The Uber campaign: how ex-Obama aides helped sell firm to world

It was a Sunday afternoon in early November 2015 when David Plouffe emailed his fellow former Barack Obama campaigner Matthew Barzun, typing “Mr ambassador” in the subject line., and Barzun had been rewarded for his fundraising efforts for the US president with the plum job of American ambassador to the UK.

The leaked records cover 40 countries and span 2013 to 2017, the period in which Uber was aggressively expanding across the world. They reveal how the company broke the law, duped police and regulators, exploited violence against drivers and secretly lobbied governments across the world. A campaigner by trade, Plouffe became one of the central figures in Uber’s global lobbying effort, using his experience to get the company access to leaders, officials and diplomats. Uber also relied on another Obama alumnus as a consultant for political advice, Jim Messina, who had served as Plouffe’s deputy and first introduced him to Kalanick. The files suggest that in some cases Uber tried to use him to gain access to public officials.

Files show Plouffe going from country to country to help Uber in its relentless campaign to break open the transportation sector. He appeared to be a big believer in the Uber project, which he joined in 2014 as senior vice-president of policy and strategy.Photograph: Bryan Smith/ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy

When MacGann asked Messina in a leaked message that July if he had any messages for Hartley, one day before an appointment, Messina responded: “Tell her I love her,” and later: “We did give her FRANCE.” “Let me tell you, you get in the room with a transportation minister, I don’t care where it is, state capitol, city council, European capital, African country, they don’t care what I or anyone else did before,” Plouffe said. “I don’t feel like what I did previously was of much relevance in the rooms where you were negotiating laws, which tended to get very specific about a whole set of issues around ride-sharing.

In another case, an email to Plouffe stated the use of the kill switch had probably prevented Uber’s data from being accessed by authorities during a raid. In March 2015, he asked in a message for “real time updates” about another raid in France. Plouffe did not respond to questions about his apparent knowledge of use of the kill switch or why he was included on the emails.

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