{"id":1397521,"date":"2022-03-24T00:59:46","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T04:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1397521"},"modified":"2022-03-24T00:59:52","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T04:59:52","slug":"thom-tillis-it-is-dishonest-to-deny-leftist-dark-money-influence-over-scotus-nominees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/thom-tillis-it-is-dishonest-to-deny-leftist-dark-money-influence-over-scotus-nominees\/","title":{"rendered":"Thom Tillis: It Is \u2018Dishonest\u2019 to Deny Leftist \u2018Dark Money\u2019 Influence over SCOTUS Nominees"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthom-tillis-it-is-dishonest-to-deny-leftist-dark-money-influence-over-scotus-nominees%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1397521&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) took aim at his colleague Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) on Wednesday during a Supreme Court confirmation hearing after Whitehouse downplayed the role Democrat-aligned \u201cdark money\u201d groups have in influencing Supreme Court nominees.<\/p>\n<p>Tillis used a chart, which he described as the \u201cWhitehouse format,\u201d to present a \u201cbalanced understanding\u201d of such groups after Whitehouse used ten minutes of his time during Tuesday\u2019s hearing to\u00a0<a title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2022\/03\/22\/sheldon-whitehouse-leftist-dark-money-group-rooting-jackson-different-right-wing-dark-money\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">discuss<\/a>\u00a0\u201cright-wing dark money\u201d groups with a presentation of charts.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve decided to use the Whitehouse format for dark money so that we have a balanced understanding of the fact that our proceedings here, the aspirations for the court \u2026 there is an ecosystem out there on both sides,\u201d Tillis said.<\/p>\n<p>Dark money refers to political funding that cannot be traced back to specific donors.<\/p>\n<p>Dark money organizations predominately include 501(c) groups, which, as Open Secrets\u00a0<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/dark-money\/basics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">details<\/a>, are not required to disclose their donors\u2019 names or other sources of money. Some 501(c) groups can therefore donate to political candidates or causes without the public knowing who is behind the funding of the groups.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>Tillis\u2019s chart displayed various groups that could all be traced back to Arabella Advisors, a heavily funded Democrat-aligned consulting group that manages an array of dark money groups that pursue various left-wing agenda items.<\/p>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div class=\"WordSection1\">\n<div>\n<p>The key with Arabella is that it is actually set up as an LLC (a limited liability company), which is one of the standard corporate forms that a for-profit business can take. And it is privately owned. As a private LLC, it is entirely outside the disclosure laws that govern nonprofits and political advocacy groups. Billionaires can flood unlimited money into Arabella as one would with investment dollars, and Arabella can then pour vast sums into various funds that in turn pass that money out to a host of left-wing groups. Yet the public would never be able to find out who was actually funding Arabella\u2019s gigantic war chest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Arabella ultimately\u00a0<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/news\/2021\/12\/liberal-dark-money-groups-revenue-soared-ahead-of-2020-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">raked<\/a> in\u00a0a net $45.6 million in 2020 from managing four groups, including the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which funneled $260 million into boosting Democrat candidates and causes during the 2020 election cycle, according to Open Secrets.<\/p>\n<p>Demand Justice, a dark money spawn of the Sixteen Thirty Fund, has\u00a0<a title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2019\/10\/13\/leftist-dark-money-group-pushes-scheme-to-pack-supreme-court-with-liberal-justices\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pursued<\/a>\u00a0Supreme Court-related causes such as expanding the high court\u2019s bench, hampering now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh\u2019s confirmation, and, per an Axios\u00a0<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/progressive-demand-justice-group-spin-off-c68f3cf4-3217-4d24-b52c-ab4826305130.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">report<\/a>, pressuring retiring Justice Stephen Breyer to step down to be replaced by a black woman. The same report noted that Demand Justice was separating from the Sixteen Thirty Fund in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Tillis detailed some of his findings from Demand Justice\u2019s website during the hearing Wednesday:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>They have a specific plan. Step one: Four seats on the Supreme Court. We must add four seats on the Supreme Court to restore balance, which, by their opinion, is a majority with their view and their judicial philosophy.\u00a0They\u2019re thrilled that President Biden has promised to appoint a commission. In fact, they\u2019re so thrilled that they want to make sure that they can influence the outside of the commission by endorsing their four-seat strategy. They want to recruit 25,000 volunteers. This is on their website, their strategy, to influence the commission\u2019s recommendation, and then they want to nuke the filibuster, 51 votes to make a decision that could ultimately be to pack the courts. This is their stated goal. They\u2019re proud of it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Tillis pointed to Whitehouse\u2019s remarks from Tuesday in which Whitehouse suggested Democrat-aligned dark money groups\u2019 influence over the Supreme Court paled in comparison to Republican-aligned dark money groups\u2019 influence. Whitehouse said Tuesday, \u201cThere is a difference, I believe, between a dark money interest rooting for someone and right-wing dark money interests having a role in actually picking the last three Supreme Court justices.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tillis called that notion \u201cintellectually dishonest\u201d based on his research of Demand Justice\u2019s activism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s intellectually dishonest to say that the [Biden] administration, that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, are not influenced by this organization,\u201d Tillis said. \u201cWe\u2019ve tracked some of the fundraising and support of elections. They\u2019re engaged, and they\u2019re influenced by it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Write to Ashley Oliver at <a href=\"mailto:aoliver@breitbart.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">aoliver@breitbart.com<\/a>. Follow her on Twitter at <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/asholiver\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@asholiver<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) took aim at his colleague Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) on Wednesday during a Supreme Court confirmation hearing after Whitehouse downplayed the role Democrat-aligned \u201cdark money\u201d groups<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1397521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1397521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1397521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1397521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1397521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1397521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1397521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}