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Leonard Leo
Leonard Leo is the driving force behind an extreme agenda to strip Americans of their rights, erode democracy, and reward special interests. In the process, he enriches himself and his allies.
Leo found his way into the Trump inner circle and orchestrated a financial windfall for Trump’s senior advisor Kellyanne Conway. Once inside, he enacted the far-right’s agenda: stacking the judiciary using his dark money network, including the Supreme Court with extreme right-wing activists like Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Now, Leo has a $1.6 billion slush fund to remake American society in his image by restricting reproductive rights, eroding consumer protections, attempting to overturn free and fair elections, and ensuring fossil fuel companies rake in profits while the climate crisis rages—and he’s using shady practices to get rich at the same time.
We’re already feeling the effects of Leo’s decades-long court capture campaign – from bankrolling the attorneys general who successfully overturned Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan to politically and financially backing members of the judiciary poised to outlaw the abortion pill. Because of Leo and his hand-picked Justices, Americans now have more debt and face continuous threats to their rights.
Leo’s fingerprints are on every part of the political process, too. Leo’s enterprise supports right-wing attorneys general who challenge laws he doesn’t like, funds right-wing organizations to make the legal arguments to overturn the laws he disagrees with, and then stacks the courts with right-wing judges who rule the way he likes. In the end, he gets what he wants and erodes our democratic system in the process.
Leo’s shady practices have landed him in hot water, as the DC Attorney General investigates him and his network, and the Senate Judiciary Committee has authorized subpoenas relating to its Supreme Court ethics probe.
ISSUES & RESEARCH
Our investigative research exposes Leo’s central role in the MAGA movement, the radical right-wing shift of the Republican party. So how did Leo marshal the MAGA agenda?
Leo was crucial in mainstreaming anti-democratic sentiments and election denialism in the Republican party.
He’s working to erode American democracy and clear the way for MAGA Republicans to overturn the next election by funding grassroots “election integrity” groups and challenging any and every voting right. Leo and his cronies think they would do a better job picking the next president than the American voters. Learn more in Mother Jones and our report on the so-called Honest Elections Project.
Leo makes running a nonprofit very profitable for himself and his friends.
In the past six years, Leo and his for-profit firms have taken in at least $73 million from his vast network of right-wing “nonprofits,” a scheme that landed him in hot water with the DC Attorney General. Who knows how much of the $1.6 billion dark money slush fund is already lining his pockets?
Leo is dedicated to kneecapping climate action and “woke” companies.
His nonprofits are working to block any action to mitigate the impacts of climate change, protect his donors in the fossil fuel industry, and dismantle the EPA. His next target? Rooting out so-called “woke-ism” through the Teneo Network, his secretive ecosystem of right-wing politicians, activists, and donors.
Leo orchestrated the decades-long campaign to overturn Roe v. Wade.
He’s been pivotal in moving every piece on the chess board: selecting anti-choice judges for two Presidents, challenging abortion rights at all levels of government, and bankrolling anti-choice advocacy. Now, he’s front and center in the fight to restrict access to abortion pills and waging anti-abortion battles in the states. Learn more in our report on Leo’s Post-Roe campaign.
LATEST ACCOUNTABLE.US REPORTS
ABOUT US
We’re here to hold Leonard Leo, his network, and the corrupt special interests he serves accountable. Our investigative research exposes Leo as the architect of the right-wing agenda and highlights the money he’s raking in from his nonprofit shell game. We’ve launched a campaign to shed light on his vast network of influence, corrupt personal dealings, and extreme activism.
LeonardLeo.org is a project of Accountable.US, a nonpartisan organization that shines a light on corporations and special interests that too often wield unchecked power and influence in Washington and beyond.
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