A new report suggests that President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign was funded by millions of dollars in “dark money” from contributors that propelled him to the White House.
Biden’s winning campaign was allegedly backed with at least $145 million in contributions from anonymous donors and other outside groups to fund his campaign, Bloomberg Reported on Saturday. The donations, which allow groups to quietly donate to campaigns without revealing the names of those giving money, is on top of Biden’s record-breaking $1.5 billion fundraising. The amount also breaks Mitt Romney’s “dark money” record of $113 million in 2012 against then-President Barack Obama.
The Democrats reportedly received over $320 million in “dark money” in their congressional and presidential races, CNN reported in November, which was double the number the Republicans raised. Democrat-affiliated groups such as the Sixteen Thirty Fund, Priorities USA and America Votes gave almost $100 million combined during the cycle. CNN stated that this year’s trend was a reversal from previous cycles in which the types of donations favored Republicans.
Despite the record-sum of anonymous money given to democrats this cycle, Biden’s campaign still advocated for strictly limiting the influence of non-profits in the election cycle. Bloomberg reported that the campaign had previously called for requiring all organizations who spend more than $10,000 to disclose their donors to the Federal Elections Commission. However, some have pointed out that Biden’s supporters used the loopholes he sought to close.
“[Biden] benefited from it,” former general FEC counsel Larry Noble told Bloomberg about the President’s financial advantage. Meredith McGehee, the executive director of the group Issue One, which seeks to reduce money’s influence, agreed, telling Bloomberg that “The whole point of dark money is to avoid public disclosure while getting private credit.” Biden’s team did not respond to comment on the issue after Bloomberg reached out to them.
Priorities USA’s chairman Guy Cecil, who allowed the group to donate $26 million from it’s non-profit arm to Biden, told Bloomberg “We weren’t going to unilaterally disarm against Trump and the right- wing forces that enabled him.” Bloomberg also reported that the group was “unapologetic” in their response. However, the group said that they “look forward to the day when unlimited money and super-PACs are a thing of the past.”
Amy Kurtz, who is the executive director of the Sixteen Thirty Fund, defended their intake. The group told Bloomberg that the surge of money came from people who gave to Republicans or those who had not previously donated or been involved in politics before. Kurtz also said that the group has “lobbied in favor of reform to the current campaign finance system” and that they remain “committed” to following current laws while supporting reform proposals.
Several corporations and groups have been under fire for their involvement in the 2020 elections amidst allegations of fraud, censorship and other forms of violating election integrity. Last month, Breitbart reported that Fulton County in Georgia received over $6 million from Facebook’s “safe elections project” that would be used to conduct vote tallying and distributing ballots.
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