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CREW just won a major victory against dark money. It could significantly increase transparency in politics.

Citizens for Ethics‏ @CREWcrew - Aug 5, 2018

In a major defeat for secret money in politics, a judge ruled that dark money groups that spend at least $250 in independent expenditures—a key type of political ad—must report every contributor who gave at least $200 in the past year as well as those who give to finance independent expenditures generally, throwing out an illegal three decades old regulation that was used to avoid disclosure and changing the legal landscape for political spending.

The decision in Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) and [Karl Rove] Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, handed down late on Friday, declares that the law unambiguously commands more disclosure than the FEC has required in 30 years, restoring Congress’s intended full disclosure of those making contributions to groups that fund independent expenditures—ads that explicitly endorse or oppose a candidate for office.

Read the decision here.

How Putin's proxies helped funnel millions into GOP campaigns

As Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team probes deeper into potential collusion between Trump officials and representatives of the Russian government, investigators are taking a closer look at political contributions made by U.S. citizens with close ties to Russia.

www.dallasnews.com

Buried in the campaign finance reports available to the public are some troubling connections between a group of wealthy donors with ties to Russia and their political contributions to President Donald Trump and a number of top Republican leaders.

RUSAL is the second-largest aluminum company in the world, based in Russia. Three billionaire oligarchs with ties to the Russian government control 69 percent of RUSAL: Oleg Deripaska, Viktor Vekselberg and Len Blavatnik.

Len Blavatnik, a dual U.S./U.K. citizen is considered one of the richest men in the U.K. with an estimated net worth of $20 billion.     

• Steve Mnuchin, Trump's campaign finance chairman, owned Hollywood finance company RatPac-Dune with Len Blavatnik until he sold his stake to become secretary of the Treasury. 
• Len Blavatnik contributed $1 million to President Donald Trump’s Inaugural Committee via Access Industries. A company spokesperson denied the gift represented significant support for Trump.
• Blavatnik contributed a total of $3.5 million to a PAC associated with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Blavatnik contributed $1.5 million to the GOP Senate Leadership Fund PAC in the name of Access Industries and another $1 million in the name of AI-Altep Holdings during the 2015/2016 election season. And as of September 2017, he had contributed another $1 million this year through AI–Altep.
• Blavatnik contributed a total of $1.5 million to PACs associated with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida. He contributed $1.25 million to the Conservative Solutions PAC in the name of Access Industries, then another $250,000 to the Florida First Project via  AI-Altep Holdings.
• Blavatnik contributed $1.1 million to Unintimidated PAC, associated with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, via Access Industries.
• Blavatnik contributed $800,000 to the Security is Strength PAC, associated with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., via Access Industries.
• Blavatnik contributed $250,000 to New Day for America PAC, associated with Ohio Gov. John Kasich, via Access Industries
• Blavatnik contributed $200,000 to the Arizona Grassroots Action PAC, associated with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., via Access Industries.

• Russian oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, has significant investment holdings in the U.S. through his private equity group, Columbus Nova.  
• Columbus Nova is the U.S-based investment arm of Viktor Vekselberg’s Russian conglomerate, Renova Group.
• Andrew Intrater is Viktor Vekselberg’s American cousin and chief executive of Columbus Nova, the U.S. investment arm of Renova Group. Intrater had no significant donor history prior to the 2016 elections.  He contributed $250,000 to Trump’s Inaugural Committee. In June, he donated $35,000 to the Trump Victory Fund, $29,600 to the Republican National Committee and $2,700 to the Donald J. Trump for President Campaign. FEC records list his employer as Renova US Management LLC.  
• Russian-American chief executive of IMG Artists Alexander Shustorovich contributed $1 million to Trump’s Inaugural Committee. But his $250,000 gift to the Republican National Committee in support of the George W. Bush campaign in 2000 was rejected because of his ties to the Russian government.
• Russian-American oil magnate Simon Kukes worked for Vekselberg and Blavatnik from 1998 to 2003. Kukes ccontributed a total of $283,000, much of it to the Trump Victory Fund. He had no significant donor historyuntil 2016.

• Russia’s second largest state owned bank, VTB, is under U.S. sanctions. VTB owns 3.8% of Deripaska’s holding company, En+ Group.
• Oleg Deripaska, a member of the Kremlin “family” since he married the daughter of an adviser to President Boris Yeltsin in 2001, is said to be one of Putin’s favorite oligarchs. He is the founder and majority shareholder of Rusal. 
• Len Blavatnik, a dual U.S./U.K. citizen is considered one of the richest men in the U.K. with an estimated net worth of $20 billion. Blavatnik’s family emigrated from the U.S.S.R. in the late 70s and he returned to Russia when the Soviet Union began to collapse in the late 80s. Blavatnik co-founded the Renova Group with Vekselberg in 1990. His U.S. based holding companies include Access Industries and AI-Altep Holdings. Blavatnik and Vekselberg jointly own 20.5 percent of RUSAL.
• Viktor Vekselberg, one of the 10 richest men in Russia, has an estimated net worth of $13.5 billion. Vekselberg and Len Blavatnik jointly own 20.5 percent of RUSAL.

• David Bossie, the man behind Citizens United (allowing unlimited Dark Money) served as Trump's deputy campaign chairman.
• Dan Backer, a Russia American also helped with Citizens United
• Make America Number 1 Super PAC was setup and funded by Robert and Rebekah Mercer. Erik Prince, Betsy DeVos’ brother was a donor!

Pro-Trump PAC Thought It Was a Good Idea to Send a 12-Year-Old Girl to Interview Roy Moore

Roy Moore has been accused of, among other things, initiating a sexual encounter with a 14-year old girl when he was in his 30s—which is what makes it particularly nauseating that a far-right group decided to send a preteen girl named Millie to interview Moore just days before the Alabama special election.

splinternews.com|Rafi Schwartz

It’s clear that America First Project, the PAC founded by former Breitbart staffers who coordinated Millie’s interview with Moore, were trying to send a not-so-subtle “see, he’s DEFINITELY not a pedophile” message to viewers. 

Moore, meanwhile, has yet to take questions from actual adult reporters in weeks.