OMAHA — State Sen. Tony Vargas, the Democrat running for the U.S. House in Nebraska’s 2nd District, said voters should consider why his Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, did “a special favor” on a work visa for an international executive with Trump Media.

Bacon told the Examiner last week that his congressional office did what it typically does when a constituent or someone else needing a visa or passport calls for help: It had a staffer call the State Department in January 2022 and check the status of the visa application. Members of Congress make such calls in hopes of speeding up the process.

Bacon’s office said it makes hundreds of calls for constituents seeking visa and passport help in a given year. Handling such requests is a routine part of constituent services for all of Nebraska’s congressional delegation, members said.

Bacon discussed his office’s actions following a report on Aug. 29 by ProPublica, a national nonprofit investigative news outlet. The story linked him and his office to the visa push for Trump Media executive Vladimir Novachki of North Macedonia. Novachki helped build the backbone of what became Truth Social, former President Donald Trump’s social media platform.

ProPublica reported that a former Bacon office staffer, now working in the private sector, said she did not want to make a call about the application and was told to do so by Bacon, an interaction the congressman acknowledged but said was misunderstood.

“I think it was twisted, like she thought it was inappropriate,” Bacon said.

Former Employee Declines To Comment

The former staffer told ProPublica the request was treated with more urgency than the typical request. She declined to comment Wednesday when reached by the Examiner. She later told ProPublica they had misinterpreted what she said to them about the case.

The Biden administration had already approved a visa for Novachki before Bacon’s office got involved, ProPublica reported. Andrew Northwall, a Republican political consultant with Nebraska ties, reached out to Bacon’s office trying to get the State Department to schedule an interview before December 2023.

Northwall is widely known in Nebraska GOP circles, and Bacon said he has known him for years. Northwall’s LinkedIn page says he now works as chief operating officer of Trump Media. Northwall did not return messages over several days seeking comment on the request for help.

“I’ve worked with him,” Bacon said of Northwall. “But I would have handled it if I didn’t know him. If Tony Vargas were to call us and said ‘I got a visa issue for somebody,’ I would’ve put it in.”

Asked what he thought of Bacon saying he would have made the same effort for Vargas, Vargas said, “I don’t think the most important thing is whether or not he would or not.”

Political Motivations Or Constituent Services?

The ProPublica story suggests that Bacon may have been motivated to help Trump because the former president had tweeted about seeking a candidate to Bacon’s right to challenge him in the 2024 GOP primary for perceived disloyalty.

Bacon has endorsed Trump three times. But he criticized Trump after the events of Jan. 6, 2021. Trump was also angry about Bacon’s support for the bipartisan infrastructure law.

“I was helping a constituent,” Bacon said. “It would’ve been a story if I refused to help him. We had that talk. … What was the appropriate thing to do for this guy? He works for Trump. Is it appropriate or not? Well, he is a constituent. Let’s treat it the same way.”

While Northwall still spends time in Nebraska, Trump Media is based in Florida, and Northwall is no longer registered to vote in the Cornhusker State. He still owns property in the 2nd District. Bacon’s office says it and other offices typically screen constituent calls by address.

“Seeing Bacon step up and help Trump to do the special favor shows me the pattern… that he is able to do anything to stay in power,” Vargas told the Examiner. “He’s willing to do anything to stay in Trump’s good graces, and he was rewarded for it.”

Bacon drew no significant primary challenger in 2022, though Trump criticized Bacon at a Nebraska political rally that May. Former campaign staffers close to Trump spent much of 2023 trying to recruit a primary challenger to Bacon’s right. Bacon did eventually draw a primary challenger, Dan Frei, whom he defeated 62%-38%. Trump did not endorse in the race.

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/09/05/vargas-and-bacon-spar-over-visa-...