Biden Just Cited The Lever

Earlier today, President Joe Biden cited The Lever and ProPublica’s reporting in his speech demanding passage of the DISCLOSE Act — a bill to help end dark money that is up for a Senate vote this week.

“A conservative activist who spent decades working to put enough conservative justices on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade now has access to $1.6 billion in dark money to do more damage and from our perspective restrict more freedoms,” said Biden, referencing anti-abortion zealot Leonard Leo. “That is one of the biggest dark money transfers in history.”

Biden then added: “And here’s the deal: The public only found out about this $1.6 billion transfer because someone tipped off some of you reporters, otherwise we still wouldn’t know about it. But now we know and there’s something we can do about it. This week the Senate is going to vote on the DISCLOSE Act.”

Biden is referencing our investigative reporting on a record-breaking $1.6 billion dark money transfer from secretive Chicago tycoon Barre Seid to conservative operative Leonard Leo.

If passed, the DISCLOSE Act would crack down on such secretive spending by forcing dark money groups to disclose any donors who give more than $10,000, requiring shell companies spending money on elections to disclose their owners, and ensuring election ads list their sponsors’ major contributors.

Since our launch in 2020, The Lever has focused our reporting on dark money and corruption, and how conservatives have used secret cash to buy the Supreme Court. Here is a consolidated list of our original reporting on the matter:

• Inside The Right’s Historic Billion-Dollar Dark Money Transfer
• Barre Seid’s “Attack Philanthropy”
• The Man Who Bought The Supreme Court
• Dark Money Led To This Moment
• The Guardian: Billions in ‘dark money’ is influencing US politics. We need disclosure laws
• Rolling Stone: You’re Subsidizing The Threat To Democracy
• LEVER READER: John Roberts’ Revolution