Teddy Schleifer: “I find it very hard to believe that SBF’s giving to Republicans matched his donations to Democrats—he was the second-largest disclosed donor to Democrats in the 2020 cycle at $40 million—and sources close to SBF don’t think this is true, either. In fact, an SBF adviser told a source of mine that the recent claim from SBF was flatly untrue. More likely, SBF was speaking loosely and hyperbolically, as he is prone to do.”

“But it is true that in the sprint, SBF’s aides at FTX and on his personal donor-advisory team began moving major money to G.O.P.-aligned groups, generally to entities affiliated with Republican leadership, I’m told. Some of that money was through disclosed vehicles, like McConnell’s Senate Leadership Fund. But some of it was not.”

New York Times: “While both parties have their billionaires, Republicans have many more. Of the 25 top donors this cycle, 18 are Republican, according to Open Secrets, and they have outspent Democrats by $200 million. Billionaires make up 20 percent of total Republican donations compared with 14.5 percent of Democratic donations.

“Liam Madden, the Republican nominee in the open race for Vermont’s lone seat in the U.S. House, during a radio interview Thursday morning described in detail a self-funded scheme to inflate his campaign donations during the primary cycle in order to qualify for candidate debates,” VT Digger reports.

“Madden claimed to have ‘drained’ his wife’s business’s bank account and distributed roughly $25,000 amongst family members — including his toddler son, June — who then donated the money to his campaign. Madden said he is now recouping the money by collecting a salary from his campaign.”

Said campaign finance expert Saurav Ghosh: “He just appears to be ignorant of the fact that he’s just confessed on an interview on air to breaking campaign finance laws.”

National Journal: “Trump has more than $100 million sitting in his three main political-action committees—Save America PAC, Make America Great Again PAC, and the Save America Joint Fundraising Committee. Using some sleight of hand, the former president could exploit these funds for another presidential campaign. There are open questions, though, about the methods he used to raise the money, and whether all his disbursements are relevant to a campaign.”

“While the Federal Election Commission is known for its relatively toothless enforcement, experts say the Justice Department could potentially charge him with wire fraud, adding another case to his mounting legal problems.”

Cleveland Plain Dealer: “Vance and his allies have spent about $30.6 million on ads. Ninety-two percent of that is coming from outside groups, nearly all of which is from Senate Leadership Fund PAC, which has close ties to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. About $2.4 million is coming directly from Vance’s campaign.”

“Even though Vance and his allies are spending almost three times as much as Ryan, they’re only getting about 20% more airtime. That’s largely because candidates, under federal law, get much better prices compared to outside PACs.”