With help from Daniel Lippman FIRST IN PI — Americans for Public Trust filed a complaint with the FEC today accusing two groups that engaged in controversial tactics used to boost candidates in the run-up to the 2024 election of violating campaign finance laws through their involvement in an alleged straw donor scheme. — The complaint alleges that Stop China Now, Inc. was created and used as a straw donor to funnel money into Save Western Culture’s super PAC. Seth Martin, treasurer of Save Western Culture, was also named in the complaint. — The complaint notes that Stop China Now was the sole contributor to Save Western Culture, with a $1.6 million donation two weeks after the super PAC was registered with the FEC in early October. Stop China Now was also incorporated in the same month. The complaint said that the available information supports “finding reason to believe that Stop China Now, Inc. was not the true source of the $1,600,000 contributed in its name to Save Western Culture, and that Stop China Now, Inc. served as a straw donor for this contribution.” — Save Western Culture used the contribution to fund ad campaigns in 20 federal elections across 14 states. The super PAC mainly worked to bolster third-party conservative candidates and oppose Republican candidates. Notably, Save Western Culture was responsible for a number of controversial campaigns, including mailers and ads calling Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz a “spineless simp” and a “cucked king” during his reelection campaign. The campaigns were in support of Libertarian candidate Ted Brown, though Brown notably asked Save Western Culture to end the ads and said he did not want to “insult [Cruz] personally.” — Both groups have the same UPS store in Massachusetts listed as their address, our Ally Mutnick and Jessica Piper reported earlier this month. Americans for Public Trust’s complaint stated that the shared address “indicates common control,” which indicated that “the person or persons who established the two organizations had knowledge of underlying details of the contribution at the issue in this matter.” — Watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington also filed a complaint with the FEC on Thursday against the two groups and Martin for similar allegations. “These apparent violations of law deprive the public of important information and should be investigated,” the organization wrote in its complaint. — “The FEC should investigate whether funds were passed through Stop China Now to Save Western Culture and reveal their true source. Voters deserve to know who is behind the groups that are attempting to influence their elections,” CREW said in a statement on Thursday. — Stop China Now’s website appears to be offline now. The two groups did not respond to requests for comment from PI. Daniel Lippman contributed to this item. Happy Monday and welcome to PI. Happy holidays, folks. I’ll be with you today and tomorrow in between frantic dashes to packed stores in my hometown for last-minute gifts for my loved ones. Any tips, gossip or unique holiday traditions? Send them my way at dnickel@politico.com or @delizanickel on X. BET ON IT: Two major energy industry groups have hiked their GOP contributions and brought on staff from Republican circles in hopes that policies that have boosted their industry will be insulated as Republicans prepare to retake total control of Washington, reported our Zack Colman this morning. — The American Clean Power Association and Solar Energy Industries Association dramatically increased their donations to both GOP candidates and political action committees this past election cycle. Both groups have also made prominent internal hires with deep GOP roots, contacted K Street firms and signaled their willingness to back Republican energy and infrastructure policies. — ACP CEO Jason Grumet and SEIA CEO Abigail Ross Hopper also attended the Republican National Convention this year. — “A verdict on that strategy could come in the next few months as the Republican majorities in Congress eye potential rollbacks of the climate-focused clean energy measures in the lnflation Reduction Act enacted under President Joe Biden. President-elect Donald Trump has said he wants to scrap those incentives altogether — perhaps using a sweeping budget reconciliation package that Republicans could pass without Democratic support.” TOP EDITORS OUSTED: Crypto news website CoinDesk dismissed its top three editors on Friday after a since-deleted story prompted backlash from a crypto titan, current and former employees told the Wall Street Journal’s Caitlin Ostroff, Justin Baer and Vicky Ge Huang. — “The article showed Justin Sun, the founder of Tron blockchain who purchased a $6.2 million banana, eating the expensive fruit. Not long after the story was published on Nov. 29, Sun’s team complained about the tone of the piece to both CoinDesk’s editors and its owner, crypto exchange Bullish, and demanded it be taken down, employees said. The article was removed from the site this month, prompting backlash from CoinDesk’s staff.” — The dismissals included editor-in-chief Kevin Reynolds, deputy editor-in-chief Nick Baker and Marc Hochstein, who is listed on CoinDesk’s website as both executive editor for Consensus and deputy editor-in-chief for features, opinion, ethics and standards. — “Tensions over CoinDesk’s editorial independence had been building for months, as some newsroom staffers grew more aware of the publication’s financial struggles and felt some pressure from management to avoid alienating its biggest sponsors, employees said.” NOT THROWING AWAY HIS SHOT: Teachers union AFL-CIO is naming Darrick Hamilton as the federation’s chief economist, our Nick Niedzwiadek scooped in Morning Shift today. — Hamilton is the director of The New School’s institute on race, power and political economy, where he teaches urban policy and economics. — “His research on the racial wealth gap and economic justice, his visionary scholarship on ideas like ‘Baby Bonds’, and his bold thinking honed in campaign and legislative settings will be an invaluable asset to our work,” the federation’s President Liz Shuler said in a statement. “I look forward to Dr. Hamilton’s partnership as we continue the fight to build an economy that works for working people.” — William Spriggs, AFL-CIO’s previous chief economist, died in June 2023. CTBA? NEVER HEARD OF ‘EM: Trump’s pick to head the IRS has marketed himself with a credential tax experts say is dubious, according to an investigation from ProPublica’s Jeremy Kohler and Alex Mierjeski. — Former Missouri GOP Rep. Billy Long has marketed himself as a “certified tax and business advisor” since leaving office, often adding “CTBA” behind his name on social media profiles. But tax experts said that “they have never heard of CTBA as a credential in the tax profession.” — “The designation is offered by a small Florida firm, Excel Empire, which was established just two years ago and only requires attendance at a three-day seminar. That is in stark contrast to the 150 credit hours and the rigorous exams required to become a certified public accountant, a standard certification for tax accountants.” PARTY PREP: Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, is donating $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, our Daniel Lippman scooped in Playbook. — The donation was “part of our decades-long commitment to bipartisan advocacy,” said an Intuit spokesperson. They added that the company is “committed to ensuring our customers’ voices are heard on important issues.” — Intuit has interests in Washington — including lobbying efforts against the IRS making it easier for people to file taxes online — that would incentivize the company to gain favor with the incoming Trump administration. IN MEMORIAM: Larry Goldstein, the former president of the Energy Policy Research Foundation and co-founder of Petroleum Industry Research Associates, died on Dec. 16 at 82, our James Bikales reported in Morning Energy today. — Goldstein helped spur the creation of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the 1970s and was a longtime member of the Energy Department’s National Petroleum Council. ‘NO COMPARISON’ IN MODERN HISTORY: Senate Democrats on Saturday wrapped up their extensive investigation of Supreme Court justices’ ethics practices and blasted two conservative justices in their report for accepting expensive gifts from wealthy benefactors, our Josh Gerstein reports. — The harshest criticism in the report was leveled at Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, alleging that he received millions of dollars worth of gifts since he joined the country’s highest court in 1991. “The number, value, and extravagance by Justice Thomas have no comparison in modern American history,” the report says. — “Many of the trips, including one Thomas and his wife Ginni Thomas took by yacht and private jet in Indonesia in 2019 as a guest of billionaire developer Harlan Crow, were unearthed by ProPublica last year. However, the Senate Democrats claimed credit for turning up two previously unknown trips Crow treated Thomas to closer to home in New York, including one by yacht.” — The report also alleged that Justice Samuel Alito failed to comply with federal law when he didn’t include a private plane flight and lodging expenses for a fishing trip in Alaska in 2008 on his annual financial disclosure. The trip was paid for by billionaire hedge fund operator Paul Stringer. After issuing the report, Senate Democrats also slammed Chief Justice John Roberts for his lack of serious response to ethical lapses from his colleagues on the bench.
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