By Robert Schmad
Daily Caller News Foundation
A group branding itself as Republicans “standing up for” democracy is launching a multi-million dollar ad campaign opposing former President Donald Trump, notching coverage from a slew of media outlets. However, the group has for years received significant funding from Democrat-aligned donors.
Newsweek, The Hill, The Center Square and the Indianapolis Star have all recently reported on Republicans for the Rule of Law, characterizing it as a Republican organization running a $2 million ad campaign attacking Trump’s attempt to claim presidential immunity to avoid prosecution for alleged election interference. What these outlets omit, however, is that the group is a project of Defending Democracy Together, a political nonprofit that receives significant funding by Democrat-aligned dark money groups.
Republicans for the Rule of Law is part of a broader trend of organizations funded by liberal donors intended to promote the narrative that Republicans oppose the former president. Republican Accountability PAC, one such organization, is running a $50 million “Republican Voters Against Trump” campaign, while nearly 75% of its funding in 2023 came from just six major Democratic donors.
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Republican Accountability PAC is headed by Sarah Longwell, the same woman who serves as the executive director of Defending Democracy Together, which claims to be an “advocacy organization created by lifelong conservatives and Republicans” concerned with preserving the “integrity” of the Republican Party.
Longwell is also the executive director of Republicans for the Rule of Law, according to a press release from the group.
Sixteen Thirty Fund, an advocacy organization managed by the consulting firm Arabella Advisors, is one of Defending Democracy Together’s largest funders, giving the organization more than $10.8 million between 2020 and 2022, tax filings show. Sixteen Thirty Fund has spent tens of millions of dollars over the years helping Democrats win elections by bankrolling left-of-center voter mobilization efforts and funding pro-Democrat PACs, according to Politico.
Hopewell Fund, which is also managed by Arabella Advisors, donated $75,000 to the group in 2018, tax forms show.
Democracy Fund Voice, which is funded by liberal billionaire and eBay co-founder Pierre Omidyar, provided Defending Democracy Together with $4.4 million in donations between 2018 and 2021, according to tax filings. Omidyar presides over a large network of grantmaking organizations that made $1.2 billion in donations between 2004 and 2020, with the majority of that going to left-of-center groups, according to a Capital Research Center report.
Pierre and his wife Pam Omidyar have also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates over the past two decades, according to The Center for Public Integrity.
Republicans for the Rule of Law was initially founded in 2018 to oppose any attempt from then-President Trump to fire or remove the Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who was investigating him at the time. In addition to running ads supporting Mueller’s investigation, the group also spent millions on a campaign attempting to persuade Republican members of Congress to vote to impeach Trump in 2019, according to Influence Watch.
Defending Democracy Together and Republicans for the Rule of Law have the same tax identification number, according to the former’s tax filings and the latter’s donation page. Defending Democracy Together also maintains “Republicans for the Rule of Law” as a trade name, meaning it can do business under that alias.
Newsweek, The Hill, The Center Square, Indianapolis Star, Republicans for the Rule of Law and Defending Democracy Together did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comments.
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