Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), one of former president Donald Trump’s most vociferous supporters in Congress, has agreed to personally pay a $12,000 fine for violating federal election law, according to Federal Election Commission records reviewed by Raw Story.

An investigation by the FEC found that Greene violated the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 when she improperly shared an ad produced by the Stop Socialism Now PAC on her campaign Facebook page and Twitter account in December 2020.

The FEC, which released documentation of Greene's fine today, found that Greene violated the law by soliciting funds for an entity that is not subject to the regulations imposed on federal candidates, who may not accept donations exceeding $5,000. The PAC supported Republican candidates in Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoff election in early 2021.

Greene also personally appeared in the ad, which was released in December 2020 and supported Republican Senate candidates Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.

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“Imagine. Biden and Harris in the White House,” Greene says. “Pelosi is speaker. And Schumer runs the Senate. All because Georgia lost our two Senate runoffs to Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. First off, Democrats will end the filibuster so no one can stop them. Then they’ll add new Democratic states. They’ll pack the Supreme Court. They’ll take away our guns. Then they’ll add their open borders, Green New Deal, pro-abortion, socialist agenda.”

After cutting away from Greene, the ad features a narrator asking viewers to “make a contribution today to Stop Socialism Now PAC, because if Democrats win in Georgia, it’s all over for America.”

Greene’s official Facebook page shared the ad five days after Stop Socialism Now posted it on its Facebook page in early December 2020, and then Greene retweeted the ad from the super PAC later in the month.

Greene’s office did not immediately respond to a Raw Story inquiry.

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Greene’s lawyers argued that she did not violate federal election law by soliciting funds on behalf of the super PAC. Greene’s lawyers, Derek H. Ross and Scott Gast, told the FEC that the ad was like a candidate attending a PAC fundraiser, in which she “made an appearance, gave general remarks of support and left the event before others solicited contributions for the PAC.”

A majority on the FEC’s six-member, bipartisan commission appeared to disagree, voting 5-1 to approve a $12,000 fine agreement with Greene. Republican Commissioner Trey Trainor, a nominee of former President Donald Trump and 2016 Trump campaign lawyer, provided the lone dissenting vote.

The general counsel for the FEC asserted that Greene’s appearance in the digital ad constituted a violation because the ad included a text instructing viewers to “donate now” and included a link to process payments.

“At the end of the day, a $12,000 fine is just a slap on the wrist for soliciting unlimited contributions in a super PAC ad in clear violation of the ‘soft money’ ban," said Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs for Common Cause, a nonprofit watchdog organization that filed an initial FEC complaint against Greene. "While the fine is not a large one, the action by the FEC is a welcome change of pace from an agency that too often refuses to enforce the campaign finance laws passed by Congress. If members of Congress were allowed to simply ignore contribution and solicitation limits, our democracy would quickly find itself on the auction block.”

Greene is no stranger to being fined by the government, acknowledging to Newsmax in 2022 that she racked up nearly $90,000 worth of fines for violating pandemic-era U.S. House rules requiring mask usage on the House floor.
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