GOP billionaires using dark money groups to 'distance themselves from their own extremism': report

The #1 funder of Republican-aligned causes in the United States is now channeling his money through a series of dark money groups, according to a new report.

On Thursday, the Daily Beast found that billionaire Richard "Dick" Uihlein, of the Illinois-based Uline shipping company, is still funding far-right causes across the US, but is instead doing it through various nonprofit organizations he has connections to in an effort to circumvent disclosure rules. Caroline Ciccone, who is president of the anti-corruption group Accountable.US, said both Uihlein and his wife, Liz Uihlein, are redirecting their largesse to pull the wool over the eyes of Americans.

"For years, billionaire conservative megadonors Dick and Liz Uihlein bankrolled the anti-democratic extremist groups that brought us the Jan. 6 insurrection. Now, they’re dumping millions into groups working to abolish abortion access across the country and appear to be purposefully funneling even more through a separate nonprofit to distance themselves from their own extremism," Ciccone said. "But the truth is clear: the Uihleins’ continued funding of the far-right’s most extreme causes is nothing more than a desperate attempt to force an unpopular, radical agenda on Americans everywhere."

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According to campaign finance data compiled by OpenSecrets, Uihlein was the #1 donor to GOP-related politicians and causes in the United States in the 2022 election cycle, spending roughly $90 million (billionaire George Soros was the #1 donor to Democratic causes). The Beast reported that in the 2022 midterms, Uihlein actively donated to groups that promulgated conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, and to groups that sought to challenge the results of the election in the legal system. Many of those donations came from the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation, which spent tens of millions of dollars directly contributed by Dick Uihlein himself.

However, Uihlein has changed his strategy ahead of the 2024 elections. The Beast reported that a dark money group Uihlein is connected to — Restoration of America, and its associated 501(c)(4) political arm, Restoration Action — "hit the gas" in 2022 and raised more than $30 million, an increase of roughly $10 million from 2021. It also increased its spending by roughly $10 million. One of the recipients of Restoration's funding spree was Tea Party Patriots Action, which played a role in the organizing of the initial January 6, 2021 rally. Roughly $22 million of that $30 million came from one anonymous donor, which the Beast reported was "almost certainly" Uihlein.

Uihlein is also reportedly joining forces with conservative megadonors Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society (recently subpoenaed by the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of its investigation into Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' significant undisclosed gifts) and Jeff Yass, an investor who also ranked among the top 5 biggest donors to GOP causes in 2022.

"These grants show how the Uihlein-backed group continues to finance election fraud conspiracy theories," Brendan Fischer, deputy director of the watchdog group Documented, told the Beast.

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The Daily Beast's full report is here (subscription).