Conservative group asks FEC to probe effort to promote spoiler candidates

WASHINGTON (AP) — A secretive group that recruited retired and disabled supporters of Donald Trump to run as third-party spoiler candidates in some of the nation’s most competitive congressional districts was accused of violating campaign finance law in a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday.

The group, the Patriots Run Project, was the subject of a September Associated Press article, which revealed that the group’s operatives scouted conservative candidates online, aided their efforts to qualify for the ballot — and spent considerable resources doing so. The AP’s story also detailed how little is known about the group — which is not registered as a business, political committee or nonprofit organization — even though some aspects of the operation trace directly back to Democrats.

In its complaint to the FEC, the conservative organization Americans for Public Trust argued that Patriots Run Project’s “major purpose” was “influencing federal elections” and the organization thus violated campaign finance law by failing to register as a political committee. That would force the group to file reports that would likely reveal who is managing and financing the operation, as well as the motivation behind it.

The only concrete identifying detail listed on the group’s website is a P.O. Box inside a UPS store in Washington, D.C.

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