Turning Point Action fined following CREW complaint

In a landmark win in the fight against dark money, the Federal Election Commission fined Charlie Kirk's Turning Point Action $18,000 for failing to disclose its donors following a 2021 complaint filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The FEC found that Turning Point Action failed to disclose $33,795 in reportable contributions from donors who gave more than $200.

Under a rule based on a previous CREW litigation victory, donors of contributions over $200 must be disclosed if they were given or solicited for the purpose of influencing a federal election. Turning Point Action solicited donations explicitly saying that they would spend the money supporting then-President Trump's reelection and then-candidate Joe Biden's defeat in 2020.

"This decision is a significant win in the fight to ensure that groups like Turning Point Action follow campaign finance laws and disclose their donors to the public," said CREW President Noah Bookbinder. "Voters deserve to know who is spending to influence elections, and all too often they are left in the dark. The fine imposed by the FEC should deter dark money groups from illegally hiding their funders in the future."

However, the FEC commissioners only agreed to find reason to believe there was a violation on the $33,795, while the agency's Office of General Counsel recommended also finding reason to believe a violation occurred over a lack of disclosure of additional donations that supported the group's $1.4 million in independent expenditures, as mentioned in the CREW complaint, including corporate donors from which Turning Point Action admitted receiving funds. The FEC commissioners deadlocked 3-3 along party lines with the three Republican commissioners blocking action on the vast majority of funding behind its electoral activity, allowing Turning Point Action to avoid disclosing not just the donors who gave under $200, but the ones who did so without clicking on online fundraising ads.

"CREW has long played a leading role in the fight against dark money, and we are proud to have laid the legal foundation for the decisions requiring Turning Point Action and other groups like it to make their donors public," said Bookbinder. "We will continue working to ensure greater transparency of the donors who spend to influence our elections, and accountability for those groups that break the law."