Campaign Legal Center Files FEC Complaints Against Both Major Party Presidential Candidates and Their Supporting Super PACs

WASHINGTON – The Campaign Legal Center today filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission alleging that three super PACs – one supporting Hillary Clinton (Correct the Record) and two supporting Donald Trump (Rebuilding America Now and Make America Number 1) – have violated federal election law by coordinating with the two major party candidates.

“We have been forced to file these complaints because a dysfunctional FEC has been sitting idly by as the campaigns of the presidential candidate of both major parties are involved in unprecedented coordination with super PACs in violation of the law,” said Larry Noble, general counsel for the Campaign Legal Center. “These are not minor or technical violations. According to the Supreme Court, unlimited campaign spending by wealthy interests can corrupt candidates unless totally independent of a campaign. Giving a large contribution to a super PAC that is coordinating with the Trump or Clinton campaign is the same as giving it directly to the campaign and buys the same direct access and influence over that candidate.”

Both Trump and Clinton have made fixing our “rigged” or broken political system a key talking point of their campaigns to rally supporters. But our complaints present clear evidence that the campaigns are ignoring current law by coordinating with their super PACS. No other presidential candidates have previously defied anti-coordination laws in this way.

“If either candidate is allowed to get away with these schemes, there is no doubt that the new loopholes they’ve created will be exploited by billionaires and corporations across the political spectrum,” said Brendan Fischer, associate counsel for the Campaign Legal Center. “The two major candidates for the most powerful office in the world apparently feel that the rule of law does not apply to them, perhaps because they assume that the FEC is too dysfunctional to enforce the campaign finance laws that exist. The question for both Clinton and Trump is what, specifically, are they going to do to fix the broken system they are exploiting.”

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