Yesterday, Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center and Republican former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, submitted a letter to the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, urging immediate action to advance to the Senate floor three bipartisan bills addressing artificial intelligence (AI) in our elections.

The letter comes ahead of tomorrow’s Senate Rules Committee markup on the three bipartisan bills — the Protect Elections from Deceptive AI Act, the AI Transparency in Elections Act of 2024 and the Preparing Election Administrators for AI Act — that each address the unique and unprecedented challenges AI creates for elections from varying angles.

“2024 will be the first election cycle where Artificial Intelligence is widely used from beginning to end — and there are very real concerns that this new technology could be used to deceive voters and manipulate our electoral process,” said Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center. “These recently introduced, bipartisan bills are a constitutionally grounded response to this risk that provide desperately needed transparency for the growing political use of this technology and provide protection for its most dangerous applications. For the sake of our country, they must be considered and passed without delay.”  

These bipartisan bills provide a complementary response to the challenges AI creates for elections. The bills provide necessary transparency for the growing political uses of this technology, prohibit its most dangerous applications for our democracy, and ensure that election officials are prepared to address the threat of AI to their critical work. The proposed policies enjoy widespread support from the American public.

Last year, CLC president Trevor Potter testified to the committee at a hearing, “AI and the Future of our Elections,” that addressed the looming threat of AI in elections. His testimony focused on how AI tools could be used to easily generate and spread political communications that are deceptive or fraudulent, and the urgent need for policymakers to address the potential impacts of this technology on our democracy.  

Now, with the November election less than six months away and the committee marking up three bipartisan, common-sense bills, Congress must act without delay.

Learn more about steps our government can take to address the threat of AI in our elections here. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against “Ardleigh Impact Corporation” (Ardleigh) and any unknown person(s) that made over $2.5 million in contributions to six federal committees in Ardleigh’s name, which is a violation of federal campaign finance laws.
  
The complaint alleges that Ardleigh, which was registered in Delaware in 2023, was used to hide the true source(s) of over $2.5 million in contributions made to six different federal committees since February 2024. The committees that received this money include the Congressional Leadership Fund; AFC Victory Fund; Buckeye Leadership Fund, Inc.; Conservatives for American Excellence Inc.; Defend Ohio Values PAC; and More Jobs, Less Government.
  
“Straw donor” contributions are prohibited under the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) because they undermine electoral transparency and deprive voters of essential information.  

“While straw donor schemes are illegal, they have proliferated since the Citizens United ruling, which has allowed wealthy special interests to funnel unlimited amounts of money — often in secret — into our elections,” said Saurav Ghosh, director of federal campaign finance reform at Campaign Legal Center. “Voters have a right to know who is spending money to try and influence their votes and our government. Left unchecked, straw donor schemes like Ardleigh risk depriving voters of the information they need to meaningfully participate in the democratic process.” 

Ardleigh appears to have been used for the sole purpose of hiding the identities of the true contributors who provided over $2.5 million to these committees. The corporation provides no information on the true source(s) of this money, nor does it appear to have engaged in any commercial activities in the months leading up to the disbursement of these funds. This supports finding reason to believe that another source had to have provided Ardleigh with the money needed to make these contributions.
  
The FEC has issued civil fines in the recent past to those operating straw donor schemes to conceal the true sources of campaign spending. Federal campaign finance laws require transparency in all electoral spending. The FEC needs to investigate this straw donor scheme so that the public can know who is behind the $2.5 million contributed in Ardleigh’s name. 

See the complaint here.
 

Washington, D.C. — Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) regarding an arrangement between the 2024 presidential campaign of Donald Trump, four other Trump-affiliated political committees, and Red Curve Solutions (Red Curve), an accounting and compliance firm. The arrangement seems designed to obscure the true recipients of a noteworthy portion of Trump’s legal bills and, in doing so, seems to violate federal law. 

Red Curve is a domestic limited liability company (LLC) that offers compliance and FEC reporting services but does not appear to offer any legal services. It is managed by Bradley Crate, who also serves as the treasurer for each of the five Trump-affiliated committees concerned in this complaint, as well as over 200 other federal committees. 

According to filings with the FEC, Red Curve appears to have been fronting legal costs for Trump since at least December 2022, with Trump-affiliated committees repaying the company later. This arrangement appears to violate FEC rules that require campaigns to disclose not only the entity being reimbursed (here, Red Curve) but also the underlying vendor. By not disclosing the vendors that actually provided legal services, the Trump-affiliated committees effectively blocked the public from knowing which attorneys and firms are being paid — and how much they are being paid — through this arrangement.  

The arrangement also appears to have violated the federal ban on corporate political contributions: Red Curve is an LLC, which — if treated as a corporation for federal tax purposes — would be legally barred from making any contributions, such as an in-kind contribution or advance, to Trump’s campaign and any other “hard money” committee — even if that payment or advance is fully reimbursed. 

“Voters have a right to know how the presidential campaigns and other committees supporting presidential candidates spend their money. When campaigns and committees obscure that information from the public, not only do they make it difficult to determine if the law has been violated, but they deny voters the ability to make an informed choice when casting a ballot,” said Erin Chlopak, senior director for campaign finance at Campaign Legal Center. “The steps taken by the Trump campaign, its affiliated committees and Red Curve Solutions concealed information about how campaign funds were used to pay former President Trump’s legal expenditures, including the amounts and ultimate recipients of these expenditures — and the FEC must investigate immediately.”     

Between December 7, 2022, and March 18, 2024, Red Curve received 108 disbursements from these five committees — virtually all of which are described as “Reimbursement for Legal Fees” or “Reimbursement for Legal Expenses” — totaling $7,206,474.55. This appears to show that Red Curve was the largest single recipient of legal payouts from Trump since he left office in 2021. 

Without complete information about how the campaign of the presumptive Republican nominee for president is spending donors’ money on legal expenses, voters lack crucial information they have a right to know.

The FEC should investigate this urgent matter immediately.