Democrats are relying on a dark money group to stymie Republican investigations into President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.The Congressional Integrity Project will provide the Biden White House and congressional Democrats with poll data, political ads, and opposition research on Republicans leading investigations into the Biden family, CNN reported. House Republicans have made clear their intention to investigate the Biden family’s business dealings, the president’s handling of classified documents, the border crisis, and federal mismanagement of the coronavirus relief program.
Democrats’ collusion with the Congressional Integrity Project contradicts party leaders’ insistence that dark money has undue influence on Washington, D.C. For example, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.), who took part in a press call with the Congressional Integrity Project this week, lamented in 2018 that "a flood of dark money is poisoning our democracy, letting deep-pocketed special interests prevent Congress from acting even on issues upon which we agree." Biden has asserted that "dark money erodes public trust."
The Congressional Integrity Project, which launched in 2020, does not disclose the identity of its ultimate donors, though tax filings show it receives virtually all of its money from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a left-wing group dubbed the "indisputable heavyweight of Democratic dark money."
The Sixteen Thirty Fund has given $1.5 million to the Congressional Integrity Project since 2020, according to tax forms detailed by the Washington Examiner last year. The Congressional Integrity Project has reported that same amount in revenues, according to tax filings reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund also does not disclose its donors, though some of its backers have gone public with their support for the group. The billionaire Democratic donor George Soros has disclosed contributions of $24,930,000 to the Sixteen Thirty Fund in 2021 alone, according to its grants database.
While the Congressional Integrity Project is opaque about its funding sources, it is transparent about its goal of undermining Republican investigations.
