As Russian Maria Butina Arrested for Trying to Infiltrate NRA, Trump's Treasury Dept. Makes It Easier for "Dark Money" Groups to Hide Secret Donors

As President Donald Trump’s “embarrassing spectacle” of a press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin exacerbated concerns about foreign interference in U.S. elections—and Russian national Maria Butina was charged with conspiracy to act as a Russian agent for trying to infiltrate right-wing American political groups including the NRA—the U.S. Treasury on Monday revealed that it will no longer require certain nonprofits, including “dark money” groups, to disclose donors on their tax returns.

Reporters and politicians alike pointed to Butina’s charges while raising alarm about the rule change, which takes effect immediately:

“The move frees labor unions, issue advocacy organizations, veterans groups, and other nonprofits that do not receive tax-exempt money from meeting confidential disclosure requirements set in place decades ago,” Reuters explained, which further guards the privacy of political groups’ rich donors, who “have complained that the disclosures to the IRS, though not public, were susceptible to media leaks.”

In other words, as writer and journalism educator Dan Gillmor put it, “This is designed to make it easier than ever to inject uncountable, and unaccountable dark money into our politics.”

“This is designed to make it easier than ever to inject uncountable, and unaccountable dark money into our politics.”
—Dan Gillmor, writer and educator

Although U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin claimed in a statement that “the IRS simply does not need tax returns with donor names and addresses to do its job” and “this change will in no way limit transparency,” campaign watchdogs have long warned that such a move could expose U.S. elections to illegal interference from foreign entities.