Trump's campaign accuses The Post of campaign rules violations

Source: Washington Post

November 1, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. EDT


Former president Donald Trump’s campaign released a copy of a Federal Election Commission complaint against The Washington Post on Friday, alleging that the newspaper made illegal in-kind contributions to the campaign of his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, through the advertising of its journalism.

The six-page complaint, dated Thursday, cites an Oct. 30 article in Semafor that suggests, without citing a source, that The Post purchased advertising to boost readership of negative articles about Trump. Those ads, according to Semafor, were bought following the Oct. 25 announcement by The Post’s publisher, William Lewis, that the newspaper would cease issuing presidential endorsements, a decision that prevented publication of a drafted editorial endorsing Harris, the Democratic nominee. Following the announcement, at least 250,000 readers canceled their subscriptions and three members of the 10-person editorial board stepped down from the board in protest. The Semafor article posits that the ad purchases were made in reaction to the cancellations.

A Harris campaign spokesman did not comment after The Post provided him with a copy of the complaint. An FEC spokeswoman said statutory requirements prevent the agency from confirming whether the complaint was filed.

In the complaint, attorney Gary M. Lawkowski, the Trump campaign’s deputy general counsel, writes that the advertising in question amounts to a “dark money corporate campaign in opposition to President Donald Trump.” The complaint — which alleges illegal in-kind contributions, but also raises the possibility of “unreported last-minute expenditure” violation — also accuses The Post of “acting like any other partisan player in the election process.” A Post spokesperson dismissed the allegations as “improper” and “without merit,” and said that such advertising is “routine” practice across the media industry.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2024/11/01/donald-trump-campaign-violations-washington-post-advertising-fec-complaint/