Joe Biden campaign receives massive anonymous donation of $64 MILLION

 Reports have found that the re-election campaign of President Joe Biden is heavily fueled by dark money, including a $64 million donation in the summer of 2020.

In a recently published report from CBS News, in the summer of 2020, a generically named firm called the Impetus Fund received a $64 million donation from a single anonymous source. This single anonymous donation went through a series of accounts before it eventually made its way into the campaign fund of the then-former vice president, helping Biden defeat former President Donald Trump.  

Despite years of speculation – including multiple investigations by a cottage industry of public interest groups, investigative reporters and even Fox News – the source of the $64 million donation is still unknown.

Most speculation suggests that the donation comes from a single, super-wealthy Biden supporter. However, there is no evidence to support this. The donation could just as easily come from a privately held company or a shell corporation – a tactic increasingly being used by wealthy donors seeking to add layers of anonymity to their campaign donations.

"Without information about who is funding groups spending to influence elections, voters won't know who is trying to color their views, won't be aware of any potential conflicts of interest that a funder has or what stake they may have in the outcome of the election," said Anna Massoglia, editorial and investigations manager with the non-partisan watchdog organization OpenSecrets, which focuses on tracking the influence of money on American politics. 

Biden campaign to continue accepting dark money

Despite the increased scrutiny surrounding the dark money, Biden's campaign has stated that the president will continue accepting dark money donations, supposedly because the stakes for the upcoming election are "sky high" and despite previous statements condemning such donations.

Previously, Biden said that dark money "erodes public trust" and that it "flows in the shadows to influence our elections."

In September 2022, two months before the midterm elections, the president during a briefing at the White House appeared to advocate for the passage of the Disclose Act, which would require political groups – including parties and campaigns – and nonprofits to disclose donations above $10,000.

But now, the Biden campaign seems to have reneged on this pledge to refuse dark money.

"The stakes of this election are sky high," said an adviser to Biden's campaign. "We will protect our democracy with every tool that is legally available."

"You don't show up at a gunfight with a knife," said another Democratic strategist.

Concerns have now been raised that the Biden campaign will once again heavily rely on large donations from anonymous, wealthy megadonors.

In January, Future Forward (FF) PAC announced that it had raised $250 million. In its April campaign disclosure, FF reported raising another $16.2 million. A significant portion of FF's funds – including two-thirds of what it had raised following its April disclosure – came from dark money sources.

FF PAC plans to use the raised money for an unprecedented advertising blitz starting immediately after the Democratic National Convention in August and going through Election Day.