Campaign Finance

NEW YORK, NY -- This evening, a jury in Manhattan found former President Trump guilty on 34 counts. In response, Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause/NY issued the following statement: "This case was always about hiding key information from voters, and now a jury of the former president's peers have confirmed that he lied to the public by falsifying business records in order to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. This is a felony punishable with jail time or probation, and just like anyone else convicted of the same crime, we expect him to be sentenced accordingly. We thank the jury – whom Mr. Trump and his lawyers helped to select – for doing their civic duty, and trust that the public will accept their decision as well as their right to privacy. Respect for the rule of law is the foundation of our democracy, but so is public trust in the process. That's why Common Cause/NY fought to make the trial transcripts free and accessible, and we invite anyone to review them on the court website. We now hope that the courts will reach a decision in the other trials awaiting Mr. Trump before the 2024 election since voters should have all the information before they cast their ballots."

Aaron Scherb, director of legislative affairs at Common Cause and a campaign finance expert, agreed on the apparent personal use question. He also told The Daily Beast that the FEC “needs to do some digging and ask what those wire transfers and checks are for.” “I can’t remember ever seeing line items like this before,” Scherb said.

Advocacy groups including Common Cause weighed in with support for the FCC proposal. “This rulemaking is welcome news as the use of deceptive AI and deepfakes threaten our democracy and is already being used to erode trust in our institutions and our elections,” Common Cause media and democracy program director Ishan Mehta said in a statement. “We have seen the impact of AI in politics in the form of primary ads using AI voices and images, and in robocalls during the primary in New Hampshire.” Mehta added, “We urge Congress and other agencies like the Federal Election Commission to follow the FCC’s lead and take proactive steps to protect our democracy from very serious threat posed by AI.”

Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it will begin a rulemaking to require disclosure for Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated content in political advertising on the nation’s airwaves.

“501(c)(4s) are social welfare organizations that increasingly have been misused to spend money for political purposes,” Aaron Scherb, director of legislative affairs at Common Cause, told The Daily Beast. “Under the IRS tax code, they don't have to disclose their donors. And so that's why they've become a popular vehicle for people who are trying to use dark money to influence political outcomes.” Watchdog groups have argued for years that the decision of three Republican commissioners to deadlock votes on enforcement have prevented increased transparency. Scherb suggested that the deadlocks “seem to give a green light to straw donor schemes.” “If they know that there's no action,” he said, “Or if they know that there's, at most, going to be a slap on the wrist, it sends a signal that there can kind of be the Wild West again of campaign finance laws.”

From: 0114 Michael Cohen (owner) To: 4978 Maggie Haberman To: 4978 Maggie Haberman “In late January 2018, I received a copy of a complaint filed at the Federal Election Commission (FEC) by Common Cause. The complaint alleges that I somehow violated campaign finance laws by facilitating an excess, in-kind contribution. The allegations in the complaint are factually unsupported and without legal merit, and my counsel has submitted a response to the FEC. I am Mr. Trump’s longtime special counsel and I have proudly served in that role for more than a decade. In a private transaction in 2016, I used my own personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to Ms. Stephanie Clifford. Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly. The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone. I do not plan to provide any further comment on the FEC matter or regarding Ms. Clifford.”