Committee to Defend the President
The Committee to Defend the President was first established as the hybrid Stop Hillary PAC in 2013. The PAC changed its name to the Committee to Defend the President in 2017. Ted Harvey, a former Colorado state senator, chairs the Committee.
The Committee is "dedicated to President Trump and his agenda," and is advocating for his re-election in 2020. The PAC has been one of the two largest non-party outside spenders during the 2020 election cycle, investing millions of dollars into paid advertising and grassroots activities in battleground states.
Organization
According to paperwork filed with the FEC, the hybrid PAC's founder is political consultant Guy Short. Campaign finance lawyer Dan Backer was listed as the PAC's first treasurer.According to federal records, the Committee to Defend the President's top vendor is political consulting firm Campaign Solutions, whose vice president of fundraising is also Guy Short. Short was a Republican National Convention delegate in 2016 who pledged support for Trump rival candidate Ted Cruz. In an email to Reuters dated April 2016, Short defended Cruz after Trump accused him of trying to steal delegates in South Carolina, adding that he had "spent thousands of dollars of my own money... to make sure Donald Trump is NOT our nominee."
Ted Harvey, a former member of the Colorado Senate, is the chairman of the Committee to Defend the President.
The PAC spent more than $6 million throughout 2015 and 2016, according to FEC records. However, federal records indicate that only around one-fourth of this amount went toward advertisements, robocalls, or other communication that supported or opposed a specific candidate. Most of the rest of the money went to vendors in Northern Virginia and Ohio, who were mostly political consultants.
Political activity
2014 election cycle
Stop Hillary PAC was founded in 2013. During the 2014 election cycle, the PAC raised more than $1 million to oppose Hillary Clinton.2016 presidential campaign
In 2016, Stop Hillary PAC raised nearly $7 million to oppose Clinton in her bid for the presidency, spending roughly $3.5 million in independent expenditures. Harvey stated that the PAC would spend up to $1 million to re-air ads that criticized Clinton’s handling of the 2012 Benghazi attacks. The PAC ran a TV advertisement featuring former Ambassador Christopher Stevens’ grave.Support of Donald Trump
Harvey has stated that his mission is to "defend the president from day one." His PAC runs ads, conducts polls, publishes opinion editorials, and mobilizes activists.In January 2017, the Committee ran a TV ad urging viewers to call a toll-free number and pledge “to defend Donald Trump.” It has also run ads touting Trump’s actions in his first 100 days, such as nominating judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
FEC complaint
In December 2017, the Committee filed an administrative complaint with the Federal Election Commission, accusing Clinton's 2016 campaign and the Democratic Party of "an unprecedented, massive, nationwide multi-million dollar conspiracy." The complaint alleged an $84 million money laundering scheme between the Clinton campaign, Democratic National Committee, Democratic state parties, and donors, claimed to be in violation of campaign finance laws. In response to the allegation, the DNC called the claim a "political stunt", and pointed out that the Trump campaign had raised over $100 million from 20 Republican state parties. The FEC did not act on the committee's administrative complaint, and the committee sued the FED in April 2018 in U.S. district court in DC. In May 2019, the committee's lawsuit was dismissed the suit pursuant to a joint stipulation of the parties.2018 Tennessee Senate campaign
The Committee was heavily involved in Tennessee's Senate race, supporting Rep. Marsha Blackburn's successful campaign. In September 2018, the Committee announced more than $900,000 in spending to boost Blackburn's candidacy.2019 North Carolina congressional campaign
In August 2019, the Committee announced its support for Dan Bishop's congressional campaign in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District, pledging $200,000 to boost Bishop's candidacy. In September 2019, Bishop won the special election, defeating Democrat Dan McCready with 50.7 percent of the vote.2020 presidential campaign
In 2020, the Committee has run many ads seeking to re-elect Trump in 2020. In June 2019, the Committee partnered with the pro-Trump Great America PAC, pledging to spend $1 million with the goal of registering one million new Trump voters Harvey has also pledged $1 million expenditures in key battleground states, such as Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.The committee ran ads criticizing Democrats for impeaching Trump. In December 2019, the PAC praised Representative Jeff Van Drew for leaving the Democratic Party after voting against the impeachment of Trump, running a $250,000 advertising campaign in Van Drew's New Jersey district.
During the Democratic primaries, the Committee spent $250,000 on advertising campaigns in each of Nevada, North Carolina, and South Carolina to attack Joe Biden. The ads targeted Biden's stance on immigration and questioned why President Barack Obama has not endorsed him. In New Hampshire, the PAC used billboards and signs to tie Democratic president candidates to "The Squad" and used a Joe Biden "Corn Pops" prop.
Several of the committee's anti-Biden ads have been deceptive. In one ad run by the committee, in the lead-up South Carolina Democratic primary, features a narrator reading a passage from Barack Obama's 1995 book Dreams from My Father over text criticizing of Biden, giving the misleading impression that Obama was criticizing Biden; in fact, the passage from Obama's book quotes a barber in a entirely different context. The ad prompted Obama's representatives to send a cease-and-desist letter to the super PAC, demanding that the misleading ad be taken down; and committee refused and doubling down on its anti-Biden advertising. One six- or seven-second Facebook ad run by the Committee misleadingly accused Biden of using a racial slurs in 1985; in fact, Biden had been quoting a white lawmaker to expose the comments as racist. In June 2020, the committee released an ad titled Lost His Mind, suggesting that Biden has dementia and "lost" his mind; the committee spent $400,000 to run the ad on cable news, Arizona broadcast networks, and social media. In Spanish-language one ad run in July 2020, the committee attacked Biden while seeking to divide African Americans and Latinos, running ads, claiming, He promised his party an African American Vice President. Not a Latino... Why aren't Latinos good enough for Joe?"