UNTANGLING THE MAGA REBELLION NETWORK

Networking Spotlight: Leonard Leo

President Donald J. Trump hosts a dinner Monday evening, September 25, 2017, in the Blue Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., with Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America [Project 2025 A.B.M.]; Tim Phillips, president of the Americans for Prosperity [Koch brothers founded]; Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union; Leonard Leo [Fifth on the right-hand side wearing eyeglasses], executive vice president of the The Federalist Society; Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition; Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of the Susan B. Anthony List [Project 2025 A.B.M.]; Ed Feulner, Founder and Acting President of The Heritage Foundation [Project 2025’s home organization]; Tim Goeglein, vice president of external relations, Focus on the Family [Parent group of Family Research Council a Project 2025 A.B.M.]; and Bob McEwen, former congressman and Executive Director of the Council for National Policy. (Official White House Photos by Shealah Craighead)¹

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Networking Spotlight: Leonard Leo

Online Resource Introduction: Accountable.US

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Untangling the MAGA network means tangling with one name above all others, Leonard Leo.

The MAGA network is not in any way shape or form easy to untangle. There are uncountable numbers of organizations and individuals involved, all of whom share one single common quality, that of being politically and socially far-right conservative.

Leonard Leo is perhaps the epitomization of a MAGA conservative; dubbed by Accountable.US, as “Mr. MAGA”² and described as the “Architect of the Right-Wing Agenda.”³

As mentioned above the MAGA network is incredibly intricate and Leonard Leo perhaps more than any other single individual can be found connected to or directly involved with a very significant number of conservative organizations, and individuals in both the private and public sectors who in every case is joined at the hip in some way or another with Leonard in his avowed goal to “crush liberal dominance”⁴ in America. As I prepared for this edition of Untangling the MAGA Network I quickly came to realize just how important he is to the MAGA network efforts to subvert and supplant liberal democracy with a conservative dystopia that serves the wealthy first and foremost with no consequences suffered by them while deflecting and saddling all costs and consequences upon the less than wealthy, which is probably just about anyone reading these words.

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Online Resource Introduction: Accountable.US

The excerpt below is a statement of purpose from their “About” webpage:

Accountable.US (A.US) is a nonpartisan, 501(c)3 organization that shines a light on special interests that too often wield unchecked power and influence in Washington and beyond.

We conduct in-depth investigations to expose conflicts of interest and then share our findings with the media, public, policymakers, and allies in real-time. We fill a distinct and critical role by holding corporations and public officials accountable for their actions.

Our work helps create an economy that works for everyone, a democracy that functions, and a sustainable environment for future generations.⁵

On their about page they also provide a short statement about their values and financial disclosure information; this webpage can be accessed via the following link: About Accountable.US

To start our focus on Leonard Leo we need only to look to the news reports published this past week in which Leonard Leo was one of two prominently featured individuals.

From a news report published by The Guardian Thursday November 30, it was reported that,

Watchdog groups applauded Democrats on the US Senate judiciary committee after they voted on Thursday to subpoena the influential rightwing donor Harlan Crow and activist Leonard Leo, for information regarding gifts to the conservative justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas that have fueled an ethics scandal.⁶

Comments about Leonard Leo made by the president of the watchdog group Accountable.US, Caroline Ciccone, were quoted in the above news report by The Guardian such as the following example:

“Thanks to billionaire benefactor Harlan Crow and matchmaker Leonard Leo, a full-blown corruption crisis has plagued our supreme court for months. The justices’ countless ethics violations – from undisclosed lavish gifts to influence-peddling in elite circles – have caused public trust in the court to plummet to record lows.

“But despite growing calls for reform, Chief Justice Roberts has refused to act.”⁷

The US Senate Judiciary committee had been trying to secure Leonard Leo’s cooperation since the first quarter of this year, but Leo has been openly uncooperative from the beginning, and his response to the subpoena has been to state publicly that he will not cooperate. His efforts to avoid complying with legitimate congressional inquires has been described earlier this year in July by Matt Ford of The New Republic as being a “Slippery Trick for Dodging the Scrutiny of Congress” by which “The Federalist Society’s leader is hoping to pluck a “get out of jail free” card from Donald Trump’s back pocket” as observed in the following excerpt,

“When Congress seeks information ‘needed for intelligent legislative action,’ it ‘unquestionably’ remains ‘the duty of all citizens to cooperate,’” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for a 7–2 majority, quoting from precedent. “Congressional subpoenas for information from the President, however, implicate special concerns regarding the separation of powers. The courts below did not take adequate account of those concerns.” Leo and others have contended that those concerns also apply to Congress’s interactions with the Supreme Court, and by extension to him.⁸

It was also reported in August of this year by Heidi Przybyla at Politico that “Washington D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb is investigating judicial activist Leonard Leo and his network of nonprofit groups” and that “Leo played a behind-the-scenes role in the nominations of all three of the former president’s Supreme Court justices and promoted them through his multi-billion-dollar network of nonprofits.”⁹

A “multi-billion-dollar network of nonprofits” this is what we have to contend with in the fight to save our Republic.

On top of which Leonard Leo’s influence is not restricted to the private sector, as other reporting from The Guardian, published earlier in August, brought to light a genuinely questionable connection between Judge Aileen Cannon and Leonard Leo, Cannon who had been assigned to the classified documents case being brought against Trump apparently “was from an emerging rightwing cadre of the judiciary – a cabal of conservative judges created by Leonard Leo, the ultimate Republican kingmaker and a close Trump ally.”¹⁰

Further in the same news report we learn that:

The judge’s financial disclosure form for 2021, which was reviewed by Accountable.US, a liberal-leaning watchdog group that tracks government corruption, shows that she was reimbursed by George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School for a six day trip to “colloquium seminar” held at a resort and spa in Montana in September.

The law school was renamed after Scalia, a conservative supreme court justice in 2016 – months after his death – “the result,” the New York Times reported, “of a $30 million gift brokered by Leonard Leo.” George Mason University intended the Antonin Scalia school to become “a Yale or Harvard of conservative legal scholarship and influence”, the Times wrote.¹¹

Cannon’s connection to Leo appears to more than just coincidental and superficial,

There is no suggestion that Leo, who has worked as an adviser to Trump and is seen as the one of the most influential conservative activists in the US, directly funded the trips. But his influence runs so deep in conservative circles that other ties also exist between him and Cannon.

She has been a member of the conservative Federalist Society, which Leo co-chairs, since 2005. The society, its website states, is “a group of conservatives and libertarians dedicated to reforming the current legal order”.¹²

Near the end of the news report we find Kyle Herrig, senior adviser at Accountable.US being quoted as saying,

“Leonard Leo has written the playbook on judicial influence-peddling. It’s no surprise that Judge Cannon has benefited from Leo’s well-funded network,”

“Over decades, Leo has used shady tactics to curry favor with judges at all levels in service of his ultimate goal: to force an extreme, radical agenda on Americans.”¹³

In other detailed reporting about the Leo-Cannon connection and the “colloquium seminar” in question by Truthout we also learn the following information,

Unlike in recent scandals involving Justice Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, Cannon reported the gift on her 2021 financial disclosure form. But it’s unclear why the trip was reimbursed to begin with — though it’s relatively common for judges to have trips for speaking engagements paid for, Cannon isn’t listed as a speaker or teacher in the agenda for the gathering…

A six-night stay at the Sage Lodge would likely cost several thousand dollars. A stay in a typical single bed room for the same time period in 2024, for instance, would be roughly $5,600 after taxes and fees, according to the lodge’s website.¹⁴

Having now set out some recent contexts involving Leonard Leo let us look at some of the excellent and important work being produced by Accountable.US.

Due to the outsized influence and reach of Leonard Leo’s activist networking efforts Accountable.US has devoted considerable space to keeping up with and reporting on Leo, for instance they have a dedicated webpage within their primary website as found at the following linked to webpage title: Leonard Leo: Architect of the Right-Wing Agenda with the following three opening sentences they capture the essence of Leonard’s efforts and focus,

Leonard Leo is a zealous conservative activist working to strip Americans of rights and enrich himself and the corrupt special interests who fund him.

He’s willing to erode democracy and endanger Americans to serve himself and his radical agenda.

Leo has access to a $1.6 billion slush fund to advance his extreme views.¹⁵

The main landing page dedicated to Leonard Leo provides brief descriptions about four significant areas of concern that Accountable.US emphasizes about Leo which are as follows: “Leo’s been at the center of the right-wing’s court capture campaign since the very beginning,” “Leo orchestrated the decades-long campaign to overturn Roe v. Wade,” “Leo’s in the business of voter suppression,” and last but certainly not least “Leo operates a growing web of nonprofits infusing millions into campaigns and judicial nominations.” Further down on the page they provide a regularly changing listing of their most current reporting on Leo; Using their website’s search function reveals no less than fifty individual reports focused on Leo that span several categories and show his interactions with numerous people from a fantastically wide spectrum of individuals. The three most current press releases top listed at this webpage by title are,

Tax Filings Reveal Right-Wing Groups Dumped Millions Into Extreme Causes November 30, 2023

Leo Network Nonprofit Filings Reveal More Self-Enrichment, Continued Circular Profit Scheme November 28, 2023

Right-Wing Judges Tied to Leonard Leo’s Extremist Network Move to Gut Voting Protections November 20, 2023¹⁶

Of special note with regards to Leonard Leo and other MAGA topics that need to be exposed and reported on are subject specific projects created and developed by Accountable.US as can be accessed via the links located at the bottom of the website’s many webpages, as can be seen in the screen shot shown below:

The following leads to the project titled, Leonard Leo: Mr. MAGA and is well worth checking out as can be seen from its opening sentences,

Leonard Leo: Mr. MAGA

Leonard Leo is the driving force behind the MAGA agenda to strip Americans of their rights, erode democracy, and reward special interests. In the process, he enriches himself and his allies.¹⁷

Accountable.US covers a wide range of important individuals, issues, subjects, and topics; please be sure to check them out and bookmark and visit their website often for the latest information about many of the battle-lines in the fight to preserve our liberal Republic.

In view of the fact that Leonard Leo has such an overwhelmingly large place within the MAGA network I will be writing an essay that focuses solely on the many different and important areas of influence he exerts, most especially with regards to MAGA Christian nationalism and the convoluted conflations of politics and religion that drives the surreptitious efforts of the extremely wealthy patrons of the MAGA Rebellion.

Robert J. Rei, December 3, 2023

"There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self." -Aldous Huxley

1. “File:President Donald J. Trump’s Dinner with Grassroots Leaders 01.jpg” Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:President_Donald_J._Trump%E2%80%99s_Dinner_with_Grassroots_Leaders_01.jpg (Emphases by RJR, “Project 2025 A.B.M.”={Advisory Board Member})

2. "Leonard Leo: Mr. MAGA” Accountable.US, undated, https://leonardleo.org/ “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.”

3. "Leonard Leo: Architect of the Right-Wing Agenda” Accountable.US, undated, https://accountable.us/leonard-leo/

4. "Inside the “Private and Confidential” Conservative Group That Promises to “Crush Liberal Dominance” Leonard Leo, a key architect of the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority, is now the chairman of Teneo Network, a group that aims to influence all aspects of American politics and culture.” Andy Kroll and Andrea Bernstein, ProPublica, and Nick Surgey, Documented, March 9, 2023, ProPublica, https://www.propublica.org/article/leonard-leo-teneo-videos-documents

5. "About” Accountable.US, undated, https://accountable.us/about/

6. "US ethics groups hail Senate subpoenas for Leonard Leo and Harlan Crow” Martin Pengelly (in Washington), November 30, 2023, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/nov/30/supreme-court-ethics-scandal-leonard-leo-harlan-crow

7. Ibidem

8. "Leonard Leo’s Slippery Trick for Dodging the Scrutiny of Congress” Matt Ford, July 27, 2023, The New Republic, https://newrepublic.com/article/174631/leonard-leo-mazars-ethics-investigation

9. "D.C. Attorney General is probing Leonard Leo’s network The Federalist Society co-chair and ex-Trump judicial adviser has utilized nonprofit groups to collect more than $1 billion for conservative causes.” Heidi Przybyla, August 22, 2023, Politico, https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/22/d-c-attorney-general-is-probing-leonard-leos-network-00112331

10. "The kingmaking Trump ally behind a cadre of rightwing judges Aileen Cannon, the judge assigned to the documents case, is under increasing scrutiny – reflecting Leonard Leo’s impact on the US judiciary” Adam Gabbatt, August 11, 2023, The Guardian, https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/11/leonard-leo-aileen-cannon-trump-conservative-judges

11. Ibidem

12. Ibidem

13. Ibidem

14. "New Report Reveals Link Between Judge Aileen Cannon and Leonard Leo” Sharon Zhang, August 11, 2023, Truthout, https://truthout.org/articles/new-report-reveals-link-between-judge-aileen-cannon-and-leonard-leo/

15. "Leonard Leo: Architect of the Right-Wing Agenda” Accountable.US, undated, https://accountable.us/leonard-leo/

16. Ibidem

17. "Leonard Leo: Ultra-Conservative Kingpin” Accountable.US, undated, https://leonardleo.org/