A Wednesday report from Breitbart claimed that Lincoln Project, the political action committee formed by prominent Republicans against Donald Trump , devoted 89 percent of its disbursements to “operating expenditures.”
The report pointed to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) data that claimed the committee reported $2,587,886.64 in total contributions and $1,384,428.21 in total disbursements. Notably, the $1,236,036.35 in supposed “operating expenditures” made up 89.3 percent of the total disbursements from the period in question — November 5, 2019, to March 31, 2020.
As reported by OpenSecrets.org , the spending habits of the Lincoln Project have come under scrutiny in recent months.
“The Republican super PAC has amassed a substantial war chest, but it has come under scrutiny for funneling money to its advisory board members and spending relatively little airing political ads to influence voters. The group also hides some of its vendors by stealthily paying subcontractors, making it difficult to follow the money.”
According to the outlet, the Lincoln Project spent almost $1.4 million through March. Curiously, most of the money went either to the group’s board members or their firms, including Rusk Digital and Summit Strategic Communications. Campaign finance expert Rob Pyers previously noted that Lincoln Project spends minimal amounts of money on direct political activity.
Notably, the super PAC spent $364,000 on the previously mentioned companies, but almost half the money went to the production of advertisements as opposed to their purchasing and placement — an “unusually high rate” for production, per OpenSecrets.or g.
Lincoln Project allegedly gets the majority of its funds from small donors and funnels a significant amount of money into securing such donations.
“The Lincoln Project has spent over $276,000 running ads on Facebook. However many of these ads are geared toward attracting donors, often linking to the group’s donate page,” OpenSecrets.org claimed.
Breitbart noted that Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson has found himself in the middle of controversy in the past. According to the publication, his finances took a turn for the worse just as Trump began to become a prominent political force. Interestingly, Breitbart noted that Wilson appeared to shift from his standard right-wing politics to an anti-Trump stance in the face of mounting lawsuits and debt.
Per Breitbart , Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver was recently alleged to have registered as a foreign agent of Russia. According to the report, Weaver’s goal was to lobby Trump’s administration and Congress to cooperate with the Russian Federation on nuclear trade.
Lincoln Project has been making waves with its ads that take aim at Trump and his leadership. As The Inquisitr reported, a recent ad accused Trump of wanting to sacrifice older Americans for the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.