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The founders of the leftist group Occupy Democrats are having to defend some recent financial decisions after a curious Twitter and YouTube user publicly disclosed details about alleged allocations of the organization's funding.
On Sunday, Hamish Mitchell of African Wildlife Adventures suggested that brothers Omar and Rafael Rivero, who founded the well-known activist group around 2016, had mismanaged the donations they'd collected, likely from some of their 10 million Facebook followers.
"The ‘Occupy Democrats Election Fund’ PAC’, run by Omar Rivero, raised $797K from 2021-2022," Mitchell tweeted. "They contributed $0 to federal candidates. And they spent $577k on ‘Fundraising Consultants’."
\u201cThe \u2018Occupy Democrats Election Fund\u2019 PAC\u2019, run by Omar Rivero, raised $797K from 2021-2022. \n\nThey contributed $0 to federal candidates. \n\nAnd they spent $577k on \u2018Fundraising Consultants\u2019. \n\nWould @OccupyDemocrats & @OmarRiverosays care to explain?\u201d— Hamish Mitchell (@Hamish Mitchell) 1664116192
Mitchell also included images supposedly of Occupy Democrats' 2021-2022 FEC filings in the tweet.
The $220,000 not directed towards financial consultants was given to Blue Deal LLC, Mitchell further alleged. Omar Rivero himself established Blue Deal, which claims to sell "campaign materials and promotional products to Democratic campaigns and Progressive organizations," and he and his brother now run it together. In other words, Mitchell has accused the Rivero brothers of funneling that $220,000 back into their own pockets.
"Would @OccupyDemocrats & @OmarRiverosays care to explain?" Mitchell asked in his tweet.
It initially appeared that Omar Rivero did, in fact, "care to explain." He responded to Mitchell by commenting, "If you understood the time and effort that goes into making viral memes—and the impact that they have—you might respect our work more." That tweet comment was largely ridiculed on social media, though, and has since been deleted.
In a second attempt to explain the financial dealings, Omar Rivero claimed on Tuesday that Occupy Democrats is a super PAC and therefore prevented by law from contributing to candidates directly. However, critics quickly noted that the group is actually a hybrid PAC, a classification that allows it to make direct contributions to candidates under certain conditions.
Finally, a spokesperson for the organization issued a statement to provide further clarification.
"The Occupy Democrats Election Fund has amended its FEC disclosures to more accurately describe payments made to content creators and digital amplifiers after its previous compliance officer erroneously reported the disbursements as 'fundraising consulting,'" the statement read, according to the Daily Caller. “The payments in question funded the Rebel Alliance, a consortium of high-powered liberal Facebook pages that spun out of the Biden campaign collaboration and funded key meme projects for the Georgia Senate runoffs, the Gavin Newsom recall election, and the Virginia gubernatorial race."
"We regret that a clerical error led to unfounded speculation, as we are proud of our work in these races and supremely confident that our donors’ money was used judiciously and effectively," the statement added.
In an interview with Newsweek on Tuesday, Rafael Rivero also blamed a "clerical error" for all the recent confusion regarding Occupy Democrats' finances.
"I invite the scrutiny," he said. "I'm very proud of our work. We have nothing to hide. Our donors' money has been used judiciously to great impact. And I regret deeply that because of some clerical error, people are jumping to conclusions, but we have all the evidence to prove that what we did was above board and had a great impact on the election in a positive way."
On Wednesday, Mitchell also accused the Occupy Democrats Election Fund PAC of donating to Mitch McConnell shortly before the 2020 election. Occupy Democrats has not responded to this latest allegation.
\u201cWhy is there a $40,000 disbursement from the Occupy Democrats Election Fund PAC to Mitch McConnell for \u2018fundraising/digital\u2019 in their FEC filing on 10/30/20? If this is a \u2018clerical error\u2019, it\u2019s the mother of all clerical errors.\u201d— Hamish Mitchell (@Hamish Mitchell) 1664387986
After Green Bay Packers superstar Aaron Rodgers ripped President Joe Biden last week — the latest sociopolitical critique from the outspoken quarterback now known for defying vaccine mandates and standing up to cancel culture and woke bullies — leftists far and wide were hoping for one thing Saturday: for Rodgers and the Packers to lose their playoff game to the San Francisco 49ers.
It seemed like a pipe dream. Green Bay usually is a graveyard for visiting teams, and Rodgers has been having an MVP-caliber season.
But alas, Rodgers and the Packers managed to cough up the game on a last-second field goal — and on cue, leftists cut loose on Rodgers in a kind of rabid unity, posting delirious, sarcastic tweets as if they won the game instead of the Niners.
Seriously, when was the last time you observed Occupy Democrats get so excited about a football score?
BREAKING: Anti-vaxxer quarterback Aaron Rodgers just lost to San Francisco 49ers and got eliminated from the NFL playoffs. RT IF YOU THINK THAT THIS IS GOOD RIDDANCE!— Occupy Democrats (@Occupy Democrats) 1642915405
"BREAKING: Anti-vaxxer quarterback Aaron Rodgers just lost to San Francisco 49ers and got eliminated from the NFL playoffs," the leftist outfit tweeted. "RT IF YOU THINK THAT THIS IS GOOD RIDDANCE!"
And the venom was still spewing the next day. Daily Beast columnist Wajahat Ali sure was enjoying the extended Rodgers "roasting," apparently seeing it as a salve for the nation's woes:
Twitter is still roasting Aaron Rodgers. I love it. America needed this. #ByeAaron— Wajahat Ali (@Wajahat Ali) 1642965128
"Twitter is still roasting Aaron Rodgers. I love it," Ali wrote, adding a "ByeAaron" hashtag. "America needed this."
And Robert Reich — perhaps relieved attention had shifted after his deleted tweet days before about Democrats giving Kyrsten Sinema the "backs of their hands" over the filibuster — was suddenly standing tall with sports knowledge:
Just a reminder: Colin Kaepernick led the 49ers to three victories over Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.— Robert Reich (@Robert Reich) 1642915064
Here's a sampling of other reactions from left-wing foot soldiers carrying Twitter's coveted blue checkmark:
Once again we all mistakenly believed Aaron Rodgers had a shot— Keith Olbermann (@Keith Olbermann) 1642915974
I guess Aaron Rodgers also got immunized against winning in the postseason.— Skip Bayless (@Skip Bayless) 1642911707
I\u2019ve read the same Aaron Rodgers \u201cnatural immunity\u201d jokes 100 times already and still can\u2019t get enough.— Chris Hayes (@Chris Hayes) 1642912189
Aaron Rodgers gonna wait for all the research to come in before he declares this score final— Drew Magary (@Drew Magary) 1642911409
.@AaronRodgers12 is blaming the loss tonight on Dominion Voting Systems.— Don Winslow (@Don Winslow) 1642919259
Aaron Rodgers was winning until they counted the mail in points.— Akilah Hughes (@Akilah Hughes) 1642918212
Look at the bright side for @AaronRodgers12 he doesn\u2019t have to worry about meeting @POTUS at the White House.— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari Sellers) 1642911033
Unlike Aaron Rodgers\u2019 play calling, vaccines actually work.— Jon Cooper \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Jon Cooper \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1642945433
Aaron Rodgers\u2019 playoff run thwarted by snowflakes, cancel culture strikes again— Kyle Neubeck (@Kyle Neubeck) 1642910946
I guess Aaron Rodgers decided to boycott the Super Bowl after all.— Cousin Sal (@Cousin Sal) 1642911097
The vaccine reduces the severity of COVID so much that Aaron Rodgers is unvaccinated and yet his receivers didn't catch anything significant.— Steve Hofstetter (@Steve Hofstetter) 1642946433
If the giddy leftists reveling in Rodgers' loss hope they're somehow getting to him and contributing to twisting the knife, they may want to remind themselves that Rodgers already said they're a joke to him.
"Now the rules of the game are that you must acquiesce with the woke mob at all times," he told podcast host Pat McAfee a few months back, adding that he's "not a part of this game ... being played out by these individuals. And I see it, I hear it, but to me it's comedy."