LANSING — The “particularly nasty” GOP Senate primary in Michigan is only heating up as Amash and Pensler continue to “expose” Rogers for being “unprincipled” and selling out Michiganders.
Here’s the latest on the “absolute clown show” aka the Republican Senate primary:
- Roll the tape. Amash “expose[s]” Rogers, saying Rogers “never met an American he didn’t want to spy on.”
- Rogers sums up the caustic GOP primary as an “absolute clown show” with his opponents continuing to “say ugly things” about him.
- Rogers’ spin through the revolving door is making us dizzy. He’s facing scrutiny for his work at “a federal contractor that designed civilian surveillance programs” that “infringe[d] on personal privacy rights” and looked into “scraping personal data from mobile devices.”
- Pensler quickly jumped at the chance to bash Rogers for being “unprincipled.”
- Rogers stands against a bipartisan bill to secure the border, saying he “absolutely” has a problem with the “most conservative border bill in decades” backed by border patrol agents and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
See for yourself:
Mike Rogers Video: Rogers: “It is an absolute clown show of people attacking us…”
Mike Rogers Video: Rogers: “We have that one guy [Justin Amash]… is out there trying to say ugly things.”
American Journal News: Michigan Republican Mike Rogers worked for organization that threatened privacy rights
- Former Rep. Mike Rogers, who is running in the Republican primary for Michigan’s open U.S Senate seat, worked for a federal contractor that designed civilian surveillance programs and pushed for right-wing social policies.
- From 2016 to 2023, Rogers was on the board of trustees of the Mitre Corporation, a non-profit that conducts federally funded research and advises government agencies.
- Rogers was vice chairman of the Mitre Corporation’s board from 2019 to 2021 and served as its director in 2023. Rogers launched his senate campaign in September 2023.
- When Rogers joined Mitre it was working on one of its most infamous projects: developing technology that could lift fingerprints from photos posted on social media.
- …Lawyers at the ACLU and other human rights organizations said it could infringe on personal privacy rights.
- “Nobody expects that by posting a digital photo online, they are exposing their unique biometric identifiers including their fingerprints, to collection in a law enforcement database,” Nate Wessler, staff attorney at the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, told Forbes.
- Mitre also did research into scraping personal data from mobile devices.
- Rogers said the FBI’s repeated disregard for privacy rights and the Fourth Amendment had led to a loss of public trust. He did not comment on how Mitre’s work may have contributed to this erosion.
- Mitre received another controversial contract during Rogers’ tenure. The Trump White House awarded Mitre $21.5 million in 2018 for a “teen pregnancy prevention study.” The stated goal of the study was to develop “medically accurate and age appropriate programs that reduce teen pregnancy.”
- A Rogers campaign spokesperson… did not answer questions concerning Rogers’ stance on abstinence-only programs.
Gold Media: Supriya Tamhane: “So my last question, what comes to your mind when you hear the following names? First is Mike Rogers.” Pensler: “Unprincipled.”
Brian Kilmeade Show: Kilmeade: “Did you have a problem with the bipartisan bill, by the way?” … Rogers: “I mean, on immigration, absolutely.”
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