The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has requested more information from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) about some $3.5 million in donations received by her re-election campaign. These donations were reported to federal authorities in an un-itemized fashion, but for many donations, details including the name of the donor and the date of their contribution are required to be disclosed. These itemization requirements do not, however, cover donations that are less than $200 apiece, meaning that in theory, Greene could have raised the money in question through comparatively small donations and thus been abiding by the law in her reporting. For now, her campaign has questions to answer.
The requests from the FEC for information are addressed to the Congresswoman’s husband, Perry Greene, who serves as the treasurer for Marjorie’s campaign. Specifically, the FEC’s inquiries cover $2,558,631.61 in donations that Greene brought in between January and March, alongside $967,045.73 that she raised between April and June. For all of this money, no specific identifying information about the source of the cash was apparently provided to federal authorities, leading to these questions from campaign finance officials. The Greene campaign has a deadline from the FEC of October 12 to provide more information about all of this money. By that point, the campaign must “either provide information about the donors or show that the money came from small donors only,” as Newsweek explains.
As noted by Newsweek, “Donations to Greene’s campaign spiked earlier this year while she was embroiled in controversy over her comments and actions related to the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, as well as past remarks taken from her social media accounts.” Greene often seems more interested in cultivating something of a far-right celebrity status for herself than undertaking serious legislative work. For instance, she has recently been advocating alongside similarly minded Republicans on behalf of Trump supporters who’ve been criminally charged for their participation in the Capitol riot.
Greene isn’t the only far-right member of Congress who’s recently received a request from the FEC for clarification regarding an element of their campaign finances. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) has also received such a request, after her campaign reported Venmo charges to her campaign account that her team said were mistakenly covering personal expenses of the Congresswoman but have since been reimbursed. The FEC’s request for further information from Boebert’s campaign noted, in reference to the charges, that “if it is determined that the disbursement(s) constitutes the personal use of campaign funds, the Commission may consider taking further legal action.”
