Yesterday, America First Legal (AFL) sued the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for refusing to charge Biden For President, the Biden Victory Fund, the Biden Action Fund, and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) after they failed to report direct and indirect
contributions and coordinated communications made in connection with the infamous and debunked “Letter of 51” to the FEC.
The Complaint alleges that the Biden for President Campaign manufactured a demonstrably false letter from 51 former intelligence officials to enhance Biden’s electoral chances against President Donald Trump.
On October 19, 2020, 51 anti-Trump former intelligence officials issued a public statement decrying reports of a Hunter Biden laptop that contained debilitating information about presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son as “Russian disinformation.”
As AFL reveals in today’s lawsuit, the public statement was drafted by Michael Morrell at the request of Biden campaign staffer (and now Secretary of State) Anthony Blinken. This statement was then used by then-presidential candidate Joe Biden during the October 22, 2020, presidential debate against Donald Trump.
The facts revealed in AFL’s lawsuit show that the public statement by the 51 former intelligence officials was not only incubated by the Biden campaign but was also used to generate earned media for candidate Biden.
Internal emails from the Biden campaign reveal that the purpose of the public statement was to influence the election between Biden and President Trump. Because Biden campaign resources were used to generate and disseminate the public statement, and because the public statement was disseminated in the media at the request of the Biden campaign, federal law requires public reporting of the costs and beneficiaries of such coordinated communications.
As the complaint states, on October 23, 2023, America First Legal Foundation, filed with the Federal Election Commission an administrative complaint (MUR 8182) showing that the Respondents received and failed to report direct contributions, indirect contributions, and coordinated communications in violation of 52 U.S.C. § 30104.
America First Legal’s administrative complaint has been pending for over120 days, yet the Commission has taken no action.
The Federal Election Campaign Act, 52 U.S.C. §30101 et seq., provides administrative complainants with a right of action against the Commission if the Commission fails to act on a complaint within 120 days, at which point, “the court may declare that … the failure to act is contrary to law and may direct the Commission to conform with such declaration within 30 days, failing which the complainant may bring, in the name of such complainant, a civil action to remedy the violation in the original complaint.” 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(8)(C).
America First Legal brings this action under 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(8)(C) of the Federal Election Campaign Act seeking injunctive and declaratory relief to compel the Commission to act on America First Legal’s administrative complaint regarding the Respondents failure to file reports disclosing its contributors, contributions, and coordinated communications in violation of 52 U.S.C. § 30104.
Statement from Daniel Epstein, America First Legal Vice President:
“The facts speak for themselves: 79 percent of Americans believe that had there been accurate coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop, Trump would have won the election. Foreseeing this electoral benefit, the Biden for President campaign organized 51 former intelligence officials to claim that the Hunter Biden laptop story was ‘Russian disinformation.’ The law requires this type of coordination and electoral benefit to be reported to the Federal Election Commission for the public to see. Otherwise, it’s not simply a form of dark money, it’s not simply corruption, it’s election interference.” said Dan Epstein.
-
Federal Election Commission (FEC)
-
American First Legal Foundation
-
51 former Intellignce officials
-
Federal Election Campaign Act