John,

While over 1,000 insurrectionists have faced or are currently facing charges for their involvement in the January 6th attack on the Capitol, there are over 1,000 businesses and industry groups that continue to pour donations into the campaigns and leadership PACs of our country’s most powerful election deniers.

Since January 6, 2021, nearly 1,800 corporate and industry group PACs have donated more than $100 million to benefit members of the Sedition Caucus, including the 147 lawmakers who voted against the certification of the 2020 Election and members of Congress who ran on the Big Lie in 2022.

The January 6th insurrection represented an unprecedented backslide in American democracy. For the first time in United States history, one of the basic tenets of our democracy, the peaceful transfer of power, faced a serious disruption – not just from angry rioters wielding weapons in the Capitol building, but from a staggering number of elected officials who had sworn oaths to uphold the Constitution.

We’re fighting to hold Trump accountable, insurrectionists accountable, politicians accountable—and even these corporations accountable too for supporting and spreading election lies.

Make a donation to CREW today to help us fight for accountability for everyone—from Donald Trump to corporations—who is undermining our democracy by supporting election lies →

Although corporations didn't weigh in on the electoral fraud claims and lawsuits leading up to January 6th, the insurrection was a flashpoint— and a bridge too far for many of them.

After the violent attack on the Capitol on January 6th, nearly 250 companies suspended donations to the 147 members of Congress who voted against election certification in 2020. But John, it didn’t last long.

Three and a half years later and the majority of companies that originally made this pledge and publicly proclaimed their dedication to democratic values have now resumed their donations to those lawmakers that betrayed the Constitution and legitimized the Big Lie by voting against election certification.

The last year in particular saw a disappointing increase in the number of companies who have broken their pledges to stop supporting the Sedition Caucus. Since January 2023, 28 companies reneged on their pledges not to fund the Sedition Caucus, including companies such as Microsoft, Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta, Pepsi and Bank of America. Now, of the nearly 250 companies who suspended donations, 194 have reneged on their pledge.

And this isn’t inconsequential. As a result of these broken promises, an additional $33.5 million has been injected into the campaigns of seditionist lawmakers.

Of the current lawmakers in the Sedition Caucus, Representatives Jason Smith, Steve Scalise, Richard Hudson, Blaine Luetkemeyer and Sam Graves have received the most support from corporate and industry PACs: Smith received over $3.9 million from 575 companies; Scalise received over $3.6 million from 384 companies; Hudson received over $2.6 million from 384 companies; Luetkemeyer received over $2.5 million from 312 companies; and Graves received over $2.4 million from 354 companies.

• Representative Scalise refused to answer whether or not the 2020 election was stolen. When pressed by Fox News Host Chris Wallace to clarify his position, Scalise responded by parroting false claims that states did not follow the laws of the Constitution during the election. Scalise received over $3.6 million from 384 companies.
• Representatives Jason Smith and Sam Graves, alongside two other Republican lawmakers, published a press release declaring intent to overturn the results, stating that the election process was “spoiled and abused by officials not following their own state law.” Smith received over $3.9 million from 575 companies and Graves received over $2.4 million from 354 companies.
• Graves, Hudson, Scalise and Smith all voted against Trump’s second impeachment and against the creation of the January 6th committee. Hudson received over $2.6 million from 384 companies.

As for the companies that support these members of Congress? Koch Industries remains the top donor to seditionists in Congress, contributing $1.63 million to 105 members.

Boeing, which initially pledged to cease donations to seditionists after January 6th, is the second largest corporate donor to members of the Sedition Caucus, with $964,500 donated to 103 members.

And over the past year, AT&T–which also pledged to cease donations to seditionists–has significantly ramped up its contributions, making it the second largest contributor today. AT&T has nearly doubled its contributions to seditionists, equaling a grand total of $1.2 million to 130 seditionist lawmakers.

By giving large sums of money to those who violated the Constitution and refused to certify the 2020 election, these corporations are bankrolling the continued assault on our democracy.

At CREW, we’re doing the investigative research to expose these companies for not staying true to their pledges and financially supporting members of Congress who, still to this day, support Trump’s attacks on our democracy.

We’re going to continue our work to expose these corporations, to hold them—and politicians—accountable, and to defend our democracy.

If you can, please support our efforts by making a donation to CREW to enable us to continue this important work →

Thank you,

Robert Maguire
VP of Research
CREW