Filing Summary

Explosive investigative reporting by The Trace revealed media buyers for the NRA’s purportedly independent campaign expenditures were simultaneously doing similar work on behalf of the campaigns they were supporting, including several high-profile U.S. Senate races and President Trump’s campaign.  Federal election law bars campaigns and independent groups from coordinating their spending.

Subsequent to the reporting by The Trace, at least five complaints were filed with the Federal Election Commission against the NRA alleging improper coordination of campaign spending.  This complaint to the FEC, filed on October 23, 2018, by the Campaign Legal Center and Giffords focuses on alleged improper coordination between the NRA and Josh Hawley for Senate (a successful U.S. Senate candidate in Missouri).  The complaint lays out the alleged scheme in great detail.