Donald Trump’s presidential campaign accused Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK) of misusing the former president’s image and tricking donors in an online fundraising scheme, The Messenger reports.
How George Santos Got His Money
Daily Beast: “They uncovered what appears to be an illegal pass-through scheme involving hundreds of thousands of dollars in illicit contributions that Santos funneled to his campaign from business clients—perhaps without their knowledge.”
“Santos also appears to have taken the scheme a step further, personally reaping tens of thousands of dollars after he was elected to Congress.”
Disclosures Show No Labels Took Corporate Money
“The political group No Labels says it does not take corporate money, but disclosures from several companies indicate it has received corporate donations, including some received as recently as last year,” Sludge reports.
“The full scope of corporate money that has been given to No Labels is unknown, since the 501(c)4 nonprofit advocacy group does not release information about its donors and is not required by law to do so. But glimpses of corporate donors to No Labels can be seen in companies’ voluntary political disclosures.”
Where George Santos Spent Campaign Funds
The 55-page ethics report looking into allegations against Rep. George Santos (R-NY) shows that he spent campaign funds “on Botox treatments and lavish Atlantic City trips with his husband,” Politico reports.
But there are other more egregious charges:
- $50,000 of donor money solicited for political purposes that was transferred to Santos’ personal account, where some was used for purchases at Sephora, Hermes and OnlyFans, the platform largely used by creators of adult erotic content.
- $20,000 of Santos’ 2022 campaign funds were moved to his personal business’ bank account, where some was used to pay for his rent, $6,000 worth of purchases from Ferragamo stores and a withdrawal from a casino.
Group Once Led by Raphael Warnock Faces Scrutiny
“The New Georgia Project, a voting rights organization founded by the state’s Democratic star Stacey Abrams and overseen for more than two years by Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, is beset by allegations of financial misuse and irregularities,” Politico reports.
“The organization, which played a key role in registering the new voters necessary to turn Georgia from a red state to a swing state with two Democratic senators, is conducting its own internal probe into its finances in response to the claims of irregularities, one of its two board chairs, Frank Wilson, said.”
Bankman-Fried Gave $50 Million to Dark Money Groups
“Former crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried and his associates donated $50 million during the 2022 election cycle toward politically active nonprofit groups that don’t disclose their donors,” CNBC reports.
Dark Money Critic Has Ties to Secret Donor World
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has long been the Left’s foremost critic of “dark money,” which he’s said “corrupts” politics and poses a “threat to democracy,” the Washington Examiner reports.
“But a Washington Examiner review of the senator’s donors, green energy affiliations, and efforts to transform the Supreme Court tell another story. He has for many years benefited from the influence of dark money and held certain ties to dark money groups.”
Super PACs Are Worthless
Tim Miller: “Super PACs for several GOP candidates challenging Donald Trump have raised hundreds of millions of dollars to help fund efforts to displace him as the party’s nominee—and they have absolutely nothing to show for it.”
“No progress. No signs of life. No movement. Nada.”
“The impotence of the super PAC efforts is an all-the-more-inviting target for ridicule when you consider that this entire strategic approach was discredited in the 2016 and 2020 presidential races.”
GOP on the Verge of Major Campaign Finance Win
“Republicans have waged a decades-long battle to blow up the campaign-finance laws that rein in big-money spending. Now, they are making a play that could end in their biggest victory since the Citizens United ruling in 2010,” Politico reports.
“The GOP is growing increasingly optimistic about their prospects in a little-noticed lawsuit that would allow official party committees and candidates to coordinate freely by removing current spending restrictions. If successful, it would represent a seismic shift in how tens of millions of campaign dollars are spent and upend a well-established political ecosystem for TV advertising.”
Inside Asa Hutchinson’s Text-for-Pay Campaign
Hundreds of college students “were paid $20 a pop for every family member, friend or acquaintance they could persuade to donate $1 to Hutchinson this summer,” Politico reports.
“The texting-for-pay plan was one of several efforts by Republican contenders to beef up their number of unique donors by paying for them.”
Money Raised for Others Paid Down GOP Candidate’s Debt
Nevada U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown (R) “created a political action committee to ‘help elect Republicans’ but most of its funds were spent paying down debt from his failed previous campaign,” CNN reports.
“The group donated less than 7% of its funds to the candidates it was set up to support, according to campaign finance records – a move one campaign finance expert likened to using the PAC as a ‘slush fund.'”
DeSantis Hides His Small-Dollar Donations
“When WinRed, the company that processes nearly all online Republican campaign contributions, recently released its enormous trove of donor data for the first half of the year, donations were conspicuously absent for one presidential candidate: Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida,” the New York Times reports.
“It was no technical glitch. The DeSantis campaign worked with WinRed in a way that prevented the disclosure of donor information, ensuring that the campaign’s small donors would remain anonymous.”
“The arrangement appears to be the first of its kind for a presidential campaign since WinRed’s founding four years ago and could presage a return to an era in which far less information on small donors is made public, at least for Republicans.”
Special Counsel Still Scrutinizing Trump’s PAC
“Special counsel Jack Smith’s probe of efforts by Donald Trump and others to subvert the 2020 election remains ongoing — with at least one interview this week that focused on fundraising and spending by Trump’s political action committee,” Politico reports.
“The special counsel has long been thought to be scrutinizing whether Trump or his PAC violated federal laws by raising money off claims of voter fraud they knew were false.”
A Lean, Mean Grift Machine
“When allies of former President Donald Trump launched his new legal defense fund, they created a group with few restrictions on how much it can raise, even fewer on how much it can spend, and the ability for deep-pocketed donors to remain anonymous,” the Daily Beast reports.
“In essence, Trump’s legal costs have gotten so high that he’s been forced to find a new way around campaign finance laws—a route that will allow him to draw massive donations from megadonors who could not otherwise write checks large enough to replenish his attorney costs.”
Small-Dollar Donations Dry Up
“Candidates for office were practically swimming in grassroots money over the last few cycles, as politics increasingly went online and the money followed,” Politico reports.
“This cycle, the well is drying up.”
“A Politico analysis of federal campaign finance data found a dramatic downturn in small-dollar donations across the board.”
GOP Candidate Reported His Own False Filing to Feds
“Dan Cox, the rightwinger who lost the Maryland governor’s race last year, has been telling the press that he doesn’t know who was behind a July 3 statement of candidacy in his name. He even said he alerted the Federal Election Commission to the matter,” the Daily Beast reports.
“It should be a short investigation: The person was the treasurer Cox had hired to do just that.”
“The Daily Beast has obtained emails and text messages that show Cox planned a congressional bid since at least mid-June.”
Ron Johnson Uses Donor Funds to Pay Himself Back
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) “is paying himself back hundreds of thousands of dollars for loans he made to his prior Senate campaigns, despite claiming he wouldn’t seek to recoup the money from donors,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
“Johnson previously claimed that he wouldn’t seek to repay the $8.4 million in outstanding loans he claimed his campaign owes him for loans in his 2010 and 2016 campaigns.”
Herschel Walker Still Has a Pile of Cash
“More than seven months after losing his U.S. Senate bid, Republican Herschel Walker’s campaign still has nearly $4.5 million in its account. And some donors are pressing to get their contributions back,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- …
- 35
- Next Page »