(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A former communications director for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known for catapulting the congresswoman to victory, reportedly pocketed nearly all the funds he raised to fight the Senate filibuster, according to a scathing Daily Beast report.
Corbin Trent, co-founder of the far-left Justice Democrats and Ocasio-Cortez’s initial communications director, cashed in $140,000 out of the $197,239.61 raised by his political action committee, No Excuses PAC, intended to combat Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., according to FEC filings cited by the Daily Beast.
In stark contrast to his hefty paycheck, the No Excuses PAC allocated a mere $14,831 toward its original anti-filibuster goal. The report estimated that Trent paid himself “nearly 10 times” the amount the PAC invested in combating Manchin and Sinema. Trent’s self-pay totaled over 70% of its raised funds.
The expenditure breakdown includes credit card fees, hotels and payments to accounting firms. Although Trent claimed in 2022 that his income stemmed from television appearances, he has continued paying himself despite not appearing on television since then, the scathing report alleged.
In his LinkedIn profile, the former Ocasio-Cortez aide touted his role as the producer of the Building the Dream podcast, funded by the PAC. However, the Daily Beast discovered that the podcast hasn’t released an episode since late 2021.
In response to the scathing report, Trent defended most expenses as “mostly admin at this point.” The report indicated that a scant $1,552.51 remains out of the funds spent.
The generous pay received by Trent raises concerns regarding the PAC’s legality, according to Jordan Libowitz, communications director of the leftist non-profit CREW.
“If 70 percent of all the money a group raises ends up in your pockets, then the group’s primary purpose is enriching you,” Libowitz said. “Looking at the PAC’s filings, it’s hard to see how its focus is anything other than redirecting donor funds into Trent’s bank account.”
