Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumRecords Confirm First Energy Dark Money Payment Of $163K; May Have Paid $5 Million To Trumpy 501c4
Records provided by FirstEnergy Corp.s Maryland utility show some of its customers monthly payments in 2017 were secretly flowing to a dark money group formed earlier the same year to help further former President Trumps agenda. The records show Potomac Edison paid $163,000 that year to the pro-Trump group America First Policies Inc., which was founded by some of Trumps top administration and campaign officials to promote the presidents agenda.
The America First payment, made around the time FirstEnergy was pressing the Trump administration and the Department of Energy for help to rescue struggling coal and nuclear plants, was revealed as part of an ongoing Maryland Public Service Commission investigation. The contribution by Potomac Edison was likely just a fraction of what FirstEnergy companies sent the pro-Trump 501c(4) group in 2017. And it is among millions of dollars in payments by FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries to various dark money groups that arent required to list their donors.
EDIT
The $163,000 payment thats listed among hundreds of pages of records in the Maryland investigation is the only hard link between FirstEnergy and America First. But records suggest the pro-Trump nonprofit was the dark money group that received a much larger donation thats cited in a deferred prosecution agreement between FirstEnergy and federal prosecutors (Energywire, July 23, 2021). In the agreement, FirstEnergy admitted to making a $5 million payment to a dark money group connected with a federal official on May 1, 2017. The 501c(4) social welfare group isnt named, but America First tax records show the group received a single $5 million contribution during the same year. It was the single largest contribution received from any donor, according to the records.
EDIT
The America First contribution was among hundreds of pages of records provided to the Maryland PSC that detailed payments by Potomac Edison over a decade. The payments are categorized by FERC regulatory accounts. Many of them are classified as outside services. Other payments listed include $60,000 to Generation Now, the Ohio dark money group linked to former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R), who is described by federal prosecutors as masterminding the scheme to pass House Bill 6. Householder is set to go to trial in January on racketeering charges. He has pleaded not guilty. Another payment for $29,250 went to Hardworking Ohioans, a group that supported Householder-backed candidates. And Potomac Edison paid $32,600 to Freedom Frontier, a dark money group linked to Nick Ayers, former Vice President Mike Pences former chief of staff.
EDIT
https://www.eenews.net/articles/firstenergy-utility-gave-to-pro-trump-dark-money-group/
empedocles
(15,751 posts)randr
(12,408 posts)bribes and extortions