• Tweet
• 

A weekend report by the New York Times undercut the White House’s recent attacks on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which charged the chamber with influencing American elections with gobs of foreign money. “There is little evidence that what the chamber does in collecting overseas dues is improper or even unusual, according to both liberal and conservative election-law lawyers,” the Times reported.

By Sunday, the president was backing off the charge, and David Axelrod was asked about it by a skeptical Bob Schieffer on “Face the Nation.”

“They do spend heavily on politics,” Schieffer said of the chamber. “But this part about foreign money. That appears to be peanuts, Mr. Axelrod. I mean, do you have any evidence that it’s anything other than peanuts?”

Axelrod was defiant, suggesting the chamber is lying and the New York Times report was inaccurate.

“Well, do you have any evidence that it’s not, Bob? The fact is that the chamber has asserted that, but they won’t release any information about where their campaign money is coming from, and that’s the core of the problem, here,” Axelrod said.

Schieffer closed with a devastating question for the Democratic strategy guru.

“I guess I would put it this way. If the only charge Democrats can make three weeks into the election is that somehow this may or may not be foreign money coming into the campaign, is that the best you can do?”