WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced the Honest Ads Act, a bill that addresses some of the most pressing vulnerabilities in campaign finance law that Russia exploited in the 2016 election. Campaign Legal Center (CLC) advised on the bill when it was introduced in the last Congress and co-sponsored by the late Senator John McCain (R-AZ). Representatives Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY) lead companion legislation in the House of Representatives, which has 26 co-sponsors.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded that “[t]he Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion,” and a key method of that interference was “a social media campaign designed to provoke and amplify political discord in the United States,” including through the purchase of paid digital political advertisements. But because Congress has not updated campaign finance disclosure laws for the digital age, those ads could circulate undetected and undeterred. The Honest Ads Act would help update those laws to prevent foreign actors from replicating these tactics in future elections.  

HONEST stands for “Holding Online National Electioneering ads to the Same Test.” The bill’s purpose is to modernize the laws surrounding the ban on foreign election interference by ensuring that paid internet ads are subject to the same disclaimer and recordkeeping rules that currently apply to television ads and radio ads. If enacted, this bill would require major sellers of online advertising – like Google, Facebook and Twitter – to keep a publicly available database of significant political advertising, including the content of the ads and who paid for them.

The Honest Ads Act is a useful bipartisan disclosure response to the foreign interference we witnessed in 2016, and would make it more difficult for foreign actors to target American voters,” said Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center (CLC), and a former Republican Chairman of the Federal Election Commission. “The Honest Ads Act gives voters, journalists, and law enforcement officers’ important tools to help root out illegal foreign activity. By strengthening transparency, this bill would protect the integrity of our elections for 2020 and beyond.”

“Foreign adversaries interfered in the 2016 election and are continuing to use information warfare to try to influence our government and divide Americans. We must act now to protect our democracy and prevent this kind of interference from ever happening again,” said Klobuchar. “The goal of the Honest Ads Act is simple: to ensure that voters know who is paying to influence our political system. The bill would put in place the same rules of the road for social media platforms that currently apply to political ads sold on TV, radio, and in print regarding disclaimers and disclosures so that Americans know who is behind the ads they see online. I also want to commend Senator Graham for taking up the mantle of bipartisanship from our late friend, Senator John McCain. Protecting our elections isn’t about politics—it’s about national security and the future of our democracy. I look forward to working with him and Senator Warner to get the Honest Ads Act passed.”

“Hardening our electoral infrastructure will require a comprehensive approach and it can’t be done with a single piece of legislation,” said Graham.  “I am cosponsoring this legislation because it’s clear we have to start somewhere. I am pleased to work with Senators Klobuchar and Warner to address the gaps that currently exist, particularly with regards to social media. Online platforms have made some progress but there is more to be done. Foreign interference in U.S. elections – whether Russia in the 2016 presidential election or another rogue actor in the future – poses a direct threat to our democracy. I intend to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to bolster our defenses and defend the integrity of our electoral system.”

“In 2016, Russia waged widespread disinformation campaigns that exploited social media in an effort to attack our democracy and divide the American public. As we continue to grow increasingly dependent on a handful of very large platforms, there is no doubt in my mind that foreign adversaries will continue to follow in Russia’s footsteps, exploiting the scale, amplification, and lack of transparency of these platforms in order to undermine the strength of the United States and advance their own anti-American agendas,” Warner said. “Right now, our country needs strong defenses that help ward off shady online attacks by demanding increased transparency, which is why I’m proud to introduce the Honest Ads Act. By requiring large digital platforms to meet the same disclosure standards as broadcast, cable, and satellite ads, this legislation can help prevent foreign actors from manipulating the American public and interfering in our free and fair elections through the use of inauthentic and divisive paid ads.”

The re-introduction of the Honest Ads Act comes on the same day CLC held a call-in event on foreign interference and the lessons learned from the Mueller report, where CLC attorneys discussed solutions to protect our democracy against foreign influence. Download our report here.

Read CLC’s summary of the Honest Ads Act here.

Despite what the Presidential Coalition has told donors, only 3% of the group’s reported spending went to direct political activity in 2017-2018, according to CLC report

WASHINGTON - After Donald Trump was elected President in 2016, his Deputy Campaign Manager David Bossie urged the President’s supporters to donate to an organization called The Presidential Coalition. Capitalizing on Bossie’s ties to the President, the group consistently told supporters that it would use their money to bolster state and local candidates that support the Trump agenda. These appeals appear to have worked: the group enjoyed a dramatic rise in fundraising after Trump’s victory – going from under $1 million in 2016, to $5 million in 2017 and $13 million in 2018.

But despite telling donors that it would support conservative candidates with the funds raised, only three percent of The Presidential Coalition’s 2017 and 2018 spending went towards the direct political activity, according to a CLC research report: [“Can I Count on You?” How the Presidential Coalition Has Capitalized on its Leader’s Ties to the President and Mislead Donors] released today in collaboration with Axios.

Instead, the group directed the vast majority of the funds raised towards more fundraising and administrative costs, including salary payments to Bossie. CLC’s analysis shows that The Presidential Coalition is fundraising by capitalizing on Bossie’s ties to President Trump and collecting the majority of its funds from retired and small-dollar donors.

Read the Axios story.

“Despite telling donors that it would support conservative state and local candidates, The Presidential Coalition spent only a meager proportion of the funds raised on direct political activity,” said Maggie Christ, researcher at CLC. “The Presidential Coalition is not the only political group that misrepresents itself in fundraising appeals, but what sets the Presidential Coalition apart is that it explicitly, and highly successfully, capitalizes on its leader’s ties to the President of the United States.”

“Not only are voters being misled about how their donations will be used, but their funds are being diverted away from more effective political organizations or campaigns that they might otherwise support,” said Brendan Fischer, director, federal reform at CLC. “The gap between what The Presidential Coalition claims to be raising money for and what it is actually spending it on is notable on its own, but the fact that their donations are largely coming from small donors and seniors make these activities even more concerning. Seniors are particularly vulnerable to misleading fundraising appeals, and donors of average means may not have the resources or connections to ensure that their donations are being used effectively.”

Supplemental complaint addresses Don Jr.’s solicitation of campaign contribution from Russia

WASHINGTON – Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC), Common Cause, and Democracy 21 filed a supplement to a complaint filed in July 2017 against President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign committee for soliciting contributions from foreign nationals in the form of opposition research offered by Russians. Although Special Counsel Robert Mueller declined to bring criminal charges against Donald Trump Jr., Mueller provided a roadmap by which the Federal Election Commission (FEC) could pursue civil penalties.

Mueller concluded that Donald Trump Jr. setting up a meeting to accept “high level and sensitive” opposition research from a foreign government could violate federal law’s prohibition on soliciting a contribution from a person he knew was a foreign national. Mueller declined to bring criminal charges because he believed he could not meet the high prosecutorial standard for proving Trump Jr. acted “willfully,” and because of challenges in calculating the value of the promised documents - but this has no bearing on the FEC’s pursuit of civil penalties.

“There is no ‘willful’ requirement for civil enforcement by the FEC, which need only find reason to believe that Trump Jr. solicited a contribution from a person he knew was a foreign national,” said Brendan Fischer, director, federal reform at CLC. “The Special Counsel’s investigation confirmed the facts outlined in our FEC complaint, and confirmed that soliciting opposition research from a foreign government can violate the law. By enforcing the law, the FEC can show that foreign interference in our elections won’t go unpunished.”

“The Mueller Report backs up our original complaint and makes very clear both that Don Jr. solicited the opposition research dangled by Russian intermediaries and that his solicitation was a violation of campaign finance law,” said Paul S. Ryan, Common Cause vice president for policy and litigation. “Only the high bar for a criminal indictment of a knowing and willful violation spared Don Jr. from criminal prosecution. The FEC faces no such bar in levelling civil penalties against the president’s son. Ignorance of the law is no excuse in a civil proceeding.” 

“The Special Counsel’s office has done all the investigation that is necessary for the FEC to find that the Trump campaign and its senior officials, including Donald Trump Jr., violated the ban on soliciting campaign assistance from a foreign national, much less from the agents of a hostile foreign government,” said Donald J. Simon, general counsel to Democracy 21.  “Given the facts laid out by the Special Counsel, a failure by the FEC to enforce the law here would be an abdication of its statutory responsibility and would also set a terrible precedent.  It would send the message that meeting with foreign agents to see how much secret help they can provide to a candidate is perfectly fine.  If it does that, the FEC would once again make itself part of the problem, not part of the solution.”

Citing FEC guidance, Mueller concluded that opposition research should be treated as a “thing of value” subject to the foreign national contribution ban. He also concluded that, “a foreign entity that engaged in [opposition] research and providing resulting information to a campaign could exert a greater effect on an election, and a greater tendency to ingratiate the donor to the candidate, than a gift of money or tangible things of value.”