A new congressional investigation has uncovered that Susan Page, the Washington Bureau Chief of USA Today, hosted a “Girl’s Night” at her home in November 2017 to honor Seeme Verma, the Administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Trump’s top Medicaid official. Taxpayers paid for $2,933 of the party’s total bill. Verma has a long history with Pence going back to his time as governor of Indiana.
Last week, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that Page would be the moderator for the vice presidential debate Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris on October 7. “USA Today is defending longtime Washington bureau chief,” the Washington Post reports.
Her leading role in hosting the event at her home raised eyebrows on social media from observers who suggested that it conflicted with her ability to cover the administration as an impartial journalist. Reporters are supposed to maintain an arm’s-length relationship with their sources, and hosting parties for them arguably compromises this role.
Compromised, ya think?
But USA Today spokesperson Chrissy Terrell said on Thursday afternoon that Page was “unaware” that the CMS was billed for the event, which the newspaper said was held to honor “two women who had recently gotten significant appointments, Heather Wilson to head the Air Force and Seema Verma to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — both milestone moments to be recognized.”
The newspaper defended Page’s decision to host the gathering, which the publication said are “routinely hosted” by female journalists to “honor significant accomplishments of both Democratic and Republican women,” with the journalists footing the bill. (Page paid $4,025 for catering, plus several hundred dollars for beverages and more money tips for the wait staff.)
No quid pro quo here, nope just a big nothing burger.
Verma, for her part, spent more than $3.5 million on a Republican-connected consultants to improve her public profile, Politico reports:
They are among the revelations included in a sweeping congressional investigation chronicling how Verma spent more than $3.5 million on a range of GOP-connected consultants, who polished her public profile, wrote her speeches and Twitter posts, brokered meetings with high-profile individuals — and even billed taxpayers for connecting Verma with fellow Republicans in Congress.
The 49-year-old Verma, who advised then-Gov. Mike Pence in Indiana on health policy before joining the Trump administration, has strongly rejected any suggestion of wrongdoing in her consulting practices.
So, it would seem once again the only way Trump and his stooges think they can win is if they cheat.
Maybe Page should not be the moderator of the Harris-Pence debate?