Tag Archives: FEC

The Associated Press reports: Elon Musk’s super PAC spent around $200 million to help elect Donald Trump, according to a person familiar with the group’s spending, funding an effort that set a new standard for how billionaires can influence elections. The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO provided the vast majority of the money to America PAC, which focused on low-propensity …

Axios reports: The campaign arm of House Democrats is suing the Federal Election Commission (FEC) over a controversial campaign finance loophole, Axios has learned. Republicans have resorted to legally-contested tactics to get around their cash crunch, with Democrats hammering the GOP in fundraising this year. Democrats have accused Republicans of illegally financing their campaign ads, appealing to the FEC to …

From the Justice Department: Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that RYAN SALAME was sentenced today to 90 months in prison. SALAME previously pled guilty to conspiracy to make unlawful political contributions and defraud the Federal Election Commission and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business before U.S. District Judge Lewis …

The Messenger reports: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., was fined $12,000 after the Federal Election Commission determined she illegally fundraised for the Stop Socialism Now PAC, which is aligned with Greene, according to a conciliation agreement made public Friday. The fine was levied over online ads for the super PAC in which Greene asks for donations to finance the Georgia …

The Florida Phoenix reports: A campaign finance watchdog group has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that unknown persons used an “obscure entity” to funnel half-a-million dollars to a super PAC supporting the presidential campaign of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. PassionForest, LLC was described in the complaint as “an obscure, eleven-month-old company whose only known activity …

NBC News reports: A progressive group wants the Federal Election Commission to investigate Fox Corp. and former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign for breaking campaign finance laws. On Friday, End Citizens United PAC filed a complaint with the FEC arguing that Fox Corp. chair Rupert Murdoch broke the law when he shared Joe Biden’s campaign ad and debate strategy with …

The Verge reports: The Federal Elections Commission dismissed a Republican-led complaint that Google’s filters in Gmail unfairly send GOP fundraising emails to spam folders at a higher rate than those from Democrats. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the FEC’s dismissal on Tuesday, citing a commission letter to Google earlier this month saying that it “found no …

The Daily Beast reports: While federal campaign finance regulators aren’t known for their aggression, things have gotten so bad that they’re practically begging Congress to give them more weapons to go after political scams—including a recurring donations scheme favored by Donald Trump that has fleeced unwitting supporters for years. A 2021 New York Times investigation found that the tactic had …

Colorado’s Daily Sentinel reports: Rep. Lauren Boebert continues to have troubles with her campaign finance filings. In a warning letter from the Federal Election Commission made public on Thursday, Boebert’s latest campaign finance filing for the first quarter of 2022 shows her campaign accepted as much as $30,000 in contributions that exceed federal campaign finance limits. The six-page letter notes …

Courthouse News Service reports: Democratic super PAC American Bridge filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission on Monday, claiming former President Donald Trump is violating campaign finance law by spending money on a bid for the White House that he hasn’t yet formally announced. The complaint cites Trump’s own statements about his 2024 political ambitions, including comments he made …

The Hill reports: A federal court on Thursday sided with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in his lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission (FEC), striking down rules limiting how much money candidates can raise after an election to pay off loans. Cruz challenged a section of election law that says campaigns cannot pay back more than $250,000 in personal loans through …

The New York Times reports: The Federal Election Commission said on Thursday that it had formally dropped a case looking into whether former President Donald J. Trump violated election law with a payment of $130,000 shortly before the 2016 election to a pornographic-film actress by his personal lawyer at the time, Michael D. Cohen. The payment was never reported on …

From the government watchdog group CREW: The FEC should investigate Turning Point Action for violating the Federal Election Campaign Act by failing to disclose any of its donors despite making more than $1.4 million in independent expenditures in 2020, according to a complaint filed today by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Because it solicited money it said it …

ProPublica reports: Debbie Chacona oversees the division of the Federal Election Commission that serves as the first line of defense against illegal flows of cash in political campaigns. Its dozens of analysts sift through billions of dollars of reported contributions and expenditures, searching for any that violate the law. The work of Chacona, a civil servant, is guided by a …

Religion News Service reports: The head of the Federal Election Commission chastised Catholic bishops during a pair of interviews this week, accusing church hierarchy of “hiding behind” their nonprofit status and declaring that this year’s U.S. election amounts to a “spiritual war” that threatens the country’s “Christian moral principles.” FEC Chairman James E. “Trey” Trainor III made the remarks during …

The Center for Public Integrity reports: Federal Election Commission Vice Chairman Matthew Petersen announced his resignation today. This means the agency that enforces and regulates the nation’s campaign finance laws will effectively shut down — something that hasn’t happened since 2008 — because it won’t have the legal minimum of four commissioners to make high-level decisions. Petersen’s resignation, first reported …

CNN reports: The Democratic chairwoman of the Federal Election Commission on Friday challenged President Donald Trump to provide evidence of the voter fraud he insists cost him New Hampshire in 2016 or quit talking about it. In a letter to Trump, Ellen Weintraub said the country’s democracy depends on “the American people’s faith in our elections. Your voter-fraud allegations run …

The Washington Post reports: Federal Election Commission Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub released a statement Thursday making clear that candidates for public office may not receive help from a foreign government, in what appeared to be a warning to President Trump, who said he would consider taking information about an opponent from another country. Tweeting her statement, Weintraub wrote, “I would not …

Politico Influence reports: How vulgar or threatening a name can you give your PAC? That’s a question the Federal Election Commission is grappling with amid an uptick in PACs with overtly threatening names. On Wednesday, someone registered a new PAC with the FEC with a long, sexually explicit name that starts “I pegged Donalt [sic] Trump’s Ugly Old Bitch Ass.” …

Bloomberg reports: Donald Trump’s presidential campaign may have illegally coordinated with the National Rifle Association in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential election, two watchdog groups said in a complaint filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission. The NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action and its political action committee, the NRA Political Victory Fund, placed $25 million worth of television …