Scandal figures to support Trump 2020
WASHINGTON — A company run by former officials at Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm brought down by a scandal over how it obtained Facebook users' private data, has quietly been working for President Donald Trump's 2020 re-election effort, The Associated Press has learned.
The AP confirmed that at least four former Cambridge Analytica employees are affiliated with Data Propria, a new company specializing in voter and consumer targeting work similar to Cambridge Analytica's efforts before its collapse. The company's former head of product, Matt Oczkowski, leads the new firm, which also includes Cambridge Analytica's former chief data scientist.
Oczkowski denied a link to the Trump campaign, but acknowledged that his new firm has agreed to do 2018 campaign work for the Republican National Committee.
The AP learned of Data Propria's role in Trump's re-election effort as a result of conversations held with political contacts and prospective clients in recent weeks by Oczkowski and Trump's 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale. In one such conversation, which occurred in a public place and was overheard by two AP reporters, Oczkowski said he and Parscale were "doing the president's work for 2020."
In addition, a person familiar with Data Propria's Washington efforts, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect business relationships, confirmed to the AP that Trumprelated 2020 work already had begun at the firm along the lines of Cambridge Analytica's 2016 work.
Both Oczkowski and Parscale told the AP that no Trump re-election work by Data Propria had been planned, but confirmed that Parscale had helped Data Propria line up a successful bid on 2018 midterm polling-related work for the RNC, awarded earlier this week.
Oczkowski had previously told the AP the firm had no intention of seeking Parscale political clients, but now says his young company had changed course.
Parscale told the AP that he has not begun awarding contracts for the 2020 campaign, which he was appointed to manage in March.
Parscale is a part owner of Data Propria's parent company, a publicly traded firm called Cloud Commerce that bought his digital marketing business in August. During the past year, Cloud Commerce has largely rebuilt itself around Parscale's former company, now rebranded Parscale Digital. Parscale sits on Cloud Commerce's board of directors and provides the company with the majority of its $2.9 million in revenue, according to the company's most recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Even though Parscale is not directly receiving money from Data Propria work, he owns a stake equivalent to 22 percent of the company's current equity and Cloud Commerce is obligated to pay him roughly $2 million in special dividends and debt payments related to the purchase of his old business.