The party has enshrined opposition to the death penalty as part of its platform , yet ignored the issue during the Democratic National Convention .
Presidential candidate Joe Biden , who was instrumental in the expansion of federal death row but now claims to disavow capital punishment , has said nothing about the executions .
Neither has vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris , despite touting her opposition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before Vialva ’ s execution , as the DOJ prepared to kill William LeCroy on September 22 , activists with Death Penalty Action gathered for a press conference in front of the United States Capitol in Washington , D.C .
Faith leaders were present from different religious denominations .
They spoke out against the executions and called out Attorney General Bill Barr , who was scheduled to be honored the next day during the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast .
The event featured New York Rep. Adriano Espaillat , the sponsor of a bill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last summer .
A parallel bill , introduced the same day , was brought forward by Rep. Ayanna Pressley , who last year called for an investigation into the federal government ’ s lethal injection plans .
“ We ’ ve got ta be louder about this , ” Espaillat said .
He echoed a new report by the Death Penalty Information Center , linking the death penalty to the legacy of slavery and lynching in the United States .
Not only are Black people overrepresented on death row today , he said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ victims are executed at a rate 17 times greater than those convicted of killing Black victims.
” Indeed , of the seven men executed in Terre Haute , almost all of their victims were white .
Later that day , activists under the banner of the Terre Haute Death Penalty Resistance returned to the grassy field next to the Dollar General on Route 63 , directly across from the federal penitentiary .
Ashley Kincaid Eve , a lawyer and activist from Indianapolis , was leading the protests that week , although she still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would not go forward .
Eve had developed a close friendship with Vialva after he saw her on the news and wrote to thank her for caring enough to protest the executions .
“ We are here because people decided that we are trash to be thrown in the dumpster , ” he said in his first letter .
But over the years , “ I have listened to men sing the praises of their children , mourn the loss of their loved ones , talk about their ambitions while knowing they will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spiritual journey , and lament the decisions that put them here.
” Eve had previously spearheaded a successful lawsuit against the Indiana State Police , who barred the activists from the area across from the prison during the first round of executions in July .
It was one of many ways in which authorities tried to tightly control what the public was able to see .
In a nod to the First Amendment , the BOP had designated two spots in the fields along Route 63 for protesters on either side of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ transported by government buses hours in advance .
No phones or electronic devices would be allowed .
In the briefings for press before each execution , BOP spokespersons have repeatedly told reporters that no one has shown up to protest the executions .
BOP officials have been tight-lipped with journalists .
For media witnesses , who have waited long hours on prison grounds to carry out their assignments , there are few explanations or updates .
In contrast to death penalty states where prison officials routinely provide detailed descriptions about the last meals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to disclose even such trivial information .
But Vialva had told Eve about LeCroy ’ s last meal .
He had asked for KFC but his request had been rejected , she told me .
The bones in the chicken presented a security risk , he was told .
So , like Vialva , he requested Pizza Hut instead .
LeCroy ’ s execution went later than planned .
Although it was scheduled for 6 p.m. , he was not declared dead until after 9 p.m. LeCroy had been sentenced to death for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ named Joann Lee Tiesler .
Court records showed that LeCroy , who had a history of mental illness , said he had killed her in the mistaken belief that she was a former babysitter who had molested him when he was a child .
In a clemency application for LeCroy , according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution , his attorneys pointed out that LeCroy ’ s own family had lost his brother , a Georgia state trooper , to murder in 2010 .
“ The pain and sorrow felt by the LeCroy family at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unimaginable , ” they wrote .
Tiesler was engaged to be married when she was murdered ; her fiancé witnessed LeCroy ’ s execution , as did her father , Tom Tiesler .
In a written statement , Tom Tiesler thanked Trump and Barr for restarting federal executions .
LeCroy “ died a peaceful death in contrast to the stark horror he imposed on my daughter Joann , ” he wrote .
“ He was allowed to live nineteen years longer than Joann , with us taxpayers paying for his food , shelter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that he ever showed any remorse for his evil actions , his life of crime , or the horrific burden he caused Joann ’ s loved ones.
” LeCroy had prepared a lengthy statement of his own , which he mailed to Sister Barbara Battista , a Catholic nun who served as his spiritual adviser , to read at his execution .
But it did not arrive on time .
Two days later , on the morning of Vialva ’ s execution , Battista brought the letter to a press conference outside the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quote from the poet W. H. Auden .
“ ‘ Those to whom evil is done do evil in return , ’ ” it read .
This was not an excuse , he said .
“ Yet it describes many of us human beings in our primitive emotional states as children .
It is a fact that some abuse — physical , emotional , and/or sexual — can stunt emotional growth .
… We feel that we are what happened to us , that we can not be that which we desire to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anger .
… We did things that we were unable to take back , harmed another human being , ourselves , and so many who loved us.
” Activists stood behind Battista as she read the letter , holding signs and wearing masks .
They were joined by Lisa Brown .
In a purple mask , a black headscarf , and a gold Star of David pendant , she came forward after Battista was done , to say a few words about her son .
“ This is really hard , ” she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This is the first venue that I ’ ve had in which I could say to Todd and Stacie ’ s family , I am so sorry for your loss .
I ’ ve never been able to tell you that because I was told I could not have access to you.
” Brown emphasized that her son was remorseful for his crime .
But she also shared a story she told me the first time we spoke .
Like LeCroy ’ s family , she had experienced the legal system from both @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2009 , my daughter ’ s ex-husband attempted to murder her , ” she said .
“ He bludgeoned her in the head with a hammer , poured gasoline over her and set her on fire .
She survived with second and third degree burns over 80 percent of her body .
And she forgave her attacker shortly after it happened .
… And she taught me that I had to forgive .
And it changed my life from being in a perpetual state of victimhood to a life that I can put @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there is peace in that.
” Later that day , as Brown reported to the parking lot of the Vigo County Sheriff ’ s Office , Eve returned to the same spot at the Dollar General to set up for the protest against Vialva ’ s execution .
She had said goodbye to Vialva on the phone the night before , hoping to convince him to let her file a last-minute challenge to his execution .
But he asked her not to .
Everyone on death row had seen what happened to Daniel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be executed in Terre Haute this year : Lee was lying on the gurney for four hours before the government took his life , as lawyers fought over his fate .
Vialva did not want that to happen to him .
“ He ’ s lost faith in our courts and I don ’ t blame him , ” Eve said .
“ I ’ ve lost faith in our justice system .
But I haven ’ t lost faith in humanity.
” In the last several weeks , she had heard from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moved by his story .
It was just after 6 p.m. when Eve introduced the final speaker , a woman named Katie , who had traveled to Terre Haute from Minnesota .
“ I don ’ t know Chris personally , ” Katie said .
But she knew Vialva ’ s younger sister , Audrey .
The two had met at a retreat for survivors of domestic violence , where Audrey had shared the story of how her ex-husband tried to kill her .
“ I am at risk of being a murder @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to prison for violating a restraining order , her own abuser beat , choked , and sexually assaulted her , she said .
He is no longer incarcerated — and he could still kill her one day , she said .
But she does not want his life .
Katie pointed to the penitentiary complex behind her .
“ Do you think that what ’ s going on behind us right now is going to save my life ?
” she asked .
“ Do you think he knows that this is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deter him from anything he wants to do ?
It ’ s not.
” At 6:48 p.m. , a BOP spokesperson sent out an email to reporters .
“ Please report back to the Media Center at this time if you choose to , ” he wrote .
The execution had been carried out .
At the media center , officials handed out a statement from the mother of Todd Bagley .
She said she was “ hurt and disappointed ” by the coverage of the case that morning , which focused on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Todd and Stacie also touched many lives , she wrote .
“ We will never know how many people they could have influenced for good if they had been given the chance.
” She was heartened by the fact that they were in Heaven , she said .
“ I know without a doubt we will have a glorious reunion with them one day !
” On October 1 , a few dozen guests gathered at the Killeen City Cemetery for Vialva ’ s funeral .
His gray casket was covered in white @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sister sat in the front row .
Eve , who drove down from Indianapolis , sat behind them under the tent .
Vialva ’ s 11-year-old nephew read a tribute from Vialva ’ s best friend on death row .
Then Vialva ’ s sister Audrey delivered his eulogy .
She shared childhood memories : how they would break the rules and ride their bikes to Walmart ; how he would tickle her , play freeze tag with her , and have water balloon fights with her every summer .
As he got @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spending more time playing video games and listening to music with his friends .
But she remembered the time they stayed up all night memorizing the lyrics to the 1994 song “ Funkdafied ” by Da Brat .
“ He kept hanging his head off the top bunk asking why it was taking so many playbacks for me to get it , ” she said .
“ His memory was always better than mine.
” Brown read the letter Vialva had written for his funeral .
He was no longer the angry 19-year-old @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ If you have written me a thousand letters or only just sat and thought about me from time to time , I appreciate it .
If you came to visit me once a year or just saw my mother in passing and told her to tell me hello , I appreciate it .
… If anyone here feels they could have done more , don ’ t .
You did what you could and that is all that matters .
So , thank you for those mercies and for your attendance today.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , was moved by the service .
It was not the first time he had presided over the burial of a man executed by the state .
Often times , he told me , such families “ want to arrange something very private , something very , very quiet , ” he said .
“ I ’ ve had services where nobody shows up .
… There may be a representative from the family , a minister , and the funeral director .
And that ’ s it .
And Christopher ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was about 40 people present .
And I ’ ve never seen that.
” Falcon did not minimize the pain of the victims in cases like Vialva ’ s .
In his decades helping families bury their loved ones , he had seen his share of murder victims .
He knew that their families continued to hurt after an execution , he said .
But “ sometimes we forget that the person has now paid the ultimate price for their crime , and now that family is left to hurt.
” Five days @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Brown spoke to the mother of Orlando Hall , the next man in line to die in Terre Haute .
She learned that he has six children and a number of grandchildren .
Hall ’ s mother is in poor health and was not sure whether she will attend the execution , Brown said .
“ I told her , I want to be able to help facilitate their peaceful transition through this process , ” Brown said .
“ And she said , ‘ Oh thank you , Jesus.
’ She says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Miss Lisa.
’ That blessed me.
” Brown has not yet spoken to the mother of Brandon Bernard .
But she feels called upon to support other families as their loved ones get execution dates .
“ There are so many more like me , ” she said .
It is also what her son would have wanted .
Over the phone , she read from a card that was waiting in the mail when she returned from Terre Haute .
“ I know this is hard for you , ” he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go so far as to say that it ’ s harder on you than me .
… I just want you to stay strong .
I need you to do that for me .
If they do take me away , then you can let them know how much it hurts .
Maybe one day your love will change things .
”

On the morning she buried her son Christopher Vialva, Lisa Brown arrived at Affordable Burial and Cremation Service, a small funeral home in a strip mall in Killeen, Texas. Her older sister was waiting, along with the funeral director, who wore a suit and a mask. The last time Brown had seen her son, he was lying under a blanket on a gurney in Terre Haute, Indiana, where a federal official had declared his time of death. Now he lay in a casket in a blue pinstripe suit, a prayer shawl, and a kippah he crocheted himself.
“I walked over to the casket and put my hand on his chest,” Brown recalled. It was the first time she had touched her son in more than 20 years. Looking down, she saw something she’d noticed inside the execution chamber. “The whole back of his hand was bruised,” she said. The funeral director said it was probably where they had inserted his IV. “And I said, ‘I know it was.’”
Brown moved her hands to Vialva’s hands and face. She touched him all over, so eagerly, the funeral director “probably thought I was mauling my son,” she chuckled. “I was thankful that he said he was an understanding man.” Brown’s sister did the same thing. “She was hugging on him and she was touching his chest. She kissed him on the forehead.”
Photo: Liliana Segura/The Intercept
Vialva had been executed one week earlier, on September 24, for the carjacking and murder of two youth ministers from Iowa in 1999. He was 19 years old when he shot Stacie and Todd Bagley on the grounds of Fort Hood, not far from the funeral home. Vialva’s co-defendant, Brandon Bernard, was only 18 at the time. Both were sentenced to death. After the Trump administration restarted federal executions following a 17-year pause, Vialva became the seventh man killed in the Terre Haute death chamber since July.
Even to those paying close attention, the loved ones of the condemned had remained largely invisible in Terre Haute. Although the Bureau of Prisons books travel and accommodations for the families of the victims — and arranges for them to address reporters following the executions — no such help is given to relatives of those facing execution. Until Vialva, none of the condemned had arranged for family to attend.
Brown was disturbed by the lack of communication from prison officials. After confirming that she would be in attendance, they did not speak to her until the day before he was to die. Brown was on an elevator leaving the prison after her last visit with her son when Vialva’s case manager told her that the Crisis Support Team was waiting to brief her. Answering her questions in the lobby, they were courteous, almost overly polite. “They almost seemed nervous. You know, like it was a new thing for them. Which it probably was.”
By the time she woke up on the morning of her son’s death, Brown had done as much as she could to prepare herself. She had even read the filings in a lawsuit over lethal injection, which warned that autopsies from executions carried out using pentobarbital showed clear evidence that the condemned had experienced pulmonary edema: the filling of their lungs with fluid. “For me, knowledge is power,” Brown said. “The more I’m aware of what can go wrong, the more comfortable I am.” Still, it wasn’t easy to read that Vialva might suffer a sensation akin to being waterboarded — “that same panic, suffocating, drowning feeling.”
There were also things she could not prepare for. Nobody told her that, after reporting to the parking lot of the Vigo County Sheriff’s Office and being taken to the prison, she and her sister would spend two and a half hours inside a van, waiting to be taken to the death house, with just a port-a-potty and a cooler of water bottles nearby for comfort. Nobody warned that, once they were finally escorted into the witnessing room, the shades would go up so quickly, revealing her son on the gurney. “I didn’t even have a chance to sit down.”
Brown knew where her son would be positioned. She had told him, “Look at me. Look to your left.” He did. Like his mother, Vialva practiced Messianic Judaism and was deeply devout. His last words were a prayer for the family of his victims. Then he said, “I’m ready, Father.” After the drugs began to flow, she saw him open his eyes wide. “Then, once it starts affecting their lungs, they like blow their cheeks out,” she said, imitating the sound. “He did that twice. And then he yawned once, which is another sign of the drug, because they’re trying to get more air.”
Brown described the execution calmly, matter of factly. But this particular memory spilled out in an anguished sob. “What took me aback so much was that when he yawned, it took me back to when he was a baby,” she said, “when he would yawn when he was ready to go to sleep.”
“My sister was holding my hand,” Brown said. They saw no signs of struggle. Instead, she said, she felt an overwhelming feeling of peace wash over her. “I prayed for the Father to allow me to feel his spirit leave him and he answered my prayer,” Brown wrote in a text message later that night. “He was looking at me when he died.”
The next morning, Vialva’s lawyers dropped off a box of things for Brown at the Drury Inn & Suites in Terre Haute. Arriving home in Killeen close to midnight, she went through the contents before going to sleep. There were photos she had sent him over the years, along with some Bible teachings and legal records. Vialva’s best friend on death row had suggested that it might be comforting for his mom to receive some of the clothes he’d worn in his last days. On his shirts and sweatshirts, she could smell the prayer oils he used to use, which she had ordered for herself.
Finally, the box contained two letters and a CD. One letter was to be read at his funeral. The other was for her. She inserted the CD into her computer and watched her son reading the second letter. He told her how sorry he was for his crime and the weight it had placed on her life for so long. “Now is the time to lay down your burden,” he said. “No more money wasted on monthly allowances. No more long drives for prison visits. No more crying over the unknown. The deed is done and I am in the care of the Father.”
Ron Kaz of Charleston, S.C., helps organize the Abolitionist Action Committee’s annual protest and hunger strike against the death penalty outside the U.S. Supreme Court on July 1, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
A Well-Oiled Death Machine
Amid a global pandemic, national protests, and the impending presidential election, news of the federal executions had been largely eclipsed since they began this summer. Vialva had been dismayed by the lack of national media attention as the men around him went to their deaths. After the execution of Lezmond Mitchell on August 26, he wrote to a friend that they had mentioned him on the CNN crawl, but that was it. “A man’s life is taken by the government but not even a segment to talk about it,” he said.
“They are a well-oiled death machine now,” he went on. “It was sad watching them walk Mitchell right past me so they could drive him to the death house. Everything was so clinical.”
Vialva’s execution was a painful blow to those who knew and worshipped with him on death row. “I just want everyone to know that Chris was the real deal when it came to his faith and being sorry for all he had done,” one neighbor wrote to his own supporters in late September. As with every round of executions, a wave of anxiety spread across the Special Confinement Unit after Vialva died. “We don’t know when they will pick someone else, but we believe it will be 3-5 more people in the coming months.”
On September 30, the Department of Justice announced the next execution date. Orlando Hall, 49, is scheduled to die on November 19. He would be the second Black man killed in the federal execution chamber this year. In a media release, his lawyers noted that Hall was sentenced to death by an all-white jury, one of myriad ways in which the federal death penalty mirrors the same flaws and inequities of state systems. On October 16, the DOJ announced execution dates for two more people. One is Lisa Montgomery, the only woman on federal death row. The other is Vialva’s co-defendant, Brandon Bernard.
Politicians on both sides have remained almost completely silent about the federal executions. Although it was the Trump administration that was preparing to take his life, Vialva was particularly critical of the Democrats before he died. The party has enshrined opposition to the death penalty as part of its platform, yet ignored the issue during the Democratic National Convention. Presidential candidate Joe Biden, who was instrumental in the expansion of federal death row but now claims to disavow capital punishment, has said nothing about the executions. Neither has vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, despite touting her opposition to the death penalty.
Two days before Vialva’s execution, as the DOJ prepared to kill William LeCroy on September 22, activists with Death Penalty Action gathered for a press conference in front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Faith leaders were present from different religious denominations. They spoke out against the executions and called out Attorney General Bill Barr, who was scheduled to be honored the next day during the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast.
The event featured New York Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the sponsor of a bill to abolish the federal death penalty introduced last summer. A parallel bill was brought forward by Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who last year called for an investigation into the federal government’s lethal injection plans.
“We’ve gotta be louder about this,” Espaillat said. He echoed a new report by the Death Penalty Information Center, linking the death penalty to the legacy of slavery and lynching in the United States. Not only are Black people overrepresented on death row today, he said, “defendants convicted of killing white victims are executed at a rate 17 times greater than those convicted of killing Black victims.” Indeed, of the seven men executed in Terre Haute, almost all of their victims were white.
Activist and attorney Ashley Kincaid Eve leads a vigil across from the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., moments before the execution of Christopher Vialva on Sept. 24, 2020. Photo: Liliana Segura/The Intercept
Later that day, activists under the banner of the Terre Haute Death Penalty Resistance returned to the grassy field next to the Dollar General on Route 63, directly across from the federal penitentiary. Ashley Kincaid Eve, a lawyer and activist from Indianapolis, was leading the protests that week, although she still harbored hope that Vialva’s execution would not go forward. Eve had developed a close friendship with Vialva after he saw her on the news and wrote to thank her for caring enough to protest the executions. “We are here because people decided that we are trash to be thrown in the dumpster,” he said in his first letter. But over the years, “I have listened to men sing the praises of their children, mourn the loss of their loved ones, talk about their ambitions while knowing they will not come to fruition, discuss their spiritual journey, and lament the decisions that put them here.”
Eve had previously spearheaded a successful lawsuit against the Indiana State Police, who barred the activists from the area across from the prison during the first round of executions in July. It was one of many ways in which authorities tried to tightly control what the public was able to see. In a nod to the First Amendment, the BOP had designated two spots in the fields along Route 63 for protesters on either side of the issue, but required participants to be transported by government buses hours in advance. No phones or electronic devices would be allowed. In the briefings for press before each execution, BOP spokespersons have repeatedly told reporters that no one has shown up to protest the executions.
BOP officials have been tight-lipped with journalists. For media witnesses, who have waited long hours on prison grounds to carry out their assignments, there are few explanations or updates. In contrast to death penalty states where prison officials routinely provide detailed descriptions about the last meals of the condemned, the BOP refuses to disclose even such trivial information. But Vialva had told Eve about LeCroy’s last meal. He had asked for KFC but his request had been rejected, she told me. The bones in the chicken presented a security risk, he was told. So, like Vialva, he requested Pizza Hut instead.
Victims on Both Sides
LeCroy’s execution went later than planned. Although it was scheduled for 6 p.m., he was not declared dead until after 9 p.m. LeCroy had been sentenced to death for the brutal killing of a nurse practitioner named Joann Lee Tiesler. Court records showed that LeCroy, who had a history of mental illness, said he had killed her in the mistaken belief that she was a former babysitter who had molested him when he was a child. In a clemency application for LeCroy, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, his attorneys pointed out that LeCroy’s own family had lost his brother, a Georgia state trooper, to murder in 2010. “The pain and sorrow felt by the LeCroy family at potentially losing two of their sons is unimaginable,” they wrote.
Tiesler was engaged to be married when she was murdered; her fiancé witnessed LeCroy’s execution, as did her father, Tom Tiesler. In a written statement, Tom Tiesler thanked Trump and Barr for restarting federal executions. LeCroy “died a peaceful death in contrast to the stark horror he imposed on my daughter Joann,” he wrote. “He was allowed to live nineteen years longer than Joann, with us taxpayers paying for his food, shelter and medical care. I am unaware that he ever showed any remorse for his evil actions, his life of crime, or the horrific burden he caused Joann’s loved ones.”
LeCroy had prepared a lengthy statement of his own, which he mailed to Sister Barbara Battista, a Catholic nun who served as his spiritual adviser, to read at his execution. But it did not arrive on time. Two days later, on the morning of Vialva’s execution, Battista brought the letter to a press conference outside the Dollar General. It began with a quote from the poet W. H. Auden. “‘Those to whom evil is done do evil in return,’” it read. This was not an excuse, he said. “Yet it describes many of us human beings in our primitive emotional states as children. It is a fact that some abuse — physical, emotional, and/or sexual — can stunt emotional growth. … We feel that we are what happened to us, that we cannot be that which we desire to become. And we lash out in anger. … We did things that we were unable to take back, harmed another human being, ourselves, and so many who loved us.”
Activists stood behind Battista as she read the letter, holding signs and wearing masks. They were joined by Lisa Brown. In a purple mask, a black headscarf, and a gold Star of David pendant, she came forward after Battista was done, to say a few words about her son. “This is really hard,” she said, her voice breaking. “This is the first venue that I’ve had in which I could say to Todd and Stacie’s family, I am so sorry for your loss. I’ve never been able to tell you that because I was told I could not have access to you.”
Lisa Brown addresses reporters on the morning of her son’s execution. Christopher Vialva was executed on Sept. 24, 2020, at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind. He was the seventh person executed by the Trump administration. Photo: Liliana Segura/The Intercept
Brown emphasized that her son was remorseful for his crime. But she also shared a story she told me the first time we spoke. Like LeCroy’s family, she had experienced the legal system from both sides of the courtroom. “In 2009, my daughter’s ex-husband attempted to murder her,” she said. “He bludgeoned her in the head with a hammer, poured gasoline over her and set her on fire. She survived with second and third degree burns over 80 percent of her body. And she forgave her attacker shortly after it happened. … And she taught me that I had to forgive. And it changed my life from being in a perpetual state of victimhood to a life that I can put that behind me, and see that there is peace in that.”
Later that day, as Brown reported to the parking lot of the Vigo County Sheriff’s Office, Eve returned to the same spot at the Dollar General to set up for the protest against Vialva’s execution. She had said goodbye to Vialva on the phone the night before, hoping to convince him to let her file a last-minute challenge to his execution. But he asked her not to. Everyone on death row had seen what happened to Daniel Lewis Lee, the first man to be executed in Terre Haute this year: Lee was lying on the gurney for four hours before the government took his life, as lawyers fought over his fate. Vialva did not want that to happen to him.
“He’s lost faith in our courts and I don’t blame him,” Eve said. “I’ve lost faith in our justice system. But I haven’t lost faith in humanity.” In the last several weeks, she had heard from people all over the world who were moved by his story.
It was just after 6 p.m. when Eve introduced the final speaker, a woman named Katie, who had traveled to Terre Haute from Minnesota. “I don’t know Chris personally,” Katie said. But she knew Vialva’s younger sister, Audrey. The two had met at a retreat for survivors of domestic violence, where Audrey had shared the story of how her ex-husband tried to kill her. “I am at risk of being a murder victim,” Katie said. Before going to prison for violating a restraining order, her own abuser beat, choked, and sexually assaulted her, she said. He is no longer incarcerated — and he could still kill her one day, she said. But she does not want his life.
Katie pointed to the penitentiary complex behind her. “Do you think that what’s going on behind us right now is going to save my life?” she asked. “Do you think he knows that this is happening and it’s going to deter him from anything he wants to do? It’s not.”
At 6:48 p.m., a BOP spokesperson sent out an email to reporters. “Please report back to the Media Center at this time if you choose to,” he wrote. The execution had been carried out. At the media center, officials handed out a statement from the mother of Todd Bagley. She said she was “hurt and disappointed” by the coverage of the case that morning, which focused on Vialva and how he had changed. Todd and Stacie also touched many lives, she wrote. “We will never know how many people they could have influenced for good if they had been given the chance.” She was heartened by the fact that they were in Heaven, she said. “I know without a doubt we will have a glorious reunion with them one day!”
Lisa Brown with her son Christopher Vialva and his younger sister, Audrey, in 1988. Photo: Courtesy of Lisa Brown
The Ultimate Price
On October 1, a few dozen guests gathered at the Killeen City Cemetery for Vialva’s funeral. His gray casket was covered in white lilies and chrysanthemums. His mother and sister sat in the front row. Eve, who drove down from Indianapolis, sat behind them under the tent.
Vialva’s 11-year-old nephew read a tribute from Vialva’s best friend on death row. Then Vialva’s sister Audrey delivered his eulogy. She shared childhood memories: how they would break the rules and ride their bikes to Walmart; how he would tickle her, play freeze tag with her, and have water balloon fights with her every summer. As he got older, she said, Vialva started spending more time playing video games and listening to music with his friends. But she remembered the time they stayed up all night memorizing the lyrics to the 1994 song “Funkdafied” by Da Brat. “He kept hanging his head off the top bunk asking why it was taking so many playbacks for me to get it,” she said. “His memory was always better than mine.”
Brown read the letter Vialva had written for his funeral. He was no longer the angry 19-year-old he had been, he wrote. “If you have written me a thousand letters or only just sat and thought about me from time to time, I appreciate it. If you came to visit me once a year or just saw my mother in passing and told her to tell me hello, I appreciate it. … If anyone here feels they could have done more, don’t. You did what you could and that is all that matters. So, thank you for those mercies and for your attendance today.”
The funeral director, Robert Falcon, was moved by the service. It was not the first time he had presided over the burial of a man executed by the state. Often times, he told me, such families “want to arrange something very private, something very, very quiet,” he said. “I’ve had services where nobody shows up. … There may be a representative from the family, a minister, and the funeral director. And that’s it. And Christopher’s situation was quite unique in that there was about 40 people present. And I’ve never seen that.”
Falcon did not minimize the pain of the victims in cases like Vialva’s. In his decades helping families bury their loved ones, he had seen his share of murder victims. He knew that their families continued to hurt after an execution, he said. But “sometimes we forget that the person has now paid the ultimate price for their crime, and now that family is left to hurt.”
Five days after her son’s funeral, Brown spoke to the mother of Orlando Hall, the next man in line to die in Terre Haute. She learned that he has six children and a number of grandchildren. Hall’s mother is in poor health and was not sure whether she will attend the execution, Brown said. “I told her, I want to be able to help facilitate their peaceful transition through this process,” Brown said. “And she said, ‘Oh thank you, Jesus.’ She says, ‘You just made my day, Miss Lisa.’ That blessed me.”
Brown has not yet spoken to the mother of Brandon Bernard. But she feels called upon to support other families as their loved ones get execution dates. “There are so many more like me,” she said. It is also what her son would have wanted. Over the phone, she read from a card that was waiting in the mail when she returned from Terre Haute. “I know this is hard for you,” he had written. “I would even go so far as to say that it’s harder on you than me. … I just want you to stay strong. I need you to do that for me. If they do take me away, then you can let them know how much it hurts. Maybe one day your love will change things.”