citizens for sanity s miller
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see gene hamilton pow
see musk
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Musk wears a black "Make America Great Again" ball cap while attending a campaign rally with former President Donald Trump on October 05, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
This week, we learned that Elon Musk has donated tens of millions of dollars to help former President Donald Trump return to the White House. But he's not stopping there. Yesterday, Musk announced that he is holding "a series of talks throughout Pennsylvania" over the next few days.
There is just one problem: Musk's events are likely illegal.
Musk, of course, has the right to hold an event explaining why he supports Trump. But these events, hosted by America PAC, a Super PAC founded by Musk, are not open to everyone. To attend, people must sign Musk's petition supporting free speech and the right to bear arms and have already voted in Pennsylvania.
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The problem is not the petition, but the requirement to vote to attend Musk's event. Federal law prohibits making or offering to make "an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate." Violators can be fined or face up to one year in prison.
The legal problems with Musk's events were first noted by UCLA law professor Rick Hansen, a well-known expert in election law. Hansen explained that to violate the federal law that prohibits vote buying, "it is not necessary to offer that a person vote for or against a particular candidate." Any financial inducement to vote or not vote is enough. In this case, Musk is offering something valuable — an invite to hear him speak — in exchange for voting. "Just like one cannot give out free ice cream or car washes or concert tickets," Hansen writes, "one cannot give out free admission to hear a speech by a tech entrepreneur."
Earlier this month, Musk offered $47 to anyone who could recruit a registered voter in seven swing states, including Pennsylvania, to sign his petition. He said his goal was to get one million signers. The goal was to collect valuable contact information and demographic data of potential voters. While such tactics might be distasteful, they are not illegal. In that case, the $47 was not provided in exchange for voting. Rather, the payment was in exchange for recruiting a petition signer. Musk's group will likely use the data collected to convince that petition signer to vote, but a vote is not required for the payment.
In the case of his talks in Pennsylvania, however, Musk crossed the legal line, only allowing people to access his talks if they have voted. While the law is clear, whether or not anyone will enforce it is far less certain. Musk is accustomed to doing what he wants and, with plenty of resources for skilled legal representation, cleaning up the mess later.
Little else is known about the details of Musk's tour of Pennsylvania. According to the America PAC website, Musk was scheduled to hold an event in Philadelphia on Wednesday and Thursday. But, as of this writing, the times and locations of the events have not been released.
Musk has secretly been spending millions on right-wing causes since 2022
While Musk has recently emerged as one of the most powerful forces for Trump in this election cycle, he has actually been giving huge sums to conservative causes since 2022, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal.
In 2022, Musk funded an ad blitz attacking Democrats on the economy, immigration, and transgender healthcare. The ads were run by a group called Citizens for Sanity, which got over $50 million of Musk’s money from a dark-money group called Building America’s Future (BAF).
Before Musk donated to BAF, the group’s operations were much smaller. In 2020, when it was founded, BAF only raised $300,000. In 2021, it raised $11 million. After Musk became a donor in 2022, its contributions nearly quintupled, reaching over $53 million.
Because BAF does not have to disclose its donors, it is not clear whether Musk has continued to fund it. But the group’s operations have remained extensive. In 2024, BAF has donated at least $22.8 million to right-wing political action committees.
Two PACs, Duty to America PAC and Future Coalition PAC, have been entirely funded by BAF, getting $16 million and $3 million, respectively.
Future Coalition PAC has used the cash to finance a controversial ad strategy. It is targeting Muslim and Arab-American voters in Michigan with anti-semitic ads about Vice President Kamala Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, and Harris’s stance on Israel, portraying her as a staunch Israel supporter. Simultaneously, the PAC is also taking out ads targeting Jewish voters in Pennsylvania, attacking Harris for being anti-Israel.
Another PAC that BAF has funded this cycle is Stand for Us PAC, which received $3.8 million from BAF. Stand for Us PAC has spent exclusively on state and local races, including in Missouri and West Virginia.
Trump is set to appear at a community roundtable hosted by BAF in Oakland, Michigan on Friday.
Musk's $75 million Super PAC
Filings released Tuesday reveal that Musk has donated nearly $75 million to America PAC. Musk gave the PAC $14.95 million in July, $30 million in August, and $30 million in September. Musk was the PAC’s only disclosed donor from July to September. The donations came after Musk said in March that he would not be donating to a presidential campaign.
From July to September, the PAC spent approximately $72 million, higher than “any other pro-Trump super PAC focused on turning out voters.” The PAC focuses on canvassing voters to increase early and mail-in voting in swing states, despite the fact that Musk routinely spreads misinformation about early voting to his 200 million followers on X, including that mail-in ballots are “insane” and “too risky.” Trump has reportedly “largely outsourced his 2024 campaign’s get-out-the-vote operation” to America PAC, partially made possible by a March Federal Election Commission (FEC) advisory opinion that allows canvassing operations to coordinate their message directly with a campaign.
In August, America PAC was investigated in multiple states for improperly collecting voters' personal data. The PAC ran ads showing someone receiving a text reading, “Hey you need to vote,” with a video of the attempted assassination of Trump in Pennsylvania, CNBC reported. As Trump is seen taken off stage, the person in the ad texts back, “This is out of control! How do I start?” The person then receives a link to the America PAC website, with a text stating, “Register to vote! It’s easy!”
The PAC website advertised that it helped users register to vote, but not all users received assistance. Users in swing states, including Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, and Wisconsin, were “directed to a highly detailed personal information form, [and] prompted to enter their address, cellphone number and age.” But the website did not direct them to a voter registration page. Instead, after users submitted their information, the website directed to a page saying “thank you.” (Users from traditionally noncompetitive states like California were told to enter their information and then directed to a voter registration page or back to the sign-up page.) After CNBC's report, the PAC removed language promising to assist voters with registration.
The North Carolina Board of Elections opened an investigation of the PAC. In a statement, a spokesman for the board said that “North Carolina law makes it a crime for someone to fail to submit a voter’s registration form if that person has told a voter that they would be submitting the voter’s registration form.” In letters to officials in Michigan and North Carolina, lawyers for America PAC argued that it was “deserving of a commendation, not an investigation.” A spokesperson for the Michigan Department of State told NBC News that they had “not found evidence of any violations of Michigan campaign finance law” but would “continue to monitor the situation.” A spokesperson for the North Carolina State Board of Elections said, “[T]he board’s staff conferred with America PAC on how to conduct voter registration consistent with state law.”
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https://www.alternet.org/2022/10/dark-money-groups-gop-senate/
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The finding comes a month after Senate Republicans tanked a bill that would have required dark money groups to disclose their donors and funding sources.
Shadowy organizations that are legally allowed to hide their donors have pumped nearly $1 billion into the Republican Party's effort to retake the U.S. Senate, according to an NPR analysis released Saturday.
In total, NPR found that "more than $1.6 billion has been spent or booked on TV ads in a dozen Senate races, with $3 out of every $4 being spent in six states—Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada, and Ohio."
"Most of that money is coming from dark money outside groups with little-to-no donor transparency—and Republicans are getting a huge boost from them," the outlet reported.
Nearly 90% of the money spent on pro-Republican television ads this midterm cycle has been from dark money groups, according to NPR's analysis of ad data. By comparison, 55% of spending on ads boosting Democrats has come from dark money organizations, which have exploded in number and influence since the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010Citizens United decision.
Predictably, key battleground states such as Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Arizona have drawn massive ad spending from outside groups in recent months as Senate races there tighten with just over two weeks until the November midterms.
Outside organizations have poured more money into Pennsylvania—where Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is locked in a competitive Senate contest with Republican nominee Dr. Oz—than any other state this cycle.
"Outside groups have spent nearly $64.9 million to back Fetterman or sway voters away from the celebrity doctor, while conservative outside spenders have poured $66 million into the race," OpenSecrets noted Friday. "One of the top outside spenders is the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R–Ky.). The super PAC has made Fetterman their top target, spending almost $37.2 million to oppose the Democrat."
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NPR's analysis came a month after Senate Republicans unanimously voted down legislation that would have required dark money organizations to disclose their large donors and funding sources, a step that would shine light on the forces attempting to sway critical races.
OpenSecrets discovered last month that a newly created dark money group that has spent big on ads mocking and attacking progressive candidates in battleground states is "connected to officials in former President Donald Trump's administration who now work with the America First Legal Foundation."
"The group, Citizens for Sanity, has paid for billboards emblazoned with messages like 'Protect Pregnant Men from Climate Discrimination' and 'Real progressives support violent criminals in their hour of need' in states across the country—including Massachusetts, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, California, Michigan, Texas, Illinois, and Georgia," the watchdog noted. "The ads have been described as racist and transphobic."
"Federal Communications Commission records reviewed by OpenSecrets reveal that the group's board includes three former Trump administration officials involved in theAmerica First Legal Foundation, a group founded by former Trump White House official Stephen Miller," OpenSecrets added.
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Gene Hamilton, The Author Of The Project 2025 Chapter On The Department Of Justice, Has A History Of Developing Extreme Immigration Policy, Including Family Separation.
SUMMARY: Gene Hamilton is the “vice-president and general counsel of America First Legal” and has worked in the Department of Justice, Homeland Security, and for former Sen. Jeff Sessions. Hamilton, most notably, helped implement some of the most extreme immigration policies deployed during the Trump administration.
● Hamilton was in contact with Stephen Miller about the family separation policy, helping to craft public statements and discussing future policies. When asked in 2024 if he regretted his role in this policy, Hamilton instead attacked the inspector general’s report as a “hatchet job.
” ● While in the Trump Administration, Hamilton “helped shape Trump's various travel bans, changes to refugee policies, and the implementation of an aggressive new approach to immigration enforcement,” including drafting the memo that terminated DACA.
● While Trump promised DACA applicant information would not be shared with immigration enforcement, ICE did have access, which Hamilton privately acknowledged in an email. Later, DHS decided to omit this information in Congressional testimony.
● Hamilton has railed against the DOJ being politicized, claiming that cases in Republican-led states are evidence of politicization. He also criticized a gag order on Trump as the “deep state” silencing him in the “court of public opinion.
” ● Hamilton's legal expertise was sought by Stephen Miller around policies to fine immigrants to pay for border wall construction and to make it harder to obtain green cards.
● In a YouTube interview with Constituting America, Hamilton compared immigration to people breaking into a house and floated the idea that immigrants qualified as an invasion under Article 4 Section 4 of the constitution.
Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, described Hamilton as “vital” to “the plan to revitalize this country.” As the author of the Department of Justice chapter of the Project 2025 Playbook, Hamilton is...
Gene Hamilton Is A Trump Administration Alum Who Currently Works As The Vice-President And General Counsel Of America First Legal As Well As Treasurer For Citizens For Sanity, A New “Dark Money” Group Running Ads To Mock Progressive Policies.
Gene Hamilton Is The “Vice-President And General Counsel Of America First Legal” And Has Worked In The Department Of Justice, Homeland Security, And For Former Sen. Jeff Sessions. Gene Hamilton Is The “Vice-President And General Counsel Of America First Legal.” “Gene serves as Vice-President and General Counsel of America First Legal.
Prior to AFL, Gene served as Counselor to the Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice from 2017-2021—providing legal advice, counsel, and strategic guidance. He has also served as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security, General Counsel on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and served in a variety of other roles at the Department of Homeland Security.” [America First Legal, accessed 2/14/24]
Gene Hamilton Is A Federalist Society Contributor That Served As “Counselor To The Attorney General At The United States Department Of Justice From 2017-2021.” “Gene Hamilton served as Counselor to the Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice from 2017-2021—providing legal advice, counsel, and strategic guidance to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Attorney General William Barr, Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen, Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, and other officials throughout the Department of Justice.
During his service as Counselor to the Attorney General, Gene advised on and participated in litigation, regulatory actions, and policymaking on high-priority issues for the Administration.” [Federalist Society, Contributors, accessed 2/14/24] Hamilton Previously Worked In The Department Of Homeland Security And For Sen. Jeff Sessions. “Prior to his service at the Department of Justice, Gene served as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security, John Kelly; as General Counsel to Senator Jeff Sessions on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest; as Assistant Chief Counsel for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and as an Attorney Advisor in the Secretary’s Honors Program for Attorneys at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.” [Federalist Society, Contributors, accessed 2/14/24]
Hamilton Has Also Worked As Assistant Chief Counsel At U.S. Immigration And Customs Enforcement And Was An Honors Attorney At The Department Of Homeland Security. “Gene Hamilton is currently the General Counsel to Chairman Jeff Sessions (R-AL) on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest. As General Counsel to Chairman Sessions, Mr Hamilton is responsible for the Subcommittee’s legislative portfolio, advising the Chairman on immigration and homeland...
Hamilton Is The Treasurer For Citizens For Sanity, A New “Dark Money” Group Running Ads To Mock Progressive Policies.
Citizens For Sanity Is “A New ‘Dark Money’ Group Bankrolling Provocative Ads Mocking Progressive Policies And Politicians In Battleground States.” “A new ‘dark money’ group bankrolling provocative ads mocking progressive policies and politicians in battleground states ahead of 2022 midterms is connected to officials in former President Donald Trump’s administration who now work with the America First Legal Foundation, records reviewed by OpenSecrets show.
The group, Citizens for Sanity, has paid for billboards emblazoned with messages like ‘Protect Pregnant Men from Climate Discrimination’ and ‘Real progressives support violent criminals in their hour of need’ in states across the country – including Massachusetts, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, California, Michigan, Texas, Illinois and Georgia. The ads have been described as racist and transphobic. [Open Secrets, 9/15/22]
Hamilton Is The Treasurer Of Citizens For Sanity. “Citizens for Sanity’s treasurer is Gene Hamilton, vice president of the America First Legal Foundation and a former top aide in Trump’s administration who was considered to be a ‘key architect of the repeal of DACA.’” [Open Secrets, 9/15/22] Hamilton “Helped Shape Trump’s Various Travel Bans, Changes To Refugee Policies, And The Implementation Of An Aggressive New Approach To Immigration Enforcement;” He Also Drafted The Memo That Terminated DACA.
While In The Trump Administration, Hamilton “Helped Shape Trump’s Various Travel Bans, Changes To Refugee Policies, And The Implementation Of An Aggressive New Approach To Immigration Enforcement,” Including Drafting The Memo That Terminated DACA. While Working In The Trump Administration, Hamilton “Helped Shape Trump’s Various Travel Bans, Changes To Refugee Policies, And The Implementation Of An Aggressive New Approach To...
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In Hamilton’s Project 2025 Section On The Department Of Justice, He Recommends “A Top-To-Bottom Overhaul” Of The DOJ And FBI, Demoting The FBI Within The DOJ To Allow More Political Appointees, Prosecuting Local District Attorneys For “Refusing To Prosecute Criminal Offenses In Their Jurisdictions,” Stop Provision And Distribution Of Medication Abortion Pills, Among Other Egregious Proposals.
:{In Hamilton’s Project 2025 Section On The Department Of Justice, He Said That “Anything Other Than A Top-To-Bottom Overhaul” Of The DOJ And FBI Would “Guarantee The Failure Of That Conservative Administration’s Agenda In Countless Other Ways.” In Hamilton’s Project 2025 Section On The Department Of Justice, He Said That “Anything Other Than A Top-To-Bottom Overhaul” Of The DOJ And FBI Would “Guarantee The Failure Of That Conservative Administration’s Agenda In Countless Other Ways.”
“It is essential that the next conservative Administration place a high priority on reforming the DOJ and its culture to align the department with its core purposes and advance the national interest. Critically, this must include the FBI. Anything other than a top-to-bottom overhaul will only further erode the trust of significant portions of the American people and harm the very fabric that holds together our constitutional republic. At a practical level, not reforming the Department of Justice will also guarantee the failure of that conservative Administration’s agenda in countless other ways.” [Project 2025, accessed 4/30/24] ● Hamilton Wrote The Project 2025 Section On The Department Of Justice....}:
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Gene P. Hamilton is an American lawyer and policymaker who served within the U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security[1] during the presidency of Donald J. Trump. In these positions, he played key roles in ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, creating the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" family separation policy,[2][3][4] and in revoking the Temporary Protected Status of immigrants from Sudan and South Sudan.[5]
Hamilton currently serves as the Vice President of America First Legal,[6][7] a legal action group founded by former Trump administration officials, including Stephen Miller. In this role, he has represented the state of Texas in a lawsuit aiming to reinstate Trump-era policies that bar unaccompanied migrant children from entering the United States.[8] He also serves as the treasurer for Citizens for Sanity, a conservative political action committee.[9]
Education and early career
Hamilton was raised in Arizona.[2] He received a Bachelor's degree from the University of Georgia, and a J.D. from the Washington and Lee School of Law in 2010.[10] While attending law school, Hamilton interned at the Krome Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Miami, Florida;[2][11] upon graduation he accepted a role as an Honors Attorney at the Department of Homeland Security,[12] eventually returning to ICE in its Office of Chief Counsel in Georgia.
In 2015, Hamilton left the Department to become General Counsel to then-Senator Jeff Sessions, under whom he would later work at the Department of Justice when Sessions became the United States Attorney General.[2] In 2016, Hamilton joined the Trump transition team, ultimately leading its immigration policy efforts.
fedsoc bs
Gene Hamilton serves as Executive Director, Executive Vice President, and General Counsel of America First Legal Foundation. Prior to AFL, Gene served as Counselor to the Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice from 2017-2021—providing legal advice, counsel, and strategic guidance to the Attorney General and other officials throughout the Department of Justice. While serving as Counselor to the Attorney General, Gene advised on and participated in litigation, regulatory actions, and policymaking on high-priority issues for the Trump Administration. Before his service at the Department of Justice, Gene served as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security; as General Counsel to Senator Jeff Sessions on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary; as Assistant Chief Counsel for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and as an Attorney-Advisor in the Secretary’s Honors Program for Attorneys at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which included work in the Office of General Counsel’s Operations and Enforcement Law Division, the Intelligence Law Division, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Transportation Security Administration.
Gene graduated from the Washington and Lee School of Law magna cum laude and Order of the Coif and has a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from the University of Georgia.
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2024-05-13-Gene-Hamilton-Congressional-Hearing-Doc
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disquaL TITLE 42 SUIT PAXTON
Brief in Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Disqualify
KEN PAXTON AARON F. REITZ Attorney General of Texas Lead Counsel Deputy Attorney General for Legal Strategy BRENT WEBSTER Texas Bar No. 24105704 First Assistant Attorney General aaron.reitz@oag.texas.gov
LEIF A. OLSON OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Special Counsel P.O. Box 12548 Texas Bar No. 24032801 Austin, Texas 78711-2548 leif.olson@oag.texas.gov (512) 936-1700
MATTHEW G. WHITAKER Counsel for the State of Texas Admitted pro hac vice America First Legal Foundation 300 Independence Avenue SE Washington, D.C. 20003 (202) 964-3721 info@aflegal.org
...and two of its lawyers, Gene Hamilton and Matt Whitaker, from that representation. There is no factual or legal foundation for doing so, which would substantially prejudice Texas.
More, the Defendants’ logic would also disqualify nearly all attorneys from working on subjects in which they used their expertise while in government service, including challenges to unlawful acts by their former government employers. That would be an absurd result, and the Court should deny the Motion.
Background
This case primarily involves a group of enactments collectively referred to as Title 42: a nearly century-old statutory authority, 42 U.S.C. § 265; a regulation promulgated to implement that authority, 42 C.F.R. § 71.40; and multiple orders issued by the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under that authority, the latest in August 2021. 85 Fed. Reg. 65,806–12 (Oct. 13, 2020); 86 Fed. Reg. 42,828 (Aug. 5, 2021) (“replacing and superseding” the October 2020 order).
Among Texas’s counsel in this case are Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Whitaker, both of whom served at the U.S. Department of Justice. Mr. Hamilton served as Counselor to the Attorney General and provided legal advice and counsel for general policymaking matters related to Title 42 during that time. Some of that work related to other particular cases involving the Title 42 regime. Mr. Whitaker served as Chief of Staff and Senior Counselor to the Attorney General and, later, as Acting Attorney
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