News Clips

The FEC investigation of American Media stemmed from a 2018 complaint filed by Common Cause, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group. The complaint also alleged violations by Mr. Trump and his campaign, but the FEC has taken no action against the former president. Paul S. Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause, expressed frustration that Mr. Trump has faced no repercussions for the hush money paid on his behalf. “The mastermind of this illegal operation has not been punished, has not been held accountable,” he said.

Sylvia Albert, Common Cause Director of Voting & Elections, discusses The For the People Act on ABC News Live the day before the bill was scheduled for markup in the Senate Rules Committee.

In a statement after the decision, the progressive group Common Cause described it as “an endless cycle of uncertainty,” and it’s hard to disagree. The process could easily stretch through the 2024 election, and given the political interests involved, it’s not clear how it could ever fully resolve.

Jay Riestenberg with Common Cause, which advocates for more accessible voting, is particularly concerned about conservative “secret donors” funding the push for more restrictive laws.  “Well, the truth is, we’ll never really know because a lot of these groups do not disclose their spending or where their funding comes from,” Riestenberg said. “But I think we’re well in the area of over $100 million on both sides.”

On Tuesday, a letter was posted to the website Common Cause, the political watchdog group, addressed to host Jimmy Kimmel and the production team of the ABC series. The letter noted that Lindell has been "a leading voice in spreading lies and disinformation regarding the 2020 election results, including producing several videos claiming that the 2020 elections were hacked." Making a case that Lindell should not appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the letter stated: "We believe that having Mr. Lindell on your show will give him a bigger platform to spread his lies and disinformation, and knowingly mislead the public about the integrity of our election systems. To be clear, even joking about his conspiracy theories can lead to the spread of disinformation. In fact, disinformation actors such as Lindell often seek to get their lies and conspiracy theories debunked in national media in order to give their disinformation broader reach. Given the state of our nation and nature of Lindell’s lies, we are asking that you immediately cancel his scheduled appearance."

"Even though they're saying the case had nothing to do with elections and is not about public transparency, if there's a bad ruling here it could be leveraged to expand these exemptions from transparency in election spending," said Beth Rotman, national director of money in politics and ethics at Common Cause. "If you're going to expand those exemptions so broadly, then you're going to really take away a lot of the transparency that we have in political disclosure laws."