Dark Money Funding GOP Super PAC Tied To Trump-linked "Stop The Steal" Attorney
The group, Stand Up To China Inc., belongs to former Trump attorney Cleta Mitchell, a central figure in the "Stop The Steal" movement.
A new dark money group which has been supporting Sen. Marco Rubio’s 2022 reelection, is registered to Trump-world attorney and “Stop The Steal” advocate Cleta Mitchell, according to IRS documents. The group, a 501(c)(4) called Stand Up To China, Inc., is the largest donor of the cycle to National Victory Action Fund, a GOP-supporting hybrid super PAC which—since spending heavily on the GA special election in January— has turned their focus to promoting the campaigns of prominent Republican Senatorial incumbents, primarily Marco Rubio.
Stand Up To China Inc. has donated $300,000 to National Victory Action Fund over the course of two $150,000 donations—one in April, then another in June, accounting for nearly fourteen percent of the PAC’s almost $2.2 million raised for the year, and making them its largest individual donor. Since receiving Stand Up To China’s donations, National Victory Action Fund has spent $300,000 on media supporting Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL); $95,000 supporting Todd Young (R-IN); and $50,000 each in favor of Tim Scott (R-SC) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN).
Stand Up To China’s “letter of determination” issued to them by the IRS revealed the organization is registered to Cleta Mitchell, using the business address of international law firm Foley & Lardner, where Mitchell worked until her resignation in late January due to her publicized involvement in President Donald Trump’s infamous call with the Georgia Secretary of State, where he reportedly pressed the state official to overturn the state’s election results. Mitchell herself has been a long time associate of the former President, going back to at least 2011, when she represented him in a case involving possible campaign finance violations regarding his Presidential exploratory committee that cycle.
Mitchell is a well-connected figure in the conservative political circuit, serving on the boards of several influential right-wing organizations, such as the National Rifle Association, The Bradley Foundation, and American Conservative Union, and currently acts as the chair for the Public Interest Legal Foundation, a group who staunchly advocate for the purging of voter rolls and which has a history of claims of massive voter fraud over the years. On top of following Trump’s lead of making numerous unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud swaying the 2020 Presidential election, she also reportedly set up a $1 million escrow fund to help with the audit of the Maricopa County, AZ ballot count. Mitchell has also been tasked with running a $10 million initiative put forth by another conservative organization, FreedomWorks, to fight against Democratic lawmakers attempts to expand voting rights through legislation.
Mitchell’s Stand Up To China organization was granted tax exempt status in March of this year (retroactive to October 2019), so we wont know how much it raised or spent until late 2022 at the earliest. Even then, given the structure of such entities, we may never know the identities of those individuals who funded it. Per its website, Stand Up To China bills itself as a “grassroots advocacy organization formed to help give American citizens a voice in the policy battles against China”. The website doesn’t disclose anything about the organization’s leadership, instead playing host to dozens of articles curated from mainstream outlets— articles centered on criticizing the Chinese government (and the US’ handling of economic relations with them), analyzing Chinese military capabilities, and other stories with polarizing subject matter. The site offers no way to donate, only to sign on to an email list.
Started in October 2020, National Victory Action raised nearly $15 million before the end of December (with $8 million coming from GOP megadonor, Citadel LLP’s Ken Griffin), but only spent a small portion on ads— mostly in the GA special election. It started the cycle with over $10 million in the bank, and through June would pay down their $5 million debt to less than $1.5 million, ending the period with over $5 million remaining. Though Stand Up To China Inc is National Victory Action Fund’s largest donor this cycle so far, it has also raised funds from other GOP aligned super PACs such as Hoosier Honor and Georgia Action Fund this, and unlike many of its peers in the super PAC space have been consistently active in the early goings of the 2022 cycle--spending tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands monthly. The super PACis working with some heavy hitters, too: A large portion of the money they’ve spent on media has gone to a company named Nine One Six LLC.—which has no discernable online footprint, but shares a business address with Targeted Victory, one of the top Republican media consulting companies of the past few cycles.
Time will tell how involved Stand Up To China will be in funding the PAC and others, but seems to be targeting outspoken Trump loyalists to throw their support behind. National Victory Action Fund’s next FEC report is due in January 2022.