| Good morning, Early Birds. We have to admit we were disappointed not to get an invite to Sen. Cory Booker's recent almond-milk mixer. Maybe next time. Send us your tips (almond-milk-related or otherwise) to earlytips@washpost.com. Thanks for waking up with us. In today's edition: More than a dozen voting rights groups will gather this week in Georgia to plot their strategy for how to deal with the state's new voting law … Biden to announce new ATF nominee and effort to crack down on "ghost guns" … Kamala Harris, Marty Walsh and the unlikely bonds of politics … Putin to meet with Austrian chancellor as Russia steps up assault in east … but first … | | |  | The Media | | Pro-Trump group angry it can't run an ad attacking Zuckerberg in Silicon Valley |  Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook testifies remotely before the House Judiciary Committee on July 29, 2020. (Photo by Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post) | | | The latest attempt by former president Donald Trump's supporters to go after social media titans is playing out in Mark Zuckerberg's backyard over an ad for a documentary attacking the Facebook founder that its backers want to air on a cable system serving Silicon Valley. When the conservative group Citizens United, run by Trump ally David Bossie, wanted to promote its 42-minute film "Rigged: The Zuckerberg Funded Plot to Defeat Donald Trump," it approached Effectv, a division of Comcast, last month about running an ad in the San Francisco Bay area market. It was turned down. In an email reviewed by The Washington Post, an account executive at Citizens United's media-buying firm wrote in an email that Effectv told him it would not run the ad because it violated its guidelines that ads should "not call out CEOs in a negative way." A spokeswoman for Comcast confirmed to The Early that the ad did not comply with the "personal attacks" section outlined in the company's ad content guidelines. She spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide a response from the company, saying she wasn't authorized to use her name. | - The guidelines stipulate that any ad "may be rejected if it is merely an attack of a personal nature, a direct attack on an individual business or comment on a private dispute. Advertisements may be accepted if the attack is on a business that is in the public forum or the issue is one of public concern."
| | Citizens United wasn't happy it couldn't take a shot at Zuckerberg in the area where he lives. "Rejecting the ad is just another case of the biased corporate media suppressing a story because it doesn't fit their narrative," Bossie said in a statement. | Shifting reasons or consistent policy? | | The group accused Comcast of giving shifting reasons for why it was rejecting the advertisement. In a letter to Comcast, reviewed by The Washington Post, Citizens United's general counsel alleged that during a call with Comcast, the initial rationale over why they decided to reject the ad shifted from not liking the "image of the ad" to violating Comcast's "prohibition on personal attacks." "When we requested specific suggestions and edits so that we could modify the ad to conform to the guidelines, you responded that you and your Comcast colleagues 'really hadn't given it much thought,'" wrote Michael Boos, Citizen United's executive vice president and general counsel. The Comcast spokeswoman said that "in the event that an advertiser wishes to revise a spot, we would re-review it for consideration." She also said the company has rejected ads in the past that are inconsistent with the "personal attacks" policy, including a spot last year by the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group, called "Fox News is killing us." The Citizens United documentary is the latest attempt by Trump's allies to attack social media companies they argue are hostile to conservatives. The film's importance to the MAGA universe was on display last week when Trump hosted a viewing of the film at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. The movie alleges that Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, helped Democrats by pouring money into the 2020 election for voter turnout and education efforts in areas that benefited the party. The couple and the group they worked with — the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), a nonprofit group that distributed more than $300 million in grants to election agencies in 2020 — have previously denied the effort was partisan. They said the money went to jurisdictions that requested it and that there was no bias in how it was distributed. Facebook declined to comment about the ad or the film to The Early. | | Citizens United bought advertising for the documentary nationally on DirecTV and Dish Network as well as the pro-Trump networks One America News and Newsmax, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the group's advertising strategy. This person said the ad buy targeted cable news channels and spots in "news clusters" across the country — including on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, HLN, CNBC, Fox Business, Bloomberg Television and the Weather Channel. Experts on communications law told The Early that while Comcast isn't required to have a reason to reject certain advertising, the broad standard applied in this case could raise ethical or conflict of interest questions. "There's ethical issues abound when you refuse to run an ad," said Jessica González, the co-chief executive of Free Press and Free Press Action, a liberal group that has been critical of both the Trump administration and social media companies. "We'd have to know, for example, if the station gets funded, or has advertising that Facebook runs on it or anything in the Meta universe." | | |  | The campaign | | Georgia activists regroup as Biden's voting rights push stalls |  A resident holds an "I'm A Georgia Voter" sticker during the 2020 Presidential election. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg) | | | What to do about voting rights: "For months, Georgia voting rights advocates and faith leaders warned that a new state law would drastically suppress minority turnout and pleaded with Congress to enshrine protections," our colleague Matthew Brown reports. | - "But with no signs of progress in President Biden's push for voting rights bills, those groups are now confronting a new challenge: How to turn out voters despite the restrictions passed by state Republicans in the wake of Biden's upset win there."
- Happening tomorrow: "More than a dozen voting rights groups, spearheaded by faith leaders, will gather at The King Center in Atlanta to rally their organizations in the run-up to the midterms — and plot their strategy to outmaneuver new regulations they see as limiting access to the ballot. The groups, which are mostly nonpartisan but also aligned with Democratic efforts, aim to show GOP leaders that their work will continue in the face of the law."
| | |  | At the White House | | Biden to nominate Steve Dettelbach to head ATF |  Steve Dettelbach talks with people before speaking at a breakfast with faith and community leaders in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Maddie McGarvey/The Washington Post) | | | Biden picks another ATF director: President Biden will announce today "that he is nominating Steve Dettelbach to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, part of a litany of law enforcement-related actions by the administration as Democrats try to convince voters that they are the party that can keep America safe," our colleague Cleve Wootson reports. It's Biden's second attempt to fill the role. "A senior administration official told reporters on a background call that the White House hoped Dettelbach, the former U.S. attorney from Ohio, would be 'a non-controversial appointment,' after the administration failed to get a previous nominee through the Senate." | - Biden previously nominated David Chipman to lead the agency but withdrew his name in September "amid bipartisan pushback over his gun control advocacy. Chipman had worked at ATF for more than two decades before joining a gun-control group led by former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.)."
- "Monday's crime reduction-related actions — including an effort to crack down on gun kits sold without a serial number known as ghost guns — are an acknowledgment of the increased role crime fears could play in upcoming midterm elections. Republicans have already sought to brand Democrats as the party of the 'defund the police' movement, and asserted that their approach to law enforcement contributed to crime upticks in 2021."
| | On the schedule: Biden will meet virtually this morning with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the war in Ukraine, among other issues. Modi's efforts to avoid condemning Russian invasion has led to tensions with the administration, with Biden last month calling India "somewhat shaky" on standing up to Russian President Vladimir Putin. | Kamala Harris and Marty Walsh strike up an unlikely bond |  Vice President Harris swears in Marty Walsh as Labor Secretary on March 23, 2021. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post) | | | Best Friends 4eva: "One speaks with a thick Boston accent, the other is a proud daughter of California," our colleague Matt Viser writes. "One has distinct Irish roots, the other has ancestors in India and Jamaica. One proudly wears pearls, the other has a declared love of cargo shorts." | - "In what has become one of the more unusual pairings in the Biden administration, Vice President Harris and Marty Walsh, the secretary of Labor, have struck up a tight bond that started with policy and has evolved into a personal connection that has surprised those close to them."
- "They talk on a weekly basis and Harris has spent more time one-on-one with Walsh than any other Cabinet member, according to aides in the vice president's office. Walsh now has drop-in privileges at the VP's office, allowed to swing by unannounced anytime he chooses. When Walsh recently told Harris that he was going to be a grandfather this summer, she expressed delight — and is now planning a baby shower at the U.S. Naval Observatory, her official residence, for Walsh's stepdaughter."
- "Listen, I'm a guy from Boston. Secretary of Labor. Former mayor," Walsh told Viser. "If you had said to me the day I got sworn in that one of my relationships, probably the closest, would be the vice president — I wouldn't have said no, but I wouldn't have expected it."
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