New Tax Filings Reveal Leonard Leo’s Self-Enrichment Scheme and Deepening Investigations
Report: Trump Pick for Top State Department Role Penned Essays Promoting White Nationalism, Islamophobia & Conspiracy Theories
Trump’s Transition: More Conflicts, More Risks
Watchdog: Trump Transition Fully Operating Over Private Emails and Servers a Recipe for Corruption & National Security Threats
Watchdog: Trump and Billionaire Allies Are Prepared to Hurt Working Families
Site Menu

WASHINGTON, DC – The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) wrapped up this weekend, closing out a week packed with extremism, conspiracy theories, and political stunts. There was no shortage of MAGA moments from House conservatives at CPAC — and far-right organizations propped up the entire thing.

“

We have far-right MAGA groups to thank for the extremism, baseless conspiracies, and partisan political stunts we saw at CPAC. That’s just a glimpse of the work these organizations do year-round to influence the House MAGA majority to push their dangerous agenda. They’ll do whatever they can to undermine progress and roll back rights — and they have House conservatives in their pockets.”

Accountable.US spokesperson Yael Sheinfeld.

Here are just a few of the groups responsible for CPAC’s most MAGA moments:

  • The American Conservative Union, CPAC’s host, claims to be a “grassroots” organization but is actually bankrolled by some of the wealthiest conservative foundations and dark money groups including the 85 Fund, the Mercer Family Foundation, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, and DonorsTrust.
  • The Heritage Foundation, one of CPAC’s supporting sponsors, has advanced debunked claims of widespread voter fraud used to enact restrictive voting laws across the country and has taken an active role in the fight to limit access to abortion, roll back environmental regulations, and curtail the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans.
  • America First Legal, whose president and senior counsel presented at the conference, is staffed by a number of former Trump administration officials and continues to influence the House MAGA majority.
  • The America First Policy Institute originated the “America First Agenda” that proposed gutting the Affordable Care Act and giving corporations a boost over working families by lowering the corporate tax rate. The vice chair of the Institute’s Center for Election Integrity presented at the conference, along with other Institute staffers.

Accountable.US recently launched its Monitoring Influence project to document the dark money network connecting these right-wing organizations and others. Along with regularly updating the Monitoring Influence database with new connections and organizations, Accountable has also specifically tracked the extremist groups influencing the MAGA majority in Congress.

 

back to top