A super PAC aligned with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did not disclose $10 million in loans, according to a complaint that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) filed on March 4 with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
It marks the second time in the last month that the DNC has accused American Values 2024 of violating federal finance campaign law.
According to the March 4 action, the DNC accused the super PAC of not disclosing a $10 million loan and $9.65 million in loan repayments from Gavin de Becker, whose private security firm provides protection for the independent presidential candidate.
“This is yet another example of AV24 playing fast and loose with election law,” DNC senior adviser Mary Beth Cahill said following the FEC complaint. “It’s clear that they, along with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his campaign, don’t believe that the rules apply to them.”
Timothy Mellon, who is President Donald Trump’s “largest financial supporter this cycle,” has given financial support to American Values 2024. Combined with Mr. de Becker’s loans, that amount represents 80 percent of the super PAC’s fundraising totals, according to the complaint.
“This unprecedented loan arrangement has allowed them to not only inflate their fundraising numbers, but also to conceal the extent to which AV24 is almost single-handedly funded by Tim Mellon, Donald Trump’s largest donor this cycle,” Ms. Cahill added.
On Feb. 9, the DNC also filed a complaint to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) over the contribution made by Mr. Mellon to American Values 2024.
Campaign finance records indicate that Mr. Mellon gave American Values 2024 $15 million in 2023. Mr. Mellon also contributed $10 million to pro-Trump super PAC, MAGA Inc., last year, according to FEC filings. In 2020, he donated $20 million to America First Action Inc., a group that supported President Trump’s reelection.
DNC legal counsel Bob Lenhard called the recent donation “unlawful.”
The Kennedy campaign is “in the process of accepting a $15 million unlawful in-kind contribution by coordinating their efforts to get him on the ballot,” Mr. Lenhard said in a Feb. 9 call detailing the FEC complaint.
Mr. Kennedy’s campaign “is taking a shortcut outsourcing what is otherwise a core campaign function to a super PAC,” Mr. Lenhard said, referring to the expense of a third-party candidate getting on the ballot.
American Values 2024 said late last year that it plans to spend as much as $15 million to help get Mr. Kennedy on the ballot in multiple states deemed important to winning the election.
The Feb. 9 complaint also alleges that American Values 2024 is ignoring federal law.
“The law does allow the super PAC to raise unlimited amounts of money from wealthy individuals, corporations, and unions for independent expenditures. But it remains illegal for a super PAC to provide goods and services directly to a campaign,” Mr. Lenhard said.
Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes a campaign announcement at a press conference in Philadelphia, Pa., on Oct. 9, 2023. (Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images)
Attempts to Destabilize RFK Jr.
The FEC complaints illustrate the DNC’s attempts to destabilize Mr. Kennedy’s campaign as President Joe Biden faces a plummeting job approval rating and mounting questions about his mental fitness.
The DNC and President Biden supporters are accusing Mr. Kennedy of being propped up by the Trump movement; as well as highlighting similar Trump–Kennedy policy stances in the areas of border security, U.S. funding for Ukraine, and vaccine mandates.
On multiple occasions, DNC officials have called Mr. Kennedy “a stalking horse” for President Trump.
When asked during the Feb. 9 call if the DNC is concerned that Mr. Kennedy’s candidacy is a threat to President Biden’s reelection bid, DNC spokesperson Ramsey Reid called the alleged FEC violation a “scheme.”
Mr. Mellon gave American Values 2024 “the exact $15 million paycheck they said that they would need for ballot access,” Mr. Reid said.
Mr. Reid called the move “an effort to subvert our election laws” and “prop up” Mr. Kennedy.
“It’s pretty clear that Trump and his mega-donors are propping up RFK Jr. as a stalking horse,” Mr. Reid said.
Lis Smith, a former adviser to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign, was hired by the DNC in January to combat third-party candidates running for president in 2024.
She made the same accusations. “It’s clear that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is being propped up and funded by Donald Trump and his allies because they believe that he is a useful stalking horse who could throw the election Trump’s way. We need to sound that alarm every day between now and the election,” Ms. Smith said.
American Values 2024 and Mr. Kennedy’s campaign have yet to comment about the March 4 FEC complaint but they did issue statements about the Feb. 9 action.
Anthony Lyons, co-chair of American Values 2024, said in a statement that the super PAC “has been working independently from the campaign in accordance with FEC precedent to get Bobby Kennedy on the ballot in 12 states.”
“The Biden administration and the DNC clearly find democracy inconvenient, want to stifle any dissenting opinions, and don’t believe that their candidate can win a free, open, and fair election. I don’t know if all of this amounts to election fraud,” Mr. Lyons said.
“This FEC complaint is just another desperate DNC tactic to defame Kennedy, vilify him, and drain his campaign funds. The American people are too smart to be fooled by these political games.”
Mr. Kennedy responded to the FEC complaint in a post on X.
“The DNC is accusing my campaign of FEC violations in the form of secretive activity—activity that’s so secretive it’s on the Ballot Access HQ of my website,” Mr. Kennedy wrote on X.
“After the day they had yesterday, it’s understandable they’d want to put the focus on someone else. The DNC is in no position to assert morality over anyone—they refused to have a primary and have worked against the will of the people in the past few elections. It’s sad to see the party my family built crash and burn.”
Robert Hur’s Report
Mr. Kennedy’s comments referred to a 388-page report released by the Justice Department that detailed the findings of special counsel Robert Hur’s 13-month investigation, which concluded that President Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.”
Mr. Hur declined to pursue charges against the president, citing a lack of sufficient evidence to establish his guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt” and how he would appear to a jury.
“At trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” the special counsel wrote.
During his 2023 interview with the special counsel’s office, President Biden “did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended … and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began,” according to the report.
Mr. Kennedy had refrained from focusing on President Biden’s mental fitness until Mr. Hur’s report was released.
“I think we’ve reached a time where it’s no longer character assassination to ask legitimate questions about the president’s competency. There are so many decisions that require nuance, that require complex levels of thinking, and those kinds of issues are coming at you many times a day. The American people have a right to know whether their president is capable of making those decisions,” Mr. Kennedy said at a campaign stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan, earlier last month.
“We have a right to know that our president is actually leading the country and somebody else is not. We need to have a president who is able to make judgments, and particularly the judgment about war,” Mr. Kennedy said.
While he was in Grand Rapids hosting a voter rally to collect signatures for ballot access in Michigan, Mr. Kennedy was greeted with billboards launched by the DNC claiming that he is “powered by MAGA/Trump.”
The billboards show a picture of Mr. Kennedy on the left side, and President Trump and President Biden on the right. In the middle, referring to Mr. Mellon, the text reads, “RFK Jr.” and “Let the best man win, Tim.”
The billboards debuted shortly after American Values 2024 aired a TV ad promoting Mr. Kennedy’s candidacy by incorporating elements of an ad from President John F. Kennedy’s 1960 campaign.
DNC spokesperson Alex Floyd said in a statement after the ad aired, “It’s fitting that the first national ad promoting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s candidacy was bought and paid for by Donald Trump’s largest donor this cycle.”
Mr. Kennedy announced in April 2023 his intent to challenge President Biden for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. He has generated wide-ranging support from conservatives, moderates, independents, and Libertarians throughout his campaign, although he hasn’t gained the same favor from many Democrats.
For months, Mr. Kennedy was confronted with roadblocks from the Democratic National Committee, which he accused of “rigging” the primary process to favor President Joe Biden.
During an interview with The Epoch Times in Columbia, South Carolina, in August 2023, Mr. Kennedy was asked if he would serve as former President Donald Trump’s running mate or run as an independent or a third-party candidate.
“I’m a Democrat. The Democrat party has lost its way, and I want to return it to its traditional ideals,” Mr. Kennedy said.
“I’m hoping to run in the Democratic Party. If it’s possible to have a fair election in the Democratic Party, I will run in the Democratic Party, and I haven’t made any kind of plans other than that.”
But, earlier this year, the organization voted to give President Biden its full support.
At the same time, the DNC voted to replace New Hampshire with South Carolina as the first-in-the-nation primary state. The organization warned New Hampshire that it would face potential penalties if its Democrat primary didn’t comply with new primary calendar plans. The DNC also discouraged any candidate other than President Biden from entering the New Hampshire primary.
Mr. Kennedy’s request to debate President Biden was denied.
“They’re trying to make sure that I can’t participate at all in the political process, and so I’m going to keep all my options open,” Mr. Kennedy said earlier in October 2023 at a town hall in South Carolina.
“It’s pretty clear that the DNC does not want a primary. Essentially, they are fixing the process so that it makes it almost impossible to have democracy function,” he added. “They’re effectively disenfranchising the Democratic voters from having any choice in who becomes president, the Democrat nominee.”
On Oct. 9, 2023, he declared his candidacy for president as an independent.
