CPAC bankrolled by Jan. 6 rally organizers and groups spreading 2020 election fraud claims • OpenSecrets – Center for Responsive Politics

Former President Donald Trump’s political operation continues to steer money to a firm run by Jan. 6 rally organizers, while other organizers of the rally before the deadly Capitol attack are sponsoring this year’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference, widely known as CPAC.

Trump is slated to speak at the CPAC convening organized by the American Conservative Union on Saturday. 

A newly-filed campaign finance disclosure shows Save America, Trump’s leadership PAC, paid Event Strategies Inc. more than $837,000 in January this year. 

Trump’s political operation has paid more than $5.1 million to Event Strategies since the start of the 2020 election, the firm named in a permit for the rally that also employed two individuals involved in the demonstration. Some of those payments came in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021 rally. 

While some political committees continue to pay Event Strategies, the firm and its partners are becoming controversial even among conservative circles. The Elizabeth Dole Foundation terminated Event Strategy partner Tim Unes’ from his role in helping plan former Sen. Bob Dole’s funeral after learning of his ties to the Jan. 6 rally.

The U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol subpoenaed Unes, one of the Jan. organizers paid by Trump’s campaign.

In total, Trump’s political operation reported paying more than $6.8 million to people and firms that organized the Jan. 6 rally since the start of the 2020 election. 

Jan. 6 rally organizers sponsoring CPAC 2022

The three groups behind the “March to Save America” rally on Jan. 6 before the Capitol attack now sponsoring CPAC are Moms for America, Turning Point and Tea Party Patriots. 

This is the first year Moms for America, one of the 11 groups partnering on the “March to Save America” rally, has sponsored CPAC. 

Moms for America is listed as a presenting sponsor, a sponsorship level second only to the top sponsor slot held by Fox Nation. 

The 2022 sponsorship prospectus does not specify the cost of being a presenting sponsor, noting instead that “This unique and customizable opportunity is CPAC’s top level sponsorship.”  The next tier down costs $75,000. Last year, the presenting sponsorship package had a starting cost of $100,000. 

Moms for America’s entire 2020 fundraising haul was about $408,000, according to its tax returns, up slightly from the prior year when it raised around $300,000. 

Tea Party Patriots Action, another group that helped organize the Jan. 6 rally, is a $35,000 supporting sponsor of this year’s CPAC. 

Tea Party Patriots Action was not listed as a sponsor of last year’s CPAC, which was held weeks after the Capitol attack. But a panel on “protecting elections” featured Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin. This year, Tea Party Patriots returned as a sponsor and its cofounder gave a talk titled “Patriots Unite.”

The 501(c)(4) Tea Party Patriots Action was the second biggest 2020 election donor to its super PAC, Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund. The super PAC spent about $1 million supporting Trump’s re-election and the 501(c)(4) that helped fund it does not disclose its donors. 

Turning Point, a nonprofit conservative student group that flourished under the Trump administration, is a $15,000 contributing sponsor of this year’s CPAC after being a $20,000 supporting sponsor last year. Turning Point’s 501(c)(4) nonprofit arm, Turning Point Action, is one of the 11 core groups that helped organize the Jan. 6 protests. 

None of the groups that helped organize the Jan. 6 rally and are now sponsoring CPAC have disclosed their donors. 

Groups at the helm of efforts pushing unfounded and disproven claims of voter fraud around the 2020 election are all listed as sponsors of this year’s CPAC, including the Public Interest Legal Foundation, the Heritage Foundation and Judicial Watch. The three nonprofits share a small circle of wealthy conservative donors with a revolving door of staff and consultants, according to an investigation by the Guardian using OpenSecrets data.

Another sponsor of this year’s CPAC is Lindell-TV, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s online TV show.

A group called Voter Safe House is also listed among CPAC’s sponsors. 

“Our dedication to offering an extra layer of accountability, especially in the case of a discrepancy with the official count, means that we strive to offer a real-time vote polling system while ensuring that every vote is counted and that no voice is silenced during a time of election,” Voter Safe House’s site reads, claiming “you can maintain your individual votes and watch in real-time as others throughout the nation log their votes.”

Voter Safe House lists one partner on its site: Our Freedom Media Group, part of an alternative social media network that sponsored CPAC last year. Its services include a Facebook alternative called Our Freedom Book and a YouTube alternative called Our Freedom Tube.

Other alternative social media platforms sponsoring CPAC include video platform Rumble and microblogging platform Gettr, which was founded by former Trump aide Jason Miller.

In addition to Fox Nation being the sole featuring sponsor, other conservative news organizations sponsoring this year’s CPAC include Right Side Broadcasting Network and America’s Voice Network, which also goes by Real America News, two outlets that often broadcast Trump’s rallies. 

Another media sponsor of this year’s CPAC is the Epoch Times, a news outlet that has ties to members of the Falun Gong, a Chinese spiritual movement banned by China’s ruling Communist Party. The Epoch Times publisher, Epoch Media Group, has been criticized for favorable coverage of Trump and backed “Stop the Steal” protests in Taiwan that drew a reported 8,000 people supporting Trump after his loss in the 2020 election.

Read more OpenSecrets News & Analysis: 2020 Presidential · 501(c) groups

Anna is OpenSecrets’ Editorial and Investigations Manager. She is also responsible for OpenSecrets’ dark money research and researches foreign influence as a part of Foreign Lobby Watch. Anna holds degrees in political science and psychology from North Carolina State University and a J.D. from the University of the District of Columbia School of Law.