Australia: New report cites companies that donated to US congress members who voted against certifying 2020 presidential election results
"Australia: The connection between Australian companies and U.S. Congress members who voted against certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election – Democracy, human rights and rule of law concerns", 20 August 2024
According to the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC) website, the following three multinationals, two headquartered in Australia and the third (Rio Tinto) with joint head offices in Australia and United Kingdom, have U.S. subsidiaries whose Political Action Committees (PACs) have donated directly to the campaigns of U.S. Congress members after they voted against certifying the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. ...
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- Austal (a multinational ship-building company and defence contractor): The PAC of its U.S. subsidiary has donated directly to the campaigns of 11 U.S. Congress members after they voted against certifying the 2020 election results.
- CSL Limited (a multinational biotechnology company): The PAC of its U.S. subsidiary has donated directly to the campaigns of 2 U.S. Congress members after they voted against certifying the 2020 election results.
- Rio Tinto (a multinational metals and mining corporation with joint head offices in Melbourne, Australia and London, United Kingdom): The PAC of its U.S. subsidiary has donated directly to the campaigns of 2 U.S. Congress members after they voted against certifying the 2020 election results, and to the victory fund of another U.S. Congress member after he voted against certifying the 2020 election results.
...According to the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC) website, the PAC of each of the trade associations below has donated to certain U.S. Congress members after they voted against certifying the 2020 election results.
- Austal...
- CSL Limited...
- Endeavour Energy...
- Rio Tinto...
- South32...
- TasNetworks...
- TNA Solutions...
We communicated with each of the companies ... in advance of this briefing, inviting them to respond to the publicly-available information about donations .... As of the date of this briefing, none of the companies or trade associations had responded to us. ...
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When companies and trade associations fund the campaigns of candidates after they voted to overturn results of an election which the courts had ruled was fair, this raises concerns about respect for internationally-recognized standards on free and fair elections, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. ...
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