Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United, issued the following statement in response to yesterday’s court filing by the Internal Revenue Service that permits churches and other religious organizations to endorse political candidates, undermining a decades-long ban on political activity by tax-exempt nonprofits: 

“Enabling churches to engage in political activity has been a longstanding goal of right-wing groups and Big Money special interests seeking to open a new pipeline for unlimited, anonymous money to flood our political system.

“By undercutting the Johnson Amendment, which has been in effect since 1954, the Trump administration is giving dark money groups the green light to exploit religious institutions and weaponize their vast networks of loyal followers for political gain. Megadonors will now have the ability to funnel cash to religious organizations and then leverage those vast networks to push political messages and get around campaign finance and coordination limits to support candidates—all while getting a tax break to do it.  

“In a week of big giveaways to his billionaire donors, this is yet another blatant abuse of power by Donald Trump and his corrupt administration to rig the system for their political gain.” 

Muller, a nationally recognized expert on campaign finance regulation, is available for further comment on this development and its wider impact on democracy and campaign finance integrity.

To request an interview, please contact: Kolby Lee (kolbylee@endcitizensunited.org)