Kyrsten Sinema accused of illegally spending $700,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses
From the AZ Mirror: The Campaign Legal Center has filed a complaint with the FEC, alleging that former Senator Kyrsten Sinema spent over $700,000 of campaign money on unrelated expenses like travel and concert tickets. Federal law allows former officeholders 6 months to wind down their campaigns and pay off legitimate campaign expenses with leftover campaign funds. CLC’s complaint alleges that Sinema continued to spend money from her campaign account for over a year after her campaign ended. Per the complaint, Sinema paid campaign staff while they were simultaneously employed with other organizations connected to her, and spent over $230,000 on travel expenses and luxury hotel stays.
Trump keeps driving online fundraising — for both parties
From POLITICO: President Trump is one of the key figures in campaign financing for both Democrats and Republicans. His own joint fundraising committee, Trump National Committee, raised more than 20% of all the money raised on WinRed (the main Republican fundraising platform) last year. POLITICO analysis of WinRed and ActBlue (the Democratic equivalent) fundraising shows key events that drove fundraising, including Senator Cory Booker’s (D-NJ) 25-hour filibuster against Trump administration policies and California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s lawsuit against the administration to block the deployment of the National Guard.
Seeking Pardon, Foreign Billionaire Allegedly Funneled Millions to Trump Super PAC
From Campaign Legal Center: An investigation by Campaign Legal Center, and a complaint filed with the FEC, alleges that a Venezuelan billionaire, Julio Herrera Velutini, illegally gave $3.5 million to pro-Trump Super PAC, before he was pardoned by President Trump in January 2026. Velutini, as a foreign national, is not legally allowed to make political contributions in the US, and in 2022 was criminally charged with bribery for supporting the then-governor of Puerto Rico in exchange for the removal of a banking regulator. Velutini’s daughter, who had previously only ever given $20 to Pete Buttigieg, gave MAGA Inc. $3.5 million between December 2024 and July 2025. In 2025, Velutini was given a plea deal for his criminal charges and was pardoned by President Trump in 2026.
Kamala Harris Sold Her Email List to DNC, Then Paid Off Old 2024 Debts
From The New York Times:
At the end of 2025, the Democratic National Committee spent $6.5 million to buy the email list of Kamala Harris’s supporters from her 2024 presidential campaign. Harris’s new Super PAC, Fight for the People, spent nearly $7 million at the end of the year paying off presidential campaign expenses. The D.N.C. had previously covered $22 million in expenses for the Harris campaign after the election. D.N.C. officials claim that the purchase of the email list is an investment that will allow them to fundraise from Harris’s supporters, but critics are questioning whether the party, which is significantly behind Republicans in fundraising, ought to be spending money that goes to pay off campaign debts.
