The Democratic National Committee has filed a new complaint against a major super PAC backing Robert F. Kennedy Jr., accusing President Trump’s biggest donor of backing a third-party candidacy.
In a supplemental complaint filed Thursday against American Values 2024, the DNC said the pro-RFK Jr. super PAC’s monthly disclosure report filed on May 20, 2024, did not accurately disclose the most recent amount Gavin de Becker paid in loans to the group.
De Becker is a longtime friend of RFK Jr. and founder of a California-based security and consulting firm that is the Kennedy campaign’s largest vendor. According to the Democratic National Committee, the group instead disguised the money as “donations” to inflate its levels of support and minimize the extent to which Timothy Mellon, Trump’s biggest donor, is backing the super PAC.
The Biden administration has repeatedly refused requests for Secret Service protection for Kennedy during his campaign, leaving him owed millions of dollars to de Becker’s security firm. Kennedy’s uncle, President John F. Kennedy, and his father, senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, were both assassinated in the 1960s.
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, DC on May 24, 2024. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
RFK Jr. announced in October that he would run for president as an independent, citing dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party establishment.
“The PAC failed to accurately disclose a $4 million payment to Mr. de Becker on February 15, 2024 as a ‘loan’ as evidenced by its reporting that it repaid half of that amount to Mr. de Becker on April 25, 2024. American Values also failed to disclose that an additional $2 million repayment on the February 2024 loan remains outstanding,” the DNC’s complaint states. “This continuing violation continues to mislead the public, the press, and potential donors regarding its support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign. The PAC’s practice of concealing these loans as donations obscures the fact that a major super PAC supporting Mr. Kennedy’s campaign was in the doldrums of fundraising until it was repeatedly bailed out by Timothy Mellon, one of Donald Trump’s largest donors.”
According to the DNC, American Values 2024 reported $21 million in revenue between January and April 2024, and received a $4 million loan from de Becker and a $4 million payment from Shanahan just weeks before Kennedy selected Nicole Shanahan as his running mate.
A billboard put up by the Democratic National Committee in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Feb. 9, 2024, highlights how Kennedy’s super PAC has allegedly received millions of dollars from Timothy Mellon, Donald Trump’s biggest donor. (Emily Elconin/Getty Images via DNC)
“Three-quarters of the remaining $13 million in revenue came from the largest donors to Donald Trump’s super PAC,” the supplemental complaint states, alleging that American Values 2024’s conduct violates the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 and frustrates the FEC’s purpose of “protecting the integrity of the federal campaign finance process by promoting transparency.”
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“Regardless of what AV24 thinks, they are subject to the rules. By continuing to inflate their fundraising numbers and concealing the extent to which Timothy Mellon, Donald Trump’s largest donor, is supporting RFK Jr.’s candidacy, they are not only misunderstanding election law, they are misleading the public,” Mary Beth Cahill, a senior adviser to the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement Friday. “The DNC is here to make sure RFK Jr.’s campaign is playing by the rules and to remind voters that he is an obstructionist for Donald Trump.”
Kennedy is aiming to take part in the first presidential debate, scheduled for June 27, 2024. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Tony Lyons, co-founder of American Values 2024, told CBS News on Thursday that the DNC’s latest complaint is “part of their concerted effort to silence and censor Bobby Kennedy and mislead the public about his views, his policies and his past.”
“We intend to respond officially to the FEC,” Lyons said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the super PAC for additional comment on Sunday.
In March, the Democratic National Committee filed its first FEC complaint against American Values 2024, alleging that the super PAC failed to properly disclose $10 million in payments from De Becker as a “loan” and repaid $9.65 million of it.
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The DNC also filed a complaint in February after the super PAC announced it would help get Kennedy on the ballot in the battleground states of Georgia, Arizona and Michigan, as well as Maryland, Massachusetts, South Carolina and West Virginia.
