freedom & opportunity fund

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</div><div></div><div><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/02/dark-money-group-led-by-trump-judicial-adviser-scotus-picks/">https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/02/dark-money-group-led-by-trump-judicial-adviser-scotus-picks/</a></div><div>
</div><div>Newly obtained tax records shed additional light on the web of “dark money” organizations tied to President Donald Trump’s top judicial adviser that were used to funnel millions to organizations that boosted the Supreme Court nominations of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.The Freedom and Opportunity Fund is helmed by Leonard Leo, a Trump confidante and longtime executive vice president at the Federalist Society, a national conservative and libertarian lawyers network based in Washington, D.C.Between its inception in <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5749702-Freedom-and-Opportunity-Fund-2016-990.html" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; background-color: transparent; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; max-height: 1e+06px;">2016</a> and 2017, the fund <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5749670-Freedom-and-Opportunity-Fund-2017-990.html" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; background-color: transparent; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; max-height: 1e+06px;">donated $4 million</a> to the Independent Women’s Voice (IWV), a D.C.-based dark money organization, according to tax filings obtained by the Center for Responsive Politics and MapLight. IWV was vociferous in its defense of Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault by Christine Blasey Ford, a Stanford professor who knew the justice while he was in prep school. IWV’s president, Tammy Bruce, <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2018/09/24/bruce-kavanaugh-scapegoat/" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; font-weight: lighter; max-height: 1e+06px;">said on Fox News</a> last year that Kavanaugh was “effectively being used as a stand-in for all perpetrators.”The fund is part of a broader <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/11/trump-inauguration-money-links-secretive-dark-money/" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; background-color: transparent; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; font-weight: lighter; max-height: 1e+06px;">coalition of dark money organizations</a> in Leo’s orbit that have helped guide the selection and ensure the confirmation of Trump’s conservative court picks. Leo is <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-secrets-of-leonard-leo-the-man-behind-trumps-supreme-court-pick?ref=scroll" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; background-color: transparent; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; font-weight: lighter; max-height: 1e+06px;">closely tied</a> to the Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), the primary public advocate for both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh.He’s also the president of a nonprofit, America Engaged, that quietly <a href="https://maplight.org/story/conservative-legal-interests-funneled-2-7-million-to-nra-freedom-partners-around-gorsuch-fight/" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; background-color: transparent; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; max-height: 1e+06px;">donated $2.7 million</a> to the National Rifle Association and Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, a nonprofit affiliated with billionaire libertarian Charles Koch, around the same time the two groups advocated for Gorsuch. Leo was also thrust into the spotlight for his <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/11/trump-inauguration-money-links-secretive-dark-money/" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; font-weight: lighter; max-height: 1e+06px;">ties to a mysterious $1 million donation</a> to Trump’s inaugural committee by the BH Group, a Northern Virginia limited-liability corporation.Although the Freedom and Opportunity Fund isn’t required to disclose its donors, records show it <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5676158-BH-Fund-2017-990.html" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; background-color: transparent; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; max-height: 1e+06px;">received $400,000</a> in 2017 from the BH Fund, a Leo-affiliated nonprofit that donated $2.3 million to America Engaged in 2017. The Freedom and Opportunity Fund listed both the BH Fund and America Engaged as related organizations in its 2017 tax filings. All three list Leo as their president.The BH Fund itself was funded by an anonymous $24 million donation. The organization first made an appearance as being responsible for enforcing a donation agreement between a secret $20 million donor [seid?] and the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, whose president came under scrutiny for allegedly allowing donors to dictate academic and hiring conditions in return for financial gifts.<a href="https://cdn1.opensecrets.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/01160340/Supreme-Dark-Money.png" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; font-weight: lighter; max-height: 1e+06px;"><img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-29890 size-full" src="https://cdn1.opensecrets.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/01160340/Supreme-Dark-Money.png" alt="" width="1229" height="853" srcset="https://cdn1.opensecrets.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/01160340/Supreme-Dark-Money.png 1229w, https://cdn1.opensecrets.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/01160340/Supreme-Dark-Money-300x208.png 300w, https://cdn1.opensecrets.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/01160340/Supreme-Dark-Money-768x533.png 768w, https://cdn1.opensecrets.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/01160340/Supreme-Dark-Money-1024x711.png 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1229px) 100vw, 1229px" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top; box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; max-height: 1e+06px; display: block;" /></a> A central player in Leo’s network is a consulting and public relations firm called <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/expends/vendor.php?vendor=Creative%20Response%20Concepts" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; background-color: transparent; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; max-height: 1e+06px;">Creative Response Concepts</a> (CRC), which gained notoriety for helping create <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail_contribs.php?ein=201041228&cycle=2004" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; background-color: transparent; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; max-height: 1e+06px;">Swift Boat Veterans for Truth</a>, the group that attacked 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry’s Vietnam war record.CRC has received payments from many of the organizations in Leo’s web. The firm was paid <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5750532-BH-Fund-2017-990.html" style="background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; font-weight: lighter; max-height: 1e+06px;">$400,000 by BH Fund</a> and <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5750155-America-Engaged-2017-990.html" style="background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; font-weight: lighter; max-height: 1e+06px;">$100,000 by America Engaged</a> in 2017. JCN has regularly paid CRC, as has the Wellspring Committee, which has been JCN’s primary funder for many years. CRC has also worked with <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5205281-FACT-2017-990.html" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; font-weight: lighter; max-height: 1e+06px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust</a>, a dark money-funded nonprofit that was <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/11/one-donor-accounts-for-all-dark-money-funding-whitakers-nonprofit/" style="background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; font-weight: lighter; max-height: 1e+06px;">previously run</a> by Trump’s former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker.The majority of the Freedom and Opportunity Fund’s money came from a $2 million anonymous donor. During its second year of operation, the Freedom and Opportunity Fund’s revenue dropped to $3.2 million, roughly half of its 2016 intake of almost $6.3 million. Nevertheless, the organization spent $4.2 million, which left it more than $1 million in the hole at the end of 2017.Notable among its grants was a $500,000 donation to <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/05/nonprofits-backing-trump-have-deep-swampy-ties/" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; font-weight: lighter; max-height: 1e+06px;">Making America Great</a>, a pro-Trump 501(c)(4) nonprofit spearheaded by conservative funder Rebekah Mercer after a falling-out with <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/11/pro-trump-dark-money-group-tax-return/" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; font-weight: lighter; max-height: 1e+06px;">America First Policies</a>.The Freedom and Opportunity Fund also sent money to groups from the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/11/2017-financials-of-the-kochs-dark-money-network/" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; font-weight: lighter; max-height: 1e+06px;">Koch orbit</a>. The Center for Individual Freedom received $325,500, while FreedomWorks got $100,000 and 60 Plus Association got another $60,000. The fund also sent $107,500 to American Commitment, another offshoot of the Koch network that has <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/4xjjeq/shady-conservative-group-is-flooding-the-fcc-with-anti-net-neutrality-comments" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; font-weight: lighter; max-height: 1e+06px;">campaigned</a> against net neutrality rules.The fund gave another $500,000 to the <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5752804-Conservative-Action-Network-2016-990.html" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; background-color: transparent; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; max-height: 1e+06px;">Conservative Action Network</a>, a nonprofit formed in 2016 to <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2016/08/08/cruz-critics-urge-mccaul-challenge-2018-senate-primary" style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; background-color: transparent; transition: background-color 150ms ease-in-out 0s, border 150ms ease-in-out 0s, color 150ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; max-height: 1e+06px;">support</a> Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).This story was produced in partnership between the Center for Responsive Politics and MapLight.</div><div>=</div>