The Tribune reported last year that a company called Influenceable LLC was paid to recruit influencers to defend Attorney General Ken Paxton over his impeachment.

After a June gathering in Fort Worth sponsored by a new company, Influenceable, social media leaders began backing the suspended Texas attorney general and a controversial human trafficking film. Those who favor transparency in political advocacy are concerned.

The Federal Election Commission has decided not to take action against former President Donald Trump after commissioners deadlocked over whether his campaign broke the law by masking how it was spending cash during the 2020 campaign.

Caitlyn Jenner is considering a run for California governor.

In this Jan. 20, 2016 file photo, John Weaver is shown on a campaign bus in Bow, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)WASHINGTON – Last June, the Lincoln Project was on a high. Of the $90 million Lincoln Project has raised, more than $50 million has gone to firms controlled by the group's leaders. Others used the money earned during their time with Lincoln Project to refinance homes, or purchase a new one. AdAt least two Lincoln Project employees were targeted last year, including an intern who was finishing law school, and a communications staffer.

This time around, though, he was betting on a massive cash advantage to negatively define Biden and to defend his own record. Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien insisted money was no issue. And it’s just not a good sign for the Trump campaign,” Ridout said. — Over $7.4 million spent at Trump-branded properties since 2017. — At least $35.9 million spent on Trump merchandise.

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows was also in the room, but not pictured, according to the White House. (Tia Dufour/The White House via AP)WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s long-hidden tax returns leaked out. And even the first lady was captured on tape expressing disdain for having to decorate the White House for Christmas. Pence attended a Sept. 26 White House event where Trump announced his Supreme Court pick. Still, Zelizer said it would be premature to count Trump out, with a full month to go until Election Day.

Trump's reelection team, battered on all sides, now enters the final month of the campaign grappling with deficits in the polls, a shortage of cash and a candidate who is at least temporarily sidelined. Both heads of Trump’s political apparatus — campaign manager Bill Stepien and Republican National Committee head Ronna McDaniel — tested positive for COVID-19 this week. We have a month to go,” senior campaign adviser Jason Miller said Sunday on NBC's “Meet the Press." “He’s losing, and the debate was a disaster, and the campaign is imploding,” said Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, a vocal Trump critic. Still, Zelizer said it would be premature to count Trump out, with a full month to go until Election Day.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump's former campaign manager is stepping away from the reelection campaign days after he was hospitalized after Florida law enforcement officials said threatened to harm himself. Brad Parscale, one of Trump's closest political aides, served as the campaign manager for the reelection effort until July, when he was demoted by Trump. Parscale's break with the Trump campaign was first reported by Politico and was confirmed Wednesday by a campaign official. On Sunday, police officers talked Parscale out of his Fort Lauderdale home after his wife called police to say that he had multiple firearms and was threatening to hurt himself. Parscale's firm developed websites for Trump's personal businesses before working on his 2016 presidential campaign, where he was credited with overseeing the campaign's largely unnoticed — but influential — social media efforts that helped promote Trump to the Oval Office.

Parscale was hospitalized Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020, after he threatened to harm himself, according to Florida police and campaign officials. When Wilson arrived at the Fort Lauderdale home, he was able to persuade Parscale to come outside. Body camera footage released Monday shows officers rushing Parscale and knocking him to the ground before taking him into custody. The wife told officers that Parscale had been stressed out recently and that he had made comments about shooting himself, according to a police report. A furious Trump was left staring at a sea of empty seats and, weeks later, promoted Bill Stepien to campaign manager.

FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2019, file photo, Brad Parscale, then-campaign manager for President Donald Trump, speaks during a campaign rally at the Target Center in Minneapolis. Parscale was hospitalized Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020, after he threatened to harm himself, according to Florida police and campaign officials. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale was hospitalized Sunday after he threatened to harm himself, according to Florida police and campaign officials. “Brad Parscale is a member of our family and we love him,” said Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh. Parscale was originally hired to run Trump’s 2016 campaign by Jared Kushner, the president’s powerful son-in-law.

NEW YORK President Donald Trump and his Republican Party jointly raised $210 million in August, a robust sum but one dwarfed by the record $364.5 million raised by Democrats and their nominee, Joe Biden. Both campaigns are raising massive amounts of money but have very different priorities about how to spend it, said Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien. The Trump campaign, however, faces questions about how it has managed to lose a massive financial advantage. Trump campaign officials have kicked off a review of expenditures, including those authorized by former campaign manager Brad Parscale, who was demoted this summer. But even Parscales internal critics give him credit for helping the Trump campaign construct an unparalleled Republican operation to attract small donors online.

SAN ANTONIO Working to shore up historically red Texas, Republican President Donald Trump's reelection campaign launched a bus tour of the state here Thursday where Lt. Gov. "Welcome to the Trump bus tour in Texas," Patrick said in his first remarks to reporters off the bus, before quickly volunteering: "We are absolutely 100% confident that President Donald Trump will carry Texas" and "solidly" so. "That's all just a little bit of smoke and mirrors," said Parscale, who was Trump's campaign manager earlier this election cycle. Still, the existence of a bus tour two months out from the election, no less seemed to speak for itself. "It's nice to the lieutenant governor and part of [Trump's campaign] staff, but yeah, it'd be nice for him to come back again."

Trump communications director Tim Murtaugh disputed the allegations and said the "campaign complies with all campaign finance laws and FEC regulations.Most of the payments by Trump's campaign committees were made to American Made Media Consultants, which has received at least $177 million since 2018, according to FEC records. The campaign said that American Made Media Consultants was formed to purchase advertising directly and save money by not relying on middlemen. It builds efficiencies and saves the campaign money by providing these in-house services that otherwise would be done by outside vendors, Murtaugh said. "The campaign reports all payments to AMMC as required by the FEC.Brendan Fischer, an attorney with the Campaign Legal Center, said the campaign is improperly avoiding mandatory disclosure. This illegal conduit scheme leaves voters in the dark about the entities working for the Trump campaign, the nature of their services, and the full amount they are paid," said Brendan Fischer, an attorney with the Campaign Legal Center.

Trumps long-in-coming campaign shakeup rearranged some big job titles but isn't likely to change the identity of the person truly in charge of day-to-day operations: Kushner. But it also shows a new willingness by Trump to diversify his inner circle, even if Kushner remains at the helm. That process began when Trump first elevated Stepien to senior adviser and returned Jason Miller to the campaign last month. We have a better team, better voter information, a better ground game, better fundraising, and most importantly, a better candidate with a better record, Stepien said. Despite the campaign shakeup, most in the GOP believe the candidate will determine his own fate.

(AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)WASHINGTON President Donald Trump shook up his campaign staff amid sinking poll numbers less than four months before the election, replacing campaign manager Brad Parscale with veteran GOP operative Bill Stepien. I am pleased to announce that Bill Stepien has been promoted to the role of Trump Campaign Manager, Trump said Wednesday on Facebook. Chris Christie and serving as Trumps national field director in 2016. Parscales digital advertising firm was among the campaigns most significant vendors, and some in Trumps orbit have alleged that the former campaign manager was profiting off the presidents reelection. Schultz is now at the Democratic National Committee, helping lead the joint battleground strategy among the national party, the Biden campaign and state parties.

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump shook up his campaign staff Wednesday, replacing campaign manager Brad Parscale with veteran GOP operative Bill Stepien. Trump and Parscales relationship had been strained since a Tulsa, Oklahoma, rally that drew a dismal crowd, infuriating the president. Parscale, a political novice, ran Trumps digital advertising in 2016 and was credited with helping bring about his surprise victory. Stepien has been in politics for years, working for former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and serving as Trumps national field director in 2016.

The aides include Betsy DeVos, the education secretary who has permanent absentee voting status in her home state of Michigan. Two other senior Trump campaign officials chief operating officer Michael Glassner and deputy campaign manager Bill Stepien have repeatedly voted by mail in New Jersey. Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign's communications director, defended the Trump aides who have voted by mail. Yet its unclear if he traveled to San Antonio, where his presence would have disqualified him from voting absentee. Glassner and Stepien have both voted repeatedly by mail in New Jersey, where Glassner has voted absentee four times since 2016.

Teens on social media are celebrating the success of an online prank to sabotage President Donald Trump’s rally, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where officials anticipated massive crowds, the New York Times reports. Celebrating a not-so-full arena, teens on social media revealed how they pulled off the stunt. According to the report, the trend quickly spread on TikTok, where multiple videos of users encouraging each other to register for the rally and intentionally not show up reached millions of views. “These kids are smart, and they thought of everything.”According to the Times, TikTok users and fans of Korean pop music groups claimed to have registered potentially hundreds of thousands of tickets for Trump’s rally. According to the Times, Twitter users were quick to declare their victory after seeing the crowd size.

President Donald Trump, center, walk toward the stage while supporters cheer during his campaign rally at BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla., Saturday, June 20, 2020. (Ian Maule/Tulsa World via AP)OAKLAND, Calif. Did teens, TikTok users and Korean pop music fans troll the president of the United States? Reached by telephone Sunday, Schmidt called the rally an unmitigated disaster days after Trump campaign chairman Brad Parscale tweeted that more than a million people requested tickets for the rally through Trumps campaign website. Reporters who wrote gleefully about TikTok and K-Pop fans without contacting the campaign for comment behaved unprofessionally and were willing dupes to the charade." No matter who signs up or if they go to a rally, Trump gets data to train retargeting on Facebook.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)WASHINGTON President Donald Trump's campaign is requesting a fourth debate with his presumptive Democratic rival, citing an expected surge in mail and absentee voting this fall because of the coronavirus. Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani made the request Thursday in a call with Frank Fahrenkopf, the co-chair of the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates. Fahrenkopf indicated that the debates commission would take the Trump campaign's suggestions under advisement, the person said. He played a similar role in 2016 after Paul Manafort was ousted as Trump campaign chairman. The commission has organized every general election presidential debate since 1988.