Someone is Being Paid to Dig Up Dirt on Elizabeth Warren

This sounds like fun.

Democracy for America, in a fund raising email, reports:

Someone is trying to smear Elizabeth Warren....Two ridiculous news stories have appeared trying to generate scandals about Elizabeth Warren.

One of the news stories comes from  Politico:

 Elizabeth Warren is trying to kill President Barack Obama’s trade agenda by raising the specter that foreign companies could use an investor-friendly arbitration system to circumvent the U.S. court system.

But she hasn’t discussed her own role 15 years ago in the arbitration system she opposes — as a paid expert witness earning as much as $90,000 from the U.S. government....

In 1999 and 2000, the Justice Department paid Warren between $200 to $400 an hour to serve as an expert witness against a Canadian funeral home operator called Loewen Group that was seeking $725 million from the U.S. under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Her role in the case, NAFTA’s first major test of the procedure known as investor-state dispute settlement, has gotten little public attention — even as Warren has made ISDS her main line of attack against the sprawling Asia-Pacific trade deal that Obama is seeking.

Democracy for America explains the second attack:

The second story is even more disgusting. It's a personal attack on Warren and her husband involving her home equity line of credit...What's even more disturbing is that someone had to research obscure property records to find this out. Someone is being paid to dig up dirt on Elizabeth Warren and feed it to the press.

Alex Pappas provides details on the second attack:

 Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the populist Democrat and foe of big banks, has not listed a $1.3 million credit line against her home with Bank of America on annual financial disclosure documents because of a loophole in federal law, according to a new report.

The Boston Herald reported Wednesday that Warren, who is required to disclose financial assets and liabilities, avoided listing it in 2014 because it’s a line of credit — not a mortgage — and the Democrat doesn’t actually owe enough money yet.

Here’s how the Democrat’s office explained the situation to the Boston Herald: “An aide for Warren said the amount represents a home equity line of credit, not a mortgage. According to the aide, a line of credit does not trigger reporting requirements if the borrower has not borrowed on it, or if the amount owed is less than $10,000. Warren’s account had a zero balance, the aide said.”

  -RW