FEC Complaint: Washington Post’s Paid Ads Boosting Harris And Criticizing Trump Violate Campaign Finance Rules
The Trump campaign filed a complaint against The Washington Post with the FEC over the paper's latest advertising campaign.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) called for law enforcement officials to look into Elon Musk's America PAC, which has vowed to give $1 million per day away at random to swing state voters who sign its petition.
During a Sunday interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Shapiro questioned the legality of Musk's giveaway.
'It does raise some serious questions.'
Host Kristen Welker asked Shapiro, "Elon Musk says he will be giving away a million dollars every day to random voters who sign his super PAC's petition. You are a former attorney general — is this legal?"
Shapiro responded, "I think there are real questions with how he is spending money in this race, how the dark money is flowing not just into Pennsylvania, but apparently now into the pockets of Pennsylvanians. That is deeply concerning."
According to Federal Elections Commission filings, Musk is the sole donor of the America PAC, despite Shapiro's claims it is comprised of "dark money." Between July and September, Musk provided roughly $75 million in contributions, Fox News Digital reported.
Shapiro continued, "Look, Musk obviously has a right to be able to express his views. He's made it very, very clear that he supports Donald Trump. Obviously, we have a difference of opinion. I don't deny him that right, but when you start flowing this kind of money into politics, I think it raises serious questions that folks may want to take a look at."
Welker pressed Shapiro once more about whether he believed the giveaway was legal.
"I think it's something that law enforcement can take a look at," Shapiro declared. "I'm not the attorney general anymore of Pennsylvania; I'm the governor. But it does raise some serious questions."
In a post on X, Musk responded to Shapiro's comments, writing, "Concerning that he would say such a thing."
Musk's America PAC vowed to give away $1 million each day leading up to Election Day. Winners, two of whom have already been announced, will be chosen at random. To be eligible, individuals must be registered to vote in a swing state — including Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, or North Carolina — and sign a petition pledging support for the First and Second Amendments.
Signers can also receive $47 for each registered voter they refer to sign the petition.
"Sign our petition to support the Constitution of the United States!" Musk wrote on X.
Musk stated during a town hall event that getting the word out about the petition was challenging because the "legacy media won't report it."
"How do we get people to know about it? Well, this news, I think, is gonna really fly," he said, referring to the cash giveaway announcement.
In July, Musk declared his endorsement of former President Donald Trump. The Republican presidential nominee stated that if he secures the upcoming election, Musk will be appointed as the "Secretary of Cost-Cutting" to slash government waste, Blaze News previously reported.
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Committee on House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) sent a letter to the Federal Election Commission on Monday requesting it adopt new rules to curb potential donation fraud, the New York Post reported.
The request comes amid allegations that ActBlue Charities Inc., a Democratic fundraising platform, has accepted at least hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent donations, prompting some to question whether the platform is involved in a money-laundering scheme, Blaze News previously reported.
'Illegal and malicious conduct have no place in our elections.'
Independent journalists uncovered a long list of questionable and suspicious donations, including one individual who donated more than 20,000 times since 2019, according to FEC records. James O'Keefe interviewed some individuals listed as having donated "thousands of times per year."
O'Keefe shared the findings in a post on X, stating, "Cindy Nowe of Annapolis, Maryland, allegedly contributed over 1,000 times to ActBlue in 2022, totaling $18,849.77. That means Cindy would have had to donate three times a day, every day, for the whole year. When asked if she donated $18,850 to ActBlue, Nowe tells [O'Keefe Media Group], 'No, I don't think so.'"
ActBlue is gathering campaign donations on behalf of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. According to recent reports, she raised more than $200 million in one week.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares was the first AG to announce that his office plans to look into the allegations against ActBlue. Attorneys general in Missouri and Wyoming have also opened inquiries in light of the accusations.
Steil wrote to the FEC, "Following widespread allegations of fraudulent donations being reported to the FEC by ActBlue, one of the largest fundraising platforms in the country, this emergency rule-making is necessary to reassure the American people that ActBlue is taking the necessary steps to protect its donors."
He called for the FEC to enact a new rule that would require fundraising platforms to verify the Card Verification Value of credit cards and address information. Additionally, Steil is pushing for the FEC to put an end to gift-card donations, which he said could be used to facilitate foreign straw donations.
"Illegal and malicious conduct have no place in our elections. Ensuring all parties are complying with federal election law as we approach a presidential election is of utmost importance," Steil continued. "Allowing political committees to accept donations from gift cards or other prepaid credit cards promote the appearance and the very real possibility that straw donors are making campaign donations with funds provided by another person or an unlawful donor including a foreign national."
He noted that the issues pose "a serious loophole to the transparency and integrity of the campaign donation process."
ActBlue recently told Newsweek, "This investigation is nothing more than a partisan political attack and scare tactic to undermine the power of Democratic and progressive small-dollar donors. We welcome the opportunity to respond to these frivolous claims."
The fundraising platform did not respond to a request for comment from the Post.
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ActBlue Charities Inc., a political action committee, is being accused of a massive money-laundering scheme involving a lengthy list of allegedly fraudulent donations, according to multiple independent reports.
Investigative researcher Parker Thayer with the Capital Research Center, a think tank, shared a screenshot on X showing tens of thousands of donations allegedly sent by one individual.
'The AG learned about this issue and promptly directed his office to look into the allegation.'
"[ActBlue] donors all over Michigan exhibit suspicious patterns," Thayer wrote. "A single donor in the small town of Monroe has supposedly donated over 20,000 times since 2019, totaling >$40,000."
"They live in a 1,000 sqft house built in 1956," Thayer added, noting that the individual would have had to donate approximately 10 times per day to reach 20,595 donations since 2019.
Thayer listed several other similar examples, which were obtained through the Federal Election Commission filings.
"There are dozens more donors like the examples above, and there are two explanations: 1.) [ActBlue] is preying on seniors with poor memory by repeatedly sending them requests to sign up for stacking monthly contributions; 2.) Some sort of straw-donor scheme is happening," Thayer concluded.
James O'Keefe recently took to the street to interview individuals who were listed as having donated "thousands of times per year" and, in some cases, contributing "over $200,000" in donations to ActBlue.
"The results were shocking, indicating that ActBlue may be involved in a fraudulent money laundering scheme," he stated.
O'Keefe wrote on X, "Cindy Nowe of Annapolis, Maryland, allegedly contributed over 1,000 times to ActBlue in 2022, totaling $18,849.77. That means Cindy would have had to donate three times a day, every day, for the whole year. When asked if she donated $18,850 to ActBlue, Nowe tells [O'Keefe Media Group], 'No, I don't think so.'"
Some called on state attorneys general to take action and look into the suspicious donation activity.
Charlie Kirk, the founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, wrote on X, "It's trivially easy to find massive, repeated donations to ActBlue that use stolen identities and, quite possibly, stolen credit cards."
"For example, one person in Virginia has been named in 22,619 separate donations since 2019, totaling more than $800,000. Obviously, she's being exploited for some kind of money-laundering operation," Kirk continued. "ActBlue raises from all fifty states. We have fifty state AGs. When will one of them take action?"
Kirk's post on X received a response from Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, who replied, "My office is aware of these allegations and rest assured, we are looking into it."
When Blaze News contacted Miyares' office to confirm the investigation, a spokesperson stated, "On Thursday, the AG learned about this issue and promptly directed his office to look into the allegation. We cannot comment further at this time."
NOVA Campaigns, which also revealed some of the alleged fraud, thanked independent reporters for uncovering the suspicious activity and bringing it to Miyares' attention.
“This could be identity theft, serial money laundering, or campaign finance abuse on a massive scale. It’s about time law enforcement dug into it,” NOVA Campaigns told Blaze News. “Americans deserve transparent elections and attributable donations that are made directly to federal campaigns. We support any investigation that seeks to confirm whether these donations are legitimate, or exposes the suspicion of widespread money laundering to campaigns.”
ActBlue did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News by the time of publication.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign has reportedly raised over $200 million in one week. Harris’ campaign said that 66% of those donations were from first-time donors.
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