Trump's tweet distorts House bill against lobbying that has close ties to the White House

President Trump on Wednesday helped derail a bipartite casino bill, opposed by a key White House ally, after linking the measure to Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), A leading Democrat candidate. plan to challenge it in 2020.

Trump's intervention, contained in a morning tweet, eroded Republican support and prompted Democrats in the House to postpone the vote on the measure, which would pave the way for a new tribal casino in Massachusetts.

The bill, H.R. 312, would uphold the sovereignty of the Wampanoag Mashpee tribe on 321 acres of land – including the Taunton, Massachusetts site, in search of the casino project. A vote in the House was scheduled for Wednesday in fast-track procedures requiring a two-thirds majority, which shows its broad support.

But opponents, including Rhode Island lawmakers, argued that the bill would hurt the operations of two neighboring casinos located on the other side of the state. US Conservative union president Trump's ally, Matthew Schlapp, advocates for Twin River Management Group, which operates the two Rhode Island casinos. Schlapp's wife, Mercedes, is the director of strategic communications for the White House.

In a Wednesday morning tweet that blinded legislators from both parties, Trump urged Republicans to oppose the measure.

"Republicans should not vote for H. 312, a Bill Bill of Interest Bill, backed by Elizabeth (Pocahontas) Warren," Trump m said, using a nickname that he often used to make fun of the Democratic presidential candidate of 2020. "This is unfair and does not treat Native Americans in the same way!"

Warren co-sponsored a similar bill introduced in 2018 by Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), But no Senate law pertaining to the tribe is pending before the current Congress. The House Bill, introduced by Representative William R. Keating (D-Mass.), Has the support of 15 Democratic co-sponsors, including the Massachusetts delegation, as well as six Republicans.

The special attention to Warren seemed to reflect a strategy adopted by Schlapp, which focused on the senator in a Wednesday morning tweet and an email that he sent Tuesday to Capitol Hill Republicans.

"Giving him a victory over such a problem is a real headache," Schlapp wrote in the Washington Post's e-mail. She was referring to a February article published on a conservative website called "Warren's Casino Fiasco".

In a brief telephone interview, Schlapp asked that the questions be sent to him by SMS, but did not respond to a text message or a subsequent phone call. He later referred a journalist to his Twitter feed, where he had issued a statement in which he stated that he "had been pressuring the casino because it was a" terrible idea "and that his woman "had no role to play in my advocacy." Schlapp is well known in Washington's Republican circles are the main organizers of the annual conference on Conservative political action, known as CPAC: A Warren spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.

According to a person familiar with the circumstances surrounding the tweet, Trump was happy to attack the project once he had learned that it was a top priority for Warren. He agreed to send the tweet Tuesday night, although it was posted only the next morning, said a senior White House official.

But the Conservative opposition to the bill was already preparing before Trump's tweet. White House officials have voted against the vote in recent days, highlighting objections from the Interior Ministry, who overturned a landmark decision in 2017, requiring the passing of a law.

Two reputable Republican legislative representatives – Representative Tom Cole (Okla.), Rank Republican at the Rules Committee and supporter of Tribal Legislation, and Representative Gary Palmer (Ala.), Chairman of the Party Policy Committee and Opposition Opposition Bill – Sparred in a leadership meeting on Tuesday night and again in a GOP Wednesday morning conference meeting. But Trump's tweet seems to have sealed his fate: House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) Canceled his voting proposal less than two hours later.

"You get a little racist tweet from the president, which creates a rush backwards by Republicans who have already said they voted yes," said the chairman of the House's Natural Resources Committee , Raúl M. Grijalva. "The CPAC lobbyist has done a lot of sabotage over the last few days on this issue and made it a Conservative versus Democratic affair when it is not."

A Democratic assistant said that the Mashpee bill would likely be put to a vote next week under different procedures requiring only a simple majority.

Cole, one of the GOP leaders on Native American issues, said Trump's tweet was the "trigger factor" for bills withdrawn on Wednesday and disputed the idea that the bill should be rejected by Republicans because Warren's apparent support.

"The communities in the area want some. The state is on the record wishing it. All members of the Massachusetts delegation wish it. Why should we intervene in a state like this when there is unanimity? ", Did he declare. "The real conflict here is between private gambling interests that do not want Amerindian competition."

Cole said he was unaware of Schlapp's specific involvement in lobbying the bill or whether he played a role in Trump's tweeting about it. "I do not think he knows a lot about Indian issues," said Cole about Schlapp.

The Democrats were pleased to highlight the possible role of Schlapp while lamenting the cancellation of the vote on Wednesday.

"It's also been overlooked that a Rhode Island casino lobbyist seems to have very close relations with the White House," said Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.), Who represents the region in search of the casino project. . "It's sad, the consequence will be that the tribe that welcomed the pilgrims will again be injured by the US government."

The bill created, if only briefly, strange links between Trump and the all-Democratic delegation of Rhode Island, whose members have been working against the Massachusetts casino project for months.

"All I am going to say is that I am pleased that the bill was withdrawn from the debate today for a variety of reasons," said Representative Jim Langevin (D-R.I.). "I do not know the interest of the president nor his complete reasoning. I will not comment on this. "

Representative David N. Cicilline (DR.I.), who spent much of Wednesday at a hearing of the Trump House of Representatives Judicial Committee and Attorney General William P. Barr, declined to comment on the influence Schlapp's potential on the president.

Instead, he highlighted the lobbying of foreign investment partners of the Mashpee tribe: "There has been tremendous lobbying on behalf of a Malaysian hedge fund. I am very concerned about the level of lobbying. "