(Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign aides played key roles orchestrating a rally protesting certification of President-elect Joe Biden‘s victory in the 2020 presidential election before hundreds of rioters breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
But the full extent of the Trump campaign’s ties to the protests may not be not fully known due to its use of shell companies that hide details of its financial dealings and the central role “dark money” played in the protests.
Multiple individuals listed on the permit granted by the National Park Service worked for Trump’s presidential campaign, as first reported by the Associated Press over the weekend. That raises new questions about the Trump campaign’s lack of spending transparency and the unknown extent of the event’s ties to Trump aides.
(CN) A conservative think tank on Thursday asked a 10
th Circuit panel to revive its claim against a city’s requirement that donors contributing over $250 to ballot measure campaigns must be disclosed.
As a super-sized debate bubbled up around a proposed soda tax in 2017, Albuquerque-based Rio Grande Foundation sued the city of Santa Fe over an ordinance requiring donor disclosure by groups spending more than $250 to advocate for ballot measures.
With proponents of the proposed 2-cent-per ounce tax on sugary beverages backed by billionaire Mike Bloomberg, groups on both sides spent nearly $2 million. Ultimately voters rejected the measure by more than 15 points.
“It s about access and influence,” said Brendan Fischer, Director of Federal Reform with the Campaign Legal Center, a good-government group in Washington. “The health care industry and the tech industry very likely want something from the Biden administration, or at least want to have their voice heard in the Biden administration…the six- or seven-figure corporate check means that those wealthy donors are going to have their voices heard louder than anybody else.”
Raising money for inaugural events isn’t new; it’s how generations of presidents have kept taxpayers from having to pay for their week-long parties. But Fischer said the largely-unregulated fundraising creates an “influence-buying free-for-all,” even in a year where the pandemic has forced most events online.