Notus
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After the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, Congress carried out a series of reforms that included strengthening federal watchdogs and creating new agencies like the Office of Inspector General (OIG), the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, and the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. But according to NOTUS, President Donald Trump is greatly undermining that post-Watergate system during his second presidency.
Reporting for NOTUS, journalists Natalie Alms and Eric Katz explain, "The once-independent system that Congress established after Watergate has radically transformed in Trump's second term. Trump's unprecedented firing of nearly 20 inspectors general has unraveled the firewalls government's ombudsmen have operated under for decades.
The new watchdogs are erasing the lines between agency leadership and their own watchdog offices, Office of Inspector General employees told NOTUS, openly suggesting they should work hand-in-glove with the Trump administration to advance its goals…. Trump has installed former political appointees from the same agencies they're now overseeing, a co-author of Project 2025, and a Republican congressman into watchdog roles across the government."
Alms and Katz add, "Those IGs have boosted the president and his appointees in ways that directly contravene the statutory independence of their offices, 11 current and former staffers told NOTUS."
One of the interviewees for their article was a senior OIG official.
Interviewed on condition of anonymity, the official told NOTUS, "All the adults have left the room. All these new IGs are lining up behind political leadership as if they're lapdogs."
The official noted that remaining officials in watchdog agencies are "scared to death to do anything," adding, "So for the most part, they're just sitting on their hands trying to lay low."
Alms and Katz point to recent events with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as an example of how much the federal watchdog system is changing under Trump. VA Inspector General Cheryl L. Mason, according to NOTUS sources, held up a move to new office space so that she could have a private bathroom in her office — which, Alms and Katz note, is the "kind of potentially pricey request that government watchdogs typically investigate."
An employee of the VA IG's office, interviewed on condition of anonymity, told NOTUS, "It's been incredibly challenging to continue doing the work we're doing." And another employee, also quoted anonymously, said, "She wanted to make sure the message of everything we did was part of every agreement, promise or whatever she had with the secretary. If you believe in independent oversight, that's not what we were doing."
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NOTUS
Leonard Leo speaks to media at Trump Tower in New York City on Nov. 16, 2016.
April 13, 2026
Conservative legal activist Leonard Leo’s “dark money” operation is getting a makeover.
The Concord Fund quietly filed articles of termination on Jan. 6 of this year, according to previously unreported Virginia business records. Leo’s Concord Fund, which was previously known as the Judicial Crisis Network, has for years been a key node in a network of nonprofits used to steer tens of millions of dollars each year to conservative political committees and causes.
A branch of The Concord Fund remains active in Missouri, where it’s spent millions trying to influence state elections in recent years. It’s unclear why The Concord Fund otherwise terminated its operations. Gary Marx, The Concord Fund’s president, did not respond to emails requesting comment on the organization’s status, and a phone number listed on the group’s latest annual report to the IRS was disconnected.
Leo, a lawyer and businessman, is co-chair of the board of directors for the Federalist Society, which has — until recently — had close ties to President Donald Trump and many prominent Republicans.
Other dark money groups with ties to Leo are taking up activities previously undertaken by The Concord Fund. The ultimate source of the money, funneled through nonprofits or donor-advised funds that do not have to disclose their donors, remains obscured.
“Because the names change, I think most Americans have no idea what’s going on or how many of these differently named groups are the same through line with Leonard Leo at the sort of center of the spider web,” Lisa Graves, founder and executive director of the left-leaning watchdog group True North Research, told NOTUS.
The Concord Fund’s demise — and apparent reimagining — appears to have begun late last year.
In December 2025, a few days before The Concord Fund dissolved, another Leo-linked nonprofit called The Lexington Fund registered several alternative names including Judicial Crisis Network and Honest Election Project Action, according to Texas business records.
Also in December, a new nonprofit popped up in Tennessee: The Yorktown Fund. The nonprofit added the alternative name “Honest Election Project Action” on Dec. 29, the same day The Lexington Fund registered the same pseudonym, according to state business records.
Another Leo-linked nonprofit, The 85 Fund, lists the Honest Elections Project among its alternative names. Rolling Stone first reported the addition of the Lexington Fund and the Publius Fund to Leo’s nonprofit network in 2024.
Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, Justin Smith, disclosed sitting on the board of the Yorktown Fund and the Publius Fund, Patrick McNeil reported for the Substack newsletter Nomination Notes. (Smith’s nomination hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee is slated for April 15.)
Neither Smith nor Oramel Skinner, director of The Lexington Fund, responded to requests for comment.
At the end of 2024, The Lexington Fund reported just $305,000 in grants and contributions, according to its latest report to the IRS. The Concord Fund has a prior connection to The Lexington Fund, having reported giving it $105,000 from July 2023 to June 2024.
But by the end of 2025, The Lexington Fund had steered millions into political committees that spent big money in state attorneys general races in 2025.
Now, it’s poised to shape 2026 midterm campaigns, particularly those involving state attorneys general.
The Lexington Fund gave $1 million to the Republican Attorneys General Association in July 2025, according to the organization’s year-end report filed March 30, 2026. First Principles Action, which shares an address with The Yorktown Fund, also gave $200,000 to the Republican Attorneys General Association in December.
The Concord Fund had been the top donor to the Republican Attorneys General Association, but the nonprofit suddenly stopped contributing to the organization in 2025. The Lexington Fund appears to be stepping in to help seed the state attorneys general organization — and other conservative committees.
The Lexington Fund also contributed nearly $3.3 million to the First Principles PAC in 2025, according to Federal Election Commission data.
First Principles PAC and First Principles Foundation were incorporated in Tennessee on Nov. 20, 2024, along with First Principles Action. First Principles is reportedly run by Peter Bisbee, who previously worked for the Republican Attorney General Association and the Federalist Society, and all three First Principles entities share an address with Yorktown Fund.
First Principles PAC steered seven-figures worth of money to state election committees in 2025, including $1 million to the Republican State Leadership Committee, $325,000 to Republican James Uthmeier’s successful bid for attorney general of Florida and $252,000 to Defend Kansas PAC.
Bisbee did not respond to requests for comment.
The Lexington Fund also gave $1 million in June 2025 to Pine Tree Results PAC, a super PAC supporting Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who faces a tough reelection campaign this cycle. And Sentinel Action Fund, a super PAC focused on expanding the Republican majority in Congress, received $500,000 from The Lexington Fund in May 2025.
Leo, who played a key role in helping Trump select three Supreme Court justices in the president’s first term, has long been a boogeyman among liberals.
He’s also controversial on the right: When Trump publicly lambasted Leo as “sleazebag” who “probably hates America” last May, Leo appeared unceremoniously shunned from the inner political circle he had once inhabited. The break came as Trump-appointed judges that the Federalist Society helped select — including three sitting Supreme Court justices — have ruled against some of Trump’s second-term policies, such as his sweeping tariffs.
But the nonprofits and political committees within Leo’s dark-money apparatus continue spending aggressively to the benefit of Republicans as the 2026 midterms approach.
The Concord Fund has for years steered millions of dollars of dark money into politics not only through the Republican Attorneys General Association, but also through the Club for Growth, One Nation and other groups active in elections.
Groups at the forefront of advancing conservative policy and priorities also got grants from The Concord Fund. For example, since the Supreme Court in 2022 struck down the federal right to an abortion, The Concord Fund has poured millions into anti-abortion groups involved in state abortion-ban efforts and the decades-long fight at the federal level to restrict access to mifepristone, a drug used to induce abortions.
Dark money is hardly limited to conservatives. Democrats and Republicans both rely on dark money to fund their operations, including super PACs aligned with their respective leadership in the House and Senate.
“It matters when these groups shape shift because it makes it harder for people to track them, you know, and to tell that story of continuity: how much this one person, over the past decade, has had such an extraordinary influence,” Graves told NOTUS.
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notus
March 1, 2025
A political advocacy group closely tied to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has enlisted one of the earliest promoters of the QAnon movement to help “Make America Healthy Again.”
Tracy “Beanz” Diaz is a podcaster, YouTuber and writer and was one of the first people to discuss QAnon on social media, posting her first video on the topic only six days after “Q” posted on 4chan for the first time in 2017. Now, Diaz says she will be serving as editor-in-chief for MAHA Action, the 501(c)(4) affiliated with Kennedy’s super PAC, MAHA Alliance.
MAHA Alliance was formed after Kennedy ended his own bid for the presidency and joined Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. Its leadership includes former Kennedy campaign staffers, including campaign communications director Del Bigtree and Brigid Rasmussen, the chief of staff.
While the Super PAC’s mission statement was originally to inspire Kennedy followers to vote for Trump, MAHA Action is now recruiting to help “reverse the chronic disease epidemic and restore America’s position as a global leader in public health outcomes.” With its close ties to the Health and Human Services secretary, the organization says it is seeking to transform public health.
“MAHA Action is rapidly scaling in 2025 to drive national health policy changes at scale,” a job application for a MAHA Action internship states.
In a February episode of her podcast, Diaz explained that Bigtree, a close friend of Kennedy’s who now serves as the MAHA Alliance CEO, had personally asked her to work with the PAC.
“MAHA, as an organization, has a very big responsibility to make sure there is accurate, truthful, and well-presented information going out to the people about their health and how to be healthy again,” said Diaz.
While Kennedy attempted to walk back his former anti-vaccine stance before two Senate committees, MAHA Action has retained several associates with deep roots in conspiratorial beliefs. Chief Digital Officer Audra Gold has expressed skepticism about the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine. CEO Bigtree is the founder of the anti-vaccine group Informed Consent Action Network. That group’s chief operating officer, Catharine Layton, is concurrently serving as MAHA Action’s executive director, according to LinkedIn.
It’s not immediately clear what Diaz’s new role will entail, and Diaz said on her podcast that she said yes to Bigtree’s request before she knew exactly what her role would be. She did not respond to NOTUS’ requests for comment.
A website launched by MAHA Action appears to be linking to news articles from other publications about Kennedy.
Diaz is also a writer and editor-in-chief for the website UncoverDC, where one February post about vaccine injuries written by another author begins, “Whether someone was coerced into receiving the COVID-19 shots at threat of their job or whether they trusted ‘the science’ and believed that the shots were safe and effective, the result is that there are hundreds, if not thousands, out there injured, bedridden, suffering, and unable to work.”
While the COVID-19 vaccines can come with side effects, significant adverse effects are very rare, according to the CDC.
Diaz’s UncoverDC biography states that she worked on Rand Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign and the 2016 Trump campaign. Diaz has also contributed to Bigtree’s publication The Highwire, which has promoted unfounded claims about the risks of vaccines.
But her greatest contribution to the political sphere may have been suggesting that early followers of the QAnon movement move from obscure message boards to the more accessible Reddit, which she claims to have done in a 2018 blog post. That move helped QAnon break into the online mainstream and spread to other social media platforms like Facebook.
There, QAnon became a bona fide social phenomenon, amassing hundreds of thousands of followers who believe in a wide range of unproven theories about Trump waging a secret war against a “Deep State” cabal controlling the world. The QAnon movement was also a major promoter of vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic, of claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Trump, and had a presence at the January 6 insurrection. Politicians who have supported QAnon ideas have risen to power across the country, including U.S. congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and newly confirmed FBI director Kash Patel.
Diaz continued to promote QAnon on her social media after helping the movement gain its initial foothold. She racked up thousands of followers on X and hundreds of thousands of views on her Youtube videos, according to a 2018 NBC investigation (nearly all the videos on Diaz’s YouTube channel have been removed, and she was temporarily banned from X before being reinstated after Elon Musk bought the platform). During the pandemic, Diaz pushed vaccine skepticism and advocated for the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19. In 2021, she was even elected to a local Republican Party leadership role in South Carolina, though she quit in 2022 after disagreements with state GOP leaders.
So for Diaz, her new role with MAHA Action may be a coming home of sorts.
“The childhood vaccine schedule is something I have been railing against since 2006,” she said in a recent podcast episode.
Margaret Manto}_is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
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