Michael Beckel

'Corporate Crime Pays' Under Trump as His Agencies Drop Enforcement Against 165 Companies | Common Dreams "The Trump administration is protecting lawbreaking corporate insiders from accountability instead of protecting America

Since taking office, Trump has halted or ended 1/3 of investigations and enforcement actions against Big Tech giants — including Meta, Tesla, and Google.

These same tech companies have spent over $1.2B to influence Trump during and since the 2024 election.

Everything is for sale.

Seattle Renews Its Unique Approach to Public Campaign Financing The democracy vouchers program hands residents $100 to donate to local candidates and it’s credited with broadening civic involvement. Voters on Tuesday extended it by 10 years.

Seattle is renewing a unique campaign finance approach: “We promised the country that we would show them a new way of doing elections, and I feel like we have to live up to that by continuing to improve this program,” says a local political consultant.

Trump Bureau of Labor Statistics nominee was bystander outside Capitol on Jan. 6, White House says The White House said E.J. Antoni was in town for meetings unrelated to Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

NEW: Trump Bureau of Labor Statistics nominee was bystander outside Capitol on Jan. 6, White House says

www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

A stock trading ban in Congress would help ensure that members are working on behalf of the people — not lining their own pockets. It's the right thing to do.

The Recipe Behind the Trump Family’s Crypto Riches: PancakeSwap The under-the-radar trading platform is quietly administered by Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, whose founder is seeking a pardon from President Trump.

Crypto has generated more wealth for the Trump family since the election than any other part of their business empire. We're talking $4.5 BILLION.

That's thanks in part to a partnership with Binance, whose founder is reportedly seeking a pardon from Trump.

See the problem?

PanelPicker | SXSW Conference & Festivals PanelPicker® is the official SXSW user-generated session proposal platform. Enter ideas and vote to help shape Conference programming for SXSW and SXSW EDU.

The Transparent Election Initiative & @issueonereform.bsky.social hope to share info about a novel reform idea to undo #CitizensUnited at SXSW next year.

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Political corruption erodes democracy: Michael Beckel on dark money & graft in politics "This administration feels like a powder keg of corruption scandals waiting to explode."

How does political corruption, graft, and dark money erode democracy? @jenrubin.bsky.social and I discussed on @contrariannews.org contrarian.substack.com/p/political-...

How prevalent are leadership PACs in Washington?

98 of 100 current senators have one.

And senators' leadership PACs raised a combined $33 million during the first half of 2025, per @issueonereform.bsky.social analysis of FEC data

Background from @issueonereform.bsky.social about why corruption concerns should have disqualified Billy Long from being confirmed to lead the IRS in the first place issueone.org/press/issue-...

PanelPicker | SXSW Conference & Festivals PanelPicker® is the official SXSW user-generated session proposal platform. Enter ideas and vote to help shape Conference programming for SXSW and SXSW EDU.

The Transparent Election Initiative & @issueonereform.bsky.social have proposed a #SXSW panel about a novel idea to undo #CitizensUnited.

Could you please spare a minute and vote for our panel? You'll need to create a free account, but it'll be worth it

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The 20 Elections to Watch in August - Bolts Out of 40 special elections for congressional and legislative seats so far in 2025, only two have seen flips; both were Democratic gains. That’s to be expected: Nationwide, most districts... Read More

Voters today are heading to the polls all around the country, from Detroit and Seattle’s mayoral races to special elections for legislative seats in Delaware and Rhode Island.

Catch up with Bolts’ guide to the elections you should be watching:

boltsmag.org/whats-o...

Election Protection and Money in Politics Intern Election Protection and Money in Politics Intern  Semester: Fall (September - December 2025) Status: Part-time Temporary (up to 25 hours per week)Reports to: Issue One Policy Team  Rate of Pay: $18.00...

Are you a college student or recent grad interested in helping protect our elections and combatting the undue influence of big money in politics?

@issueonereform.bsky.social is currently hiring a PAID part-time intern!

Learn more & apply here issueonereform.bamboohr.com/careers/95

NEW: FEC records show Elizabeth Fago donated $1 million to MAGA Inc, the Trump super PAC, in April.

She attended a fundraising dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on April 4.

She lobbied Trump to pardon her son, who had pleaded guilty to tax crimes.

3 weeks later, Trump issued the pardon.

TikTok Billionaire Donates Millions to Trump as He Repeatedly Delays Ban Jeff Yass, co-founder of ByteDance investor Susquehanna International Group, made his largest ever political donations to Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC in the first half of the year, per a new FEC filin...

NEW: Billionaire TikTok investor Jeff Yass gave $16 million to Trump’s super PAC in the first half of the year. Trump delayed TikTok’s ban three times while Yass’s firm kept its stake in ByteDance. readsludge.com/2025/08/01/t...

On major #campaignfinance filing deadlines like today, I really miss @propublica.org's "FEC Itemizer" tool 😢

As @issueonereform.bsky.social highlighted earlier this month, under President Trump, the SEC has ended a major lawsuit against crypto exchange Coinbase and sought a reduced settlement in case against Ripple Labs

issueone.org/articles/cry...

Corporate America has largely abandoned its post-January 6 promises on democracy - CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Since the January 6 insurrection, over 2,000 corporate and industry group PACs have given over $174 million to members of the Sedition Caucus as well as Donald Trump and the new members of Congress who ran on the Big Lie that Trump won the 2020 election.

BREAKING: After the Jan. 6 insurrection, nearly 250 companies pledged to no longer donate to lawmakers who voted against certifying the 2020 election.

But over 2,000 corporate and industry group PACs have donated over $174 million since then.

Trump's Second Favorite Island (With Another List) Republican donors funnel millions through Guam, spotlighting the need for campaign finance reform

Great example of how mega-joint fundraising committees are now used evade giving limits: @zkahn.bsky.social reveals 193 ppl gave legal max of $10K to Guam GOP in 2024; then Guam GOP transferred 97.8% of that money to the RNC (to which they had already maxed out) zachkahn.substack.com/p/trumps-sec...

Before the FEC lost a quorum at the end of April, it was looking into 3 matters potentially involving the illegal participation of foreign nations in U.S. elections www.fec.gov/resources/cm...

During the first half of 2025, ByteDance spent $5.4 million on lobbying and hired 41 lobbyists — one for every 13 members of Congress.

More numbers to know in our latest tech lobbying report: https://shorturl.at/EAz7u

As Washington Debates Major Tech and AI Policy Changes, Big Tech’s Lobbying is Relentless - Issue One As Congress weighed a sweeping, decades-long ban on state regulations on artificial intelligence (AI) — a move heavily backed by Big Tech — the industry’s biggest players poured record-breaking sums…

Big Tech’s lobbying efforts “have allowed them to continue marketing products that use Americans’ personal information to engage in predatory surveillance practices, harm and kill children, and stoke division and hate” warns Alix Fraser of @issueonereform.bsky.social issueone.org/articles/as-...

Major tech players including Meta, Alphabet, and Nvidia combined to spend more than $36 MILLION on lobbying during the first half of 2025 — an average of $320,000 PER DAY that Congress has been in session, @issueonereform.bsky.social review of new lobbying docs finds issueone.org/articles/as-...

Crypto Craziness - Issue One We’ve come a long way from the days when Donald Trump called cryptocurrency a “scam.” The president who courted crypto investors during the 2024 campaign, raked in millions from crypto…

Reminder from @issueonereform.bsky.social: 12 times President Trump has made legal problems for crypto interests disappear during his second term issueone.org/articles/cry...

The Corruption Chronicles - Issue One A hallmark of the first six months of President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House has been his repeated sidestepping of longstanding, anti-corruption safeguards. “President Trump’s unprece...

New from @issueonereform.bsky.social: Donald Trump’s profiteering from public service, by the numbers issueone.org/articles/the...

WLFI @worldlibertyfi 🚨 Big news from the WLFI community 🚨 The community has officially voted — and the results were overwhelming. ✅ $WLFI will be tradable 💪 The people have spoken Now it’s time to execute. Standby for the full launch plan — coming soon. 🦅 ☝️ 5:03 PM · Jul 16, 2025 · 37.4K Views

🗳 Update: World Liberty Financial token holders voted to make the tokens transferable.

Move is the first step towards Trump eventually being able to liquidate at least some of his 22.5 billion tokens.

Backstory: www.forbes.com/sites/zachev...

IRS commissioner’s PAC paid research firms amid confirmation fight Billy Long’s leadership PAC paid $22,000 to two political research groups in April, per a campaign finance filing.

Unlike Billy Long, most people who are nominated for executive branch positions don’t have a political slush fund available to pay for polling or research services during their confirmation process www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

New Issue One report details how President Trump is making legal problems disappear for the crypto industry - Issue One A new report published today by Issue One is shining a light on how President Trump and his allies are making legal problems disappear for the cryptocurrency industry following significant…

Number of the day: 12. Times President Trump and his allies have made legal problems for crypto interests disappear so far — including multiple pardons for high-profile crypto figures and multiple enforcement cases being dropped, via @issueonereform.bsky.social issueone.org/press/new-is...

Crypto Craziness - Issue One We’ve come a long way from the days when Donald Trump called cryptocurrency a “scam.” The president who courted crypto investors during the 2024 campaign, raked in millions from crypto…

New from @issueonereform.bsky.social: "12 Times President Trump Has Made Legal Problems for the Cryptocurrency Industry Disappear." Happy Crypto Week! issueone.org/articles/cry...

New FEC filings shows that the Senate campaign committee of Vice President JD Vance paid $3,469.69 on April 15 to the city of Alexandria, Virginia, for "registration/fees" associated with a "campaign car" docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/form...

Issue One raises alarm over legalized bribes given to Trump’s IRS nominee - Issue One In the wake of new campaign finance disclosures showing political donors helped former Rep. Billy Long (R-MO), President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the IRS, pay off a six-figure loan,…

Perhaps of note: Billy Long's PAC payments to a polling firm & opposition research firm came one day before FEC filings showed he raised enough money after he was nominated to lead the IRS to pay himself back a $130K loan to his failed 2022 Senate campaign

Background: issueone.org/press/issue-...