CREW files FEC complaint over Trump campaign coordination with outside groups

Presidential campaigns cannot legally withhold the identities of high-dollar donors who fund their canvassing efforts via an outside group, according to a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission today by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington on behalf of two Wisconsin voters.

In the 2024 presidential election, the Trump campaign apparently relied on an illegitimate loophole that conflicts with federal campaign finance law and FEC regulations to withhold this donor information from Wisconsin voters. The complaint asks the FEC to validate the voters’ claims, close this loophole in accordance with campaign finance law and compel the Trump campaign to disclose the identities of the donors.

“When it comes to high-dollar campaign donors, the FEC should be working to ensure voters have access to more information, not less,” said CREW Director of Campaign Finance Litigation Stuart McPhail. “This loophole flies in the face of campaign finance law and only serves to leave voters in the dark, as we saw in Wisconsin.”

In the summer of 2024, the FEC released an advisory opinion allowing wealthy donors to functionally make unlimited secret contributions to political campaigns, by permitting campaigns to offload their canvassing on outside groups, while maintaining control of those operations. However, according to the Federal Election Campaign Act, if a campaign coordinates with an outside group to conduct canvassing, any money spent on that canvassing constitutes a coordinated expenditure and is subject to reporting requirements, including donor information. FEC regulations also have no reporting carveout for coordinated canvassing. Campaigns for various offices on both sides of the aisle exploited this legal loophole, and many more will do so if it is not closed.

After the advisory opinion’s release, the Trump campaign apparently coordinated its canvassing activities in Wisconsin with outside groups, but failed to report its spending or donors. One group, Turning Point Action, reportedly led a $100 million-plus “chase the vote” canvassing program in the state. Charlie Kirk, Turning Point Action’s founder, confirmed that Turning Point Action was working “in harmony” with the Trump campaign on “doors and canvassing.” However, the campaign did not report Turning Point Action’s effective donation, as required by law, and apparently did not report any contributions received in the form of coordinated expenditures for canvassing.

“Voters deserve to know who’s funding or supporting campaign outreach so that they can make a fully informed decision,” said McPhail. “If the FEC does not address this loophole and enforce the law, bad actors can feel emboldened to flout the law and leave the public in the dark.”