A former aide to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has pocketed almost $140,000 through his anti-President Joe Biden political action committee while shelling out minimal donor funds for its mission, records show.
Ocasio Cortez’s former communications director, Corbin Trent, formed the No Excuses PAC in 2021 to pressure centrist Senate Democrats to support left-wing policies and abolish the filibuster, though the PAC has rebranded to fundraising off urging Biden not to run for reelection in 2024. However, the PAC has been a financial boon for Trent and spent just $14,831 on radio ad buys targeting Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), raising ethics concerns among progressive watchdogs, Federal Election Commission filings show.
“If 70% of all the money a group raises ends up in your pockets, then the group’s primary purpose is enriching you,” spokesman Jordan Libowitz for the liberal Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington told the Daily Beast.
Campaign finance disclosures show Trent paid himself perpetually for “campaign finance consulting” and “communications consulting” through the No Excuses PAC — which reported only $1,552 on hand in its latest filing. On his LinkedIn account, Trent states that the No Excuses PAC produces a podcast called Building the Dream, though it hasn’t released an episode since October 2021, according to records.
The podcast’s hosts have been listed as those affiliated with Justice Democrats, an Ocasio-Cortez-allied PAC that counts Trent as its co-founder, documents show.
“Looking at the PAC’s filings, it’s hard to see how its focus is anything other than redirecting donor funds into Trent’s bank account,” Libowitz said.
While Trent has made off with a pretty penny from No Excuses PAC, news of the payments comes after the committee fundraised off running Manchin and Sinema-related ads.
“We need your help immediately to run ads telling Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema that they will be primaried and replaced in 2024 if they join with Republicans to shrink their own party’s pandemic, climate, and economic investment plans,” the PAC’s page said in 2022. “END THE DAMN FILIBUSTER AND SAVE AMERICA! Let Chuck Schumer know that we want HIM AND THE DEMOCRATS in the Senate to END the filibuster!”
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As for its spending, No Excuses PAC dished out thousands of dollars on hotels and airfare, according to campaign finance disclosures.
The PAC’s largest single payment since 2021 is $8,763.91 to Trent for consulting, followed by 15 separate payments of $7,500 each.