No Labels asks the Justice Department to investigate its critics
No Labels, the centrist group that could launch a third-party presidential bid, has asked the Justice Department to investigate what it calls unlawful harassment by opposing groups.
The group filed a complaint on January 11, accusing a number of political figures and other critics of engaging in voter suppression and violating federal laws, including the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which is often used to combat organized crime.
New Labels leaders who described the complaint during a news conference Thursday largely dismissed it previously reported details of efforts to oppose the group, as well as inflammatory statements made by some of its critics on political podcasts.
The group compared the efforts of its opponents to those of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1950s and 1960s and fictional mob boss Tony Soprano. a mounting clips The group included Rick Wilson, a founder of the anti-Trump Republican group the Lincoln Project, who last spring said the group should be “burned to the ground,” using an expletive — though the clip had been cut off before Mr Wilson adds the word 'politics'. (After being asked about the shortened clip, the group uploaded a version of the video with the full statement.)
Other critics in the montage included Jonathan V. Last of The Bulwark, a conservative news outlet, and Matt Bennett of Third Way, a centrist Democratic group.
Former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, a national co-chair of No Labels, said opponents of the group “used intimidation to keep people from voting” and attacked “the rights of the American people and our democracy.”
In a statement on Thursday, the Lincoln Project accused No Labels of trying to “weaponize the DOJ” to “target their opponents for protected political speech.” The Bulwark and Third Way did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
No Labels' complaint was unusual for a group involved in campaign politics. Attacks and pressure campaigns against potential candidates, donors, and party supporters are common in politics, especially in high-profile presidential races, and are considered by courts to be generally permissible under the protection of the First Amendment.
The group's claims that its opponents are meaningfully infringing on voting rights are also complicated by the fact that a number of third-party presidential candidates have already entered the race, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the prominent environmental lawyer turned anti-vaccine activist has become. .
By contrast, No Labels has not yet committed to entering the presidential race, and it remains unclear who would be under the group's voting line if it did. Sen. Joe Manchin III, a conservative Democrat from West Virginia who is touring New Hampshire, is seen as a potential top candidate.
The group also fought for it prevent candidates from using the voting line to run for positions other than president and vice president, in part to avoid revealing donors.
Ryan Clancy, the group's chief strategist, said Thursday that the group was “not trying to stand in the way of either party nominating whoever they want.” But Mr. Clancy and other leaders of the group said they would not decide to enter the race until it became clear that the two major parties would nominate President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump.