Last week, Nancy Pelosi found herself a laughingstock. As the House was passing a law that would essentially outlaw the private sale and transfer of firearms, 26 Democrats bolted the plantation and voted with the GOP minority to add a provision to the bill requiring Federal Firearms License holders to notify law enforcement if an illegal alien tried to purchase a firearm (Nancy Pelosi Goes Bonkers After GOP Embarrasses Her In Gun Control Vote). This is a pretty commonsense provision that had been rejected by the bill’s authors when it was drafted in committee. As Pelosi was engaged in a spittle-flecked tongue-lashing of her caucus members who dared represent the desires of their constituents, freshman Bolshevik Alexandria Ocasio Cortez chimed in with a threat (Ocasio-Cortez Threatens To Put Dems Who Vote With Republicans On A “List”). As Brandon noted:

Apparently, the Democrats have gotten to the point where they are keeping each other in line through fear of the mob. But perhaps is necessary for Democrats at this point. It would appear that with the radical takeover of the Democratic party becoming more and more inevitable, it’s fascinating to watch Pelosi aim at moderate Democrats as the problem, and not the radicals. Regardless, the more interesting part of this story is that Ocasio-Cortez has enough backing from the radical activist community that she can make a threat like this. Whether or not moderates take her seriously is another matter.

It seems as though she should be taken seriously.

The group carrying out most of the attacks on what passes for moderates in the Democrat party (as far as I can tell, this means they want open borders without enforcement and green cards for everyone rather than citizenship, and they aren’t yet in favor of making abortion mandatory) is Justice Democrats. This is the PAC that put Ocasio Cortez in the House. There have been several pieces on the group (see ‘There Is Going to Be a War Within the Party. We Are Going to Lean Into It.’ and Justice Democrats Helped Make Ocasio-Cortez. They’re Already Eyeing Their Next Targets.)

Already, they have decided to target several Democrats for being insufficiently Bolshevik. Henry Cuellar (TX) has had a challenger recruited. Other targets are Daniel Lipinski (IL) and Eliot Engel (NY).

What is notable about the in-depth stories by New York Times and Politico on the founding of Justice Democrats is that they give the impression that Ocasio Cortez is simply one of the candidates they supported. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ocasio-Cortez and her chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, obtained majority control of the political action committee in December 2017. This would be the same Saikat Chakrabarti who funneled about $1 million in campaign cash into his own companies (see Has Ocasio-Cortez Been A Creature Of The Swamp All Along?). Even though Chakrabarti allegedly resigned from the PAC in August 2018, documents obtained by Daily Caller show that is not the case.

CREDIT: Daily Caller. https://www.dailycaller.com/2019/03/06/ocasio-cortez-justice-democrats-pelosi/

This is interesting from a number of perspectives. Ocasio Cortez has never reported her controlling interest in the PAC that supported her to the FEC. This is technically what is known as a “potential felony.” Despite Chakrabarti resigning from the board, it appears that he didn’t actually go anywhere. And both Ocasio Cortez and Chakrabarti are using a PAC they, until recently, secretly controlled to attack colleagues and leadership.

The more interesting question is how did all these major news organizations doing deep dive profiles of Justice Democrats decide not to ever look at its incorporation documents?

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