The FBI confirmed Thursday that agents are executing a search warrant at the office of a Republican fundraising and consulting firm in Annapolis, Maryland.
Federal agents were seen using trash bags to cover the windows of the Strategic Campaign Group, presumably to block their activity from view, according to WBAL-TV’s David Collins.
The firm, WBAL reported, is known for successfully utilizing technology to advance Republican campaigns nationwide.
While the FBI did confirm to TheBlaze that a raid was taking place, the agency declined to offer any further details about the activity.
The Strategic Campaign Group made headlines in 2014 when Ken Cuccinelli, the 2013 Virginia gubernatorial candidate, sued the “scam PAC” Conservative Strikeforce for false advertising, breach of contract, and unauthorized use of his name and image.
Conservative Strikeforce PAC is owned by the Strategic Campaign Group and chaired by Dennis Whitfield, one of SCG’s senior advisers. Before joining SCG, Whitfield served as the executive vice president of the American Conservative Union, which organizes the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.
Cuccinelli, Virginia’s former attorney general, alleged that the PAC misled its supporters by sending out solicitations and vowing donations would be given to help the Virginia GOP candidate against the election’s eventual winner, Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), according to the Courthouse News Service.
In court filings, Cuccinelli claimed only $10,000 of the “approximately $2.2 million” raised by the Conservative Strikeforce PAC while using his name was ultimately donated to his campaign. He also said the PAC failed to follow through on promises to spend money to aid him in get-out-the-vote efforts, direct mail, phone banks, radio advertisements, and canvassing.
Ultimately, the case was settled in May 2015, when the PAC agreed to pay Cuccinelli’s campaign $85,000 and turn over all of its telephone, email, and direct-mail donor contacts. The Strategic Campaign Group, which made calls on the Conservative Strikeforce PAC’s behalf, also turned over its donor information.
The purpose of the FBI’s raid Thursday of the Strategic Campaign Group’s office was not immediately clear.
