, an editor for the CNBC Business News network, is credited as being a catalyst in the early formation of the Tea Party movement through a statement he made on February 19, 2009. The organization was founded by Jenny Beth Martin, Mark Meckler, and Amy Kremer in March 2009. Tea Party Patriots was a co-sponsor of the 9/12 March on Washington, but refused to participate in the National Tea Party Convention. Tea Party Patriots is most notable for organizing citizen opposition at the healthcare town hall meetings of 2009. In February 2010, Tea Party Patriots was among the twelve most influential groups in the Tea Party movement, according to the National Journal. In September 2010, the group announced it had received a $1,000,000 donation from an anonymous donor. The money was distributed to its affiliated groups and must be spent by Election Day, though it could not be used to directly support any candidate. Tea Party Patriots was one of the top five most influential organizations in the Tea Party movement, according to The Washington Post. In 2010, the group reportedly included over 2,200 local chapters. In 2012, the group along with the Southern Republican Leadership Conference organized a presidential debate that aired on CNN. Along with various other conservative and libertarian organizations the Tea Party Patriots have developed a Contract from America that echoes the Republican Contract with America of 1994 stating some of the core principles and several specific goals shared by organizations and individuals involved with the tea parties. In July 2012, the group's Atlanta chapter partnered with the Sierra Club and the NAACP to defeat a proposed transit tax in Atlanta. The referendum was defeated by a margin of 63 percent.
Controversies
Rolling Stone and Talking Points Memo have alleged that the organization is run with the help of FreedomWorks, a conservative nonprofit. A 2011 investigation by the magazine Mother Jones alleged that the Tea Party Patriots organization was using its 501 status to avoid disclosing its expenditures both to the IRS and to local contributors. The magazine reported that when local Tea Party groups pressed for more details on the group's expenses, they were removed from the umbrella organization and threatened with legal action. The magazine reported that Tea Party Patriots "has started to resemble the Beltway lobbying operations its members have denounced." In 2014, The Washington Post reported that Tea Party Patriots president Jenny Beth Martin was receiving two salaries from the organization: a $15,000 per month fee for strategic consulting and a $272,000 salary as president, with total annual compensation over $450,000. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the Tea Party Patriots were reported to have assisted in lobbying efforts by hospitals against restrictions on elective surgeries and procedures.
America's Frontline Doctors video
On July 27, 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tea Party Patriots hosted and funded a press conference in Washington, D.C., in front of the Supreme Court Building by a group who referred to themselves as "America's Frontline Doctors". Without peer-reviewed evidence, the group of doctors claimed that hydroxychloroquine, Zithromax, and zinc could be used as a "cure" for COVID-19 and that public health measures designed to reduce the spread of COVID-19 were therefore unnecessary. One of the speakers, Stella Immanuel, said she herself had treated and cured 350 COVID-19 patients using the promoted drug cocktail and referred to doctors refusing to use hydroxychloroquine as being "good nazis". They also accused "fake pharma companies" of sponsoring studies that found hydroxychloroquine to be ineffective against COVID-19. The event was live streamed by the far-right website Breitbart News, and video of the event was shared on social media platforms such as Facebook groups and on Twitter — where President Donald Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. both shared versions of the video. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube later began to delete postings of the video, citing violations of policies prohibiting content that promotes misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was estimated that posts of the video on Facebook had reached over 14 million views before the takedown. Twitter also restricted the account of Trump Jr. for 12 hours after he uploaded a version of the video to his account directly. When asked about the video the next day, Trump referred to the group as being "very respected doctors", and referred to Immanuel as being "spectacular". When asked why he trusted Immanuel despite her history of promoting conspiracies, Trump replied, "I thought she was very impressive, in the sense that, from where she came — I don't know what country she comes from — but she said that she's had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients."
