| Swiss Billionaire’s Dark Money Efforts to Influence US Politics Exposed in Congressional Hearing |
By Fred Lucas
U.S. elections are “under attack” from foreign influence by both individuals and hostile state actors, experts told a House panel on Wednesday.
Although foreign individuals and entities already are prohibited from contributing to American elections, foreign actors find a way, House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., says.
“Foreign adversaries still have loopholes they can exploit to influence American elections,” Steil said.
Steil’s committee held the hearing Wednesday on foreign influence in U.S. elections.
Earlier this year, the committee advanced legislation to ban direct or indirect foreign contributions to state ballot initiatives, which has been one of the biggest loopholes.
“We have legislation to ban this at the federal level, and we continue to get caught up in the gobbledygook,” Steil later said. “But when you look at the impact that these [foreign] funds are having directly on U.S. elections, I think most Americans would be shocked.”
Currently, it is legal for foreign nationals to funnel money indirectly to elections through 501(c) nonprofit organizations, the Wisconsin Republican said. Such nonprofits then may channel that foreign money to help a candidate, influence a policy, or support or oppose a ballot initiative.
The designation 501(c) is the Internal Revenue Service’s category for a nonprofit, which also may include 501(c)(3) educational organizations or 501(c)(4) advocacy organizations.
“Does anyone have an argument that we should not ban foreign funds from coming into ballot initiatives?” Steil asked the four witnesses who appeared before his committee. “Any of our witnesses?”
After a pause, he said: “Let the record reflect that all of them agree that we should work to ban this.”
Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of the watchdog group Americans for Public Trust, talked specifically about Switzerland’s Hansjörg Wyss, who runs two nonprofits—The Wyss Foundation, a 501(c)(3), and Berger Action Fund, a 501(c)(4).
“Hansjörg Wyss, who is a Swiss billionaire and not a U.S. citizen, has contributed around a quarter of a billion dollars to the Sixteen Thirty Fund, and the Sixteen Thirty Fund then turns around and spends it on a whole host of activities,” Sutherland said during questioning.