Excellent reporting on how donors have benefited after giving to President Trump’s super PAC and other initiatives, like the WH ballroom. Money quote from a fmr WH staffer-turned-lobbyist: “These people are not getting coerced. They are making business decisions.” www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

This was a great conversation, with excellent questions from the callers.

In NRSC v. FEC argument Marc Elias warns of a nationalized fundraising “arms race” if the Court strikes down party coordinated spending limits, one that will weaken many state parties as grassroots organizations. Interesting prediction from someone who has repped one of the major parties for decades

Interesting to see the justices in the NRSC oral argument press Noel Francisco on future challenges to campaign finance law. This is making explicit how the dynamic at the Court works. Each law is considered in isolation, but the reality it’s a progressive chipping away of the rules.

Powerful point from Justice Sotomayor in today’s oral argument in NRSC v. FEC: “every time we tinker with Congress’s design [for campaign finance law] we make things worse. Indeed.

On 12/9, SCOTUS is set to weigh in on a campaign finance policy limiting how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates. But evaluating policy is Congress's job, not the Court's, @danw329.bsky.social told @slate.com.

Trump’s net worth has grown by $3 billion since he took office. That’s not a coincidence.

In President Trump’s second term, the need for action against corruption has never been clearer. Join @danw329.bsky.social and @eepetry.bsky.social for a Reddit AMA: 

Corruption is hardly a new problem, but the abuses taking place now are unlike anything seen in generations. Here’s what Congress can do about it: bit.ly/43MmpHM

President Trump has already made well over $1B off the presidency in his 2d term. Many of the deals he is profiting from appear to violate the Constitution’s foreign and domestic emoluments clauses. But Congress needs to codify them. Our new paper explains how: www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...

President Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao who pleaded guilty to money laundering in 2023. Binance is also reportedly a major supporter of the Trump family's World Liberty Financial. www.wsj.com/finance/curr...

Why should you care that the president’s appointees at DOJ, including his former personal attorneys, could decide whether he gets a $230M payout directly to him? Because that money is coming directly from all of us, the U.S. taxpayers. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...

Corruption isn’t new, but what we are seeing today is like nothing in recent memory. Listen as we discuss on Michael Waldman’s weekly podcast.

PODCAST: We are living in a new era of corruption, where legal guardrails have crumbled. Listen to The Briefing with Michael Waldman to hear experts lay out a plan to end the culture of kleptocracy. bit.ly/3W64x6C

Curious about recent campaign finance trends and key stories? Check out our first Money and Politics Roundup, featuring analysis of record-breaking off-year fundraising, a deep dive on AI industry political spending + important legal and policy developments. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

Dan Weiner on the Brennan Center’s Interesting Amicus Brief in the NRSC Case electionlawblog.org?p=152425

We are living through a new era of corruption, where legal guardrails have crumbled. What will end the culture of kleptocracy? Join us for a live virtual event with @janemayer.bsky.social, @mawaldman.bsky.social, and @danw329.bsky.social on Wed., Oct. 15, at 3pm ET. RSVP:

Congress is stuck, and incoming reformers have less and less space to unstick it. Here are some ways to grease the wheels for them:

Eight months into the second Trump administration, there are profound concerns for the rule of law in the U.S. Our new resource outlines the legal and ethical responsibilities of government lawyers that serve as vital checks on abuse of power. bit.ly/4g3hO9f

Today’s murder of Charlie Kirk is outrageous. It is part of a dangerous pattern of violence that threatens the safety of all communities. This violence is unacceptable and tears at the social fabric, and we must find a way to work together to end it.

@danw329.bsky.social was on @mollyjongfast.bsky.social's Fast Politics to talk about why stock trading by lawmakers raises the potential for conflicts of interest, how existing safeguards fail to address the problem, and how stronger enforcement can produce real reform.

The Pentagon is reportedly planning to mobilize thousands of National Guard forces and deploy them in Chicago for the purpose of crime control. Trump is on even thinner legal ice with this plan than he is in Los Angeles and D.C. 1/12 www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

NEW from the @brennancenter.org: what is political corruption and what can we do about? And excellent new analysis by @eepetry.bsky.social and @lisadanetz.bsky.social. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

Thread—important to understand how unprecedented this is.

Some more detailed thoughts on the @brennancenter.org latest survey of election officials from my colleague Ruby Edlin and me. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...

Some good news for those who believe states should retain the right to protect tyeir citizens from the misuse of AI and other tech. But don’t rest too easy — we should expect more such fights ahead. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...

It's really hard to believe SCOTUS's Obergefell ruling was only ten years ago. This is a fascinating telling of the history of the marriage equality movement and the battles for equality that remain.

Must read thread! The AI moratorium tucked in the budget isn’t nearly the attention it deserves. Massive federal overreach.

Congress may soon pass a moratorium on state regulation of Artificial Intelligence. The Brennan Center has found that the proposed moratorium could nullify at least 149 state laws passed in 41 states. 86 of these laws (58 percent) were enacted by states with Republican controlled legislatures. /1

The Brennan Center for Justice is horrified and saddened by today’s shootings in Minnesota. We’re thinking about the victims and their families. 1/3

A tech mogul tied to the CCP was able to buy personal access to the president and even go to the White House. He can’t legally donate $5 to the president’s campaign he can spend $3.7M on the president’s meme coin, no questions asked. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/u...

NEW piece by the @brennancenter.org's @milov-cordobam.bsky.social and Robert Hogan about a bad provision in the pending reconciliation bill. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...

Harvey Milk was a patriot with a real association with the Navy as well as a complicated and influential San Francisco political leader. It would be petty and prejudicial for Pete Hegseth's Pentagon to take his name off a ship. [John Fund, National Review]

Emergency laws give the U.S. president a "frightening" amount of power, @lizagoitein.bsky.social tells @npr.org. Congress must set limits to prevent abuse.

Chatted with @danw329.bsky.social for @equity.bsky.social about Silicon Valley's reach in Washington. From Dan: "It's not looking like move fast and break things is super popular with the general public when it comes to their SS checks or their Medicare." techcrunch.com/podcast/what...

"The Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts back in the Guilded Age had a lot of influence [on] American politics," @danw329.bsky.social told @techcrunch.com. But "they didn't literally have offices in the White House."

“Foreign money in our elections is a legitimate concern...What’s not legitimate is to single out one political opponent and pretend the problem is limited to them,” @danw329.bsky.social told @apnews.com about the Trump administration's ActBlue fundraising investigation.

Last week, top buyers of $TRUMP coin were invited to dine with the president. @danw329.bsky.social told @nbcnews.com that this "allow[s] people who want to ingratiate themselves to put money directly into the president’s pocket."

President Trump's dinner for top buyers of $TRUMP coin poses a range of ethical concerns. "The great irony here is that many of the people buying this currency would not be eligible to donate $100 to the president’s campaign," @danw329.bsky.social told @nbcnews.com

Tomorrow, President Trump will be hosting a dinner for top buyers of his $TRUMP meme coin. "The folks attending are paying money essentially into his own businesses," setting an alarming precedent, @danw329.bsky.social told NBC Nightly News.

@danw329.bsky.social spoke to @techcrunch.com about the tech industry's increasingly active role in our government. “The fact that you had a successful startup after five others failed doesn’t necessarily mean you know how to run the Social Security Administration.”

I talked to @rebeccabellan.bsky.social for @techcrunch.com about Silicon Valley’s influence in DC, made possible in significant part by massive campaign spending and growing dominance over the “attention economy” via social media. techcrunch.com/2025/05/16/h...

The Trump administration is reportedly prepared to accept a plane from Qatar's royal family. This could potentially raise a slew of legal issues. "It raises many many eyebrows to have this sort of deal at all," @danw329.bsky.social told Good Morning America

A foreign government is gifting the president a “flying palace” luxury plane that his library gets to keep after he leaves office, reportedly so that he can keep using it. It should be obvious why this a big problem if true. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/05...

Since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, dark money groups have poured at least $4.3 BILLION into federal elections. Proud to have collaborated with the @brennancenter.bsky.social team on this important research: www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

What’s at stake? Anonymous donors are churning millions of dollars through shell companies, nonprofits, and super PACs to influence elections — leaving voters in the dark about who’s really pulling the strings. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

NEW: Dark money spending in the 2024 federal elections hit $1.9 billion — nearly double the previous record. This is an unprecedented surge in secret political spending. Here’s the full @brennancenter.bsky.social report with all of the details: www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

Dark money in the 2024 elections reached a record high of $1.9 billion, about double the prior record in 2020. New analysis from @brennancenter and @annalecta.bsky.social www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

A federal court ruled Justice Allison Riggs won her election to the NC Sup Ct b/c she got the most votes & you can't "change the rules of the game after it had been played." A state court previously tossed many votes, incl overseas votes of members of our client @usvotefoundation.bsky.social.

With resignation of a GOP commissioner, the Federal Election Commission has officially lost its quorum and with it the ability to enforce federal campaign finance laws. But that isn’t even the biggest concern for the FEC. My analysis here: www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...