Torrent Of Funding Continues For Supporters Of Trump’s Big Lie
A tsunami of hundreds of millions of dollars keeps flowing into the political coffers of trump and the many lawmakers who continue to propagate trump’s big lie that he lost the 2020 election because of widespread voter fraud.
A select House committee has been investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection that was inspired by trump and led by trump loyalists. The committee heard testimony from various people that trump has raised $250 million to fight alleged voter fraud even though his top advisors said there was no such fraud. Testimony showed that the funds were diverted to trump’s political action committee and that there was never a fund to stop voter fraud.
Millions of dollars also has flowed through various “dark money” groups that are not required to divulge donors and have funneled money to various far right groups. Additionally, numerous corporations have resumed donating to trump and other big lie backers, despite promises to halt donations after the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Donors Trust, a nonprofit donor-advised fund was founded in 1999 with the goal of “safeguarding the intent of libertarian and conservative donors.” The trust has been referred to as the “dark money ATM” of the political right. The conservative Charles G. Koch Foundation contributed millions to Donors Trust since the mid-2000s. Donors Trust is not required to publicly disclose donors but it raised more than $350 million last year and gave out more than $180 million in grants collected from wealthy conservative financiers for right wing organizations. CNBC reported that in 2019, Donors Trust had given millions of dollars to conservative organizations that went on to push claims of election fraud in the 2020 election.
Longtime trump allies, billionaire hedge fund manager Robert Mercer and his wife, Rebekah, invested nearly $20 million into Donors Trust last year. Mr. Mercer has been a major funder for organizations supporting right-wing political causes including Breitbart News and his Make America Number 1 super PAC which raised millions for trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns. Top donors to the Make America Number 1 super PAC included casino mogul, Sheldon Adelson; Timothy Mellon, owner of Pan Am Railways; Kelcy Warren, founder of Energy Transfers, which operates the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline; real estate magnate Geoffrey Palmer; Linda McMahon, co-founder of the WWE franchise; Patricia Duggan, a leading scientology advocate; Stephen Schwarzman, billionaire co-founder of the investment firm, The Blackstone Group; Elizabeth “Liz” Uihlein, founder of the shipping giant, Uline; Diane Hendricks, owner of ABC Supply, the nation’s largest distributor of roofing products; Warren Stephens, president of the financial services firm, Stephens Inc.; and Cherna Moskowitz, president of the Hawaiian Gardens Casino in California.
The trust also has made major grants to climate change denier groups and to groups like Project Veritas, a far right group that has been criticized for using undercover video stings to demonstrate the biases of mainstream media organizations and liberal groups. Project Veritas received more than $6.6 million from 2011 to 2019 from Donors Trust and other funds from the Donald J. Trump Foundation.
The anti-immigration VDARE Foundation, labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, received around $2 million from the Donors Trust in 2019. The organization has backed trump’s big lie.
One of the largest dark money groups, “The 85 Fund,” raised more than $20 million in 2020 to finance conservative groups. The 85 Fund was created by Leonard Leo, a close friend trump and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Leo was the longtime vice president of the ultra-conservative, Federalist Society, where he is co-chairman of the board of directors. He has been a driving force behind campaigns to support the Supreme Court nominations of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. Leo also is a board member of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast.
The 85 Fund supports various right wing groups, including the Honest Elections Project (HEP), a dark money voter suppression group formed in February 2020. HEP has filed various legal actions to support voting restrictions around the nation. The Center for Media and Democracy reported that HEP’s parent, The 85 Fund, received $48.7 million in 2020 from Donors Trust.
The 85 Fund has granted millions of dollars to a variety of groups, including Turning Point USA, an anti-immigration organization that has been labeled a hate group by the Anti Defamation League for its racist and anti-Semitic statements. The group was co-founded by Charlie Kirk, a longtime GOP activist and strong trump supporter. After the 2020 election, Kirk denied that trump had lost. A top advisor of Turning Point is Ginny Thomas, who is wife of the Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and who is a leading voice for trump’s big lie. The latest campaign funding report shows that Turning Point USA received $200,000 from The 85 Fund.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) reported that as of this week, corporations and industry groups gave almost $32 million to the 147 House and Senate members who voted to overturn the election and to the G.O.P. committees focused on the party’s congressional campaigns. The top 10 companies that gave money to those members are Koch Industries, Boeing, Home Depot, Valero Energy, Lockheed Martin, UPS, Raytheon, Marathon Petroleum, General Motors and FedEx. Other than Koch Industries and FedEx, all of the companies had said they would not donate to politicians who voted to reject the election results.
Of the 249 companies that promised not to fund the senators and representatives who voted against any of the results, fewer than half have stuck to their promise, according to CREW. A total of 85 corporations kept their promises and still refuse to fund the seditious legislators, including Nike, PepsiCo, Lyft, Cisco, Prudential, Marriott, Target and Zillow.
The watchdog, Accountable.US., reported that Fortune 500 companies and corporate trade associations gave more than $1.4 million in April alone to the members of Congress who voted against certifying the 2020 election in the aftermath of the January 6th insurrection. Contributing companies include UPS, FedEx, Visa, Home Depot, GM, and Exxonmobil. Since the violent coup attempt, total donations from corporate interests to the Sedition Caucus, totals more than $16 million.
Corporate interests have given at least $826,653 since the insurrection to U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., who were subpoenaed but refused to comply, as well as to Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga. and Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, who have yet to agree to Select Committee interview requests.