Republicans boost Trump's judicial 'farm team' after AG elections, set sights on Bloomberg

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Bloomberg on 2020 Democrats: Trump would eat them up

Bloomberg takes swipe at fellow Democratic candidates; Republican political strategist Ashlee Strong and Democratic strategist Kevin Chavous react.

Republicans have successfully boosted President Trump's "farm team" for the federal judiciary after going undefeated in attorney general (AG) races last month, and are now setting their sights on 2020 presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg.

Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) Executive Director Adam Piper told Fox News the GOP's clean sweep of AG races on election night has drawn attention to the group and will help provide future judicial picks for the president to choose from.

"We're starting to get the attention," Piper said Friday. "There are some storylines that haven't been told, though. One of the things is America's farm team. Those Trump [judicial] appointees have spent years of the last decade in state AG offices."

Piper highlighted several key policy issues but said energy remains one of the group's top concerns, while Bloomberg remains one of their top targets.

"When you look at the left... George Soros and Michael Bloomberg have pumped over $10 million into this clandestine project at New York University [NYU] to pay for mercenaries... who go to work in state AG offices on the left," he said.

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Piper referred to the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center, which is headquartered at NYU Law and was created by Bloomberg in 2017. It seeks to hire and place attorneys in Democratic state AG offices in order to fight the Trump administration's energy policies.

Fox News reached out to the center, which denied having any affiliation with Soros. They also claimed their group is non-political and simply serves the public interest.

Piper disagreed and claimed: "Democrats couldn't keep up or play fairly, so they went out to Soros and Bloomberg as special assistant AGs."

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who served as RAGA's chairman, accused the center of being politically extreme and said Democratic AGs have ceded control of their offices to Bloomberg's foot soldiers.

“Environmental extremists can’t win at the ballot box or through the legislative process so they’re trying a new tactic: embed climate activists in the offices of Democrat state attorneys general," Paxton wrote in an email to Fox News.

"In their latest scheme, Democrat AGs are literally giving up control and letting Michael Bloomberg-funded staff run their offices," he continued. "Instead of pledging allegiance to the Constitution and rule of law, these 'Special Assistant Attorneys General' have to 'commit to defending environmental values and advancing progressive, clean energy, climate change and environmental legal positions.'"

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Paxton also lamented the ethical implications of the center's involvement and said it serves as a backdoor for climate change activists to push environmental propaganda.

"The ethical problems with this scheme are obvious -- Democratic state AG offices are taking on seasoned attorneys being paid by a radical, liberal Democratic presidential primary candidate, and in turn, wield state police power and use the authority of the state attorney general to implement Bloomberg’s progressive climate change agenda across the country," he said.