Michael Beckel
@mjbeckel
.@IssueOneReform & @IssueOneAction research director. Investigating #darkmoney. Defending elections. Protecting democracy. 🦋 @mjbeckel 🦋
How did campaign donors help Trump's pick to lead the IRS pay off a six-figure loan? @IssueOneReform explains how a campaign finance loophole has enabled legalized bribes issueone.org/press/issue-on…
NEW: President Trump racked up thousands of conflicts of interest in his first term. This time around, the corruption is even worse. Here’s what we found in the first six months. 🧵
Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez @RepMGP is right. Our voters and our election workers deserve better. We need to see more federal lawmakers fulfill their responsibility to support the very people who elect them.
Big Tech’s lobbying efforts “have allowed them to continue marketing products that use Americans’ personal information to engage in predatory surveillance practices, harm and kill children, and stoke division and hate” warns Alix Fraser of @IssueOneReform issueone.org/articles/as-wa…
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Buried in amendments to the Interior Dept. Gov funding bill, is a stipulation that the Kennedy Center Opera House must be renamed the 'First Lady Melania Trump Opera House' in order to receive federal funds. The Appropriations Committee adopted that amendment by a vote of 33-25.
Big Tech spent $36M lobbying Washington in the first half of 2025 — that’s over $320K/day. Meta alone hired 86 lobbyists — one for every 6 members of Congress. Must-read research from @IssueOneReform: issueone.org/articles/as-wa…
Major tech players including Meta, Alphabet, and Nvidia combined to spend more than $36 MILLION on lobbying during the first half of 2025 — an average of $320,000 PER DAY that Congress has been in session, @IssueOneReform review of new lobbying docs finds issueone.org/articles/as-wa…
Reminder from @IssueOneReform: 12 times President Trump has made legal problems for crypto interests disappear during his second term issueone.org/articles/crypt…
New from @IssueOneReform: Donald Trump’s profiteering from public service, by the numbers issueone.org/articles/the-c…
Unlike Billy Long, most people who are nominated for executive branch positions don’t have a political slush fund available to fund polling or research services during their confirmation process politico.com/news/2025/07/1…
Number of the day: 12. Times President Trump and his allies have made legal problems for crypto interests disappear so far — including multiple pardons for high-profile crypto figures and multiple enforcement cases being dropped, via @IssueOneReform issueone.org/press/new-issu…
New from @IssueOneReform: "12 Times President Trump Has Made Legal Problems for the Cryptocurrency Industry Disappear." Happy #CryptoWeek! issueone.org/articles/crypt…
New FEC filings shows that the Senate campaign committee of Vice President JD Vance paid $3,469.69 on April 15 to the city of Alexandria, Virginia, for "registration/fees" associated with a "campaign car" docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/…
Perhaps of note: Billy Long's PAC payments to a polling firm & opposition research firm came one day before FEC filings showed he raised enough $$ after he was nominated to lead the IRS to pay himself back a $130K loan to his failed 2022 Senate campaign issueone.org/press/issue-on…
Billy Long, the former GOP congressman who now leads the IRS, still has a leadership PAC. New docs show it spent $48,500 between April 1 and June 30. The largest expenditure was $19,500 to polling firm Remington Research Group docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/…
Lies about the integrity of our safe and secure elections are continuing to inspire acts of despicable violence cpr.org/2025/07/14/arc…
"President Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration didn’t just break fundraising records, it fundamentally redefined them." Individuals and corporations contributed an unprecedented number of seven-figure checks, and now stand to gain from the admin's actions. brennancenter.org/our-work/resea…
The Trump admin froze election security support earlier this year & suspended CISA’s election security advisers. 87% of local election officials surveyed by @BrennanCenter say state & local governments need to help fill the void brennancenter.org/our-work/analy…
What happens when you announce your intention to create a new political party but don't file paperwork with the @FEC? Jokers and potential fraudsters rush in, reports @davelevinthal for @OpenSecretsDC in wake of @elonmusk announcing the America Party opensecrets.org/news/2025/07/f…
