GOP group behind anti-Lamb ads is part of probe

The Republican committee behind ads that labeled Conor Lamb a puppet for “D.C. liberals” during his high-profile race for Congress last year is at the center of federal campaign finance charges against two associates of President Donald Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani.

The America First Action committee, a group supporting Mr. Trump’s re-election and candidates who back the Trump agenda, spent $1.1 million in early 2018 on digital, television and direct mail advertising against Mr. Lamb in his race against Republican Rick Saccone for Pennsylvania’s then-18th Congressional District.

Now, a donation made to the committee in the amount of $325,000 by an LLC called Global Energy Producers is the subject of federal scrutiny, as prosecutors allege Florida businessmen Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman made the contribution — among others — in the name of the LLC to “advance their personal financial interests and the political interests of at least one Ukrainian government official with whom they were working.”

According to the federal indictment, the contribution in the sights of federal prosecutors wasn’t made until after May 18, 2018, two months removed from Mr. Lamb’s special election victory in spite of the committee’s spending.

“We knew all of this dark money was coming from far outside of Western Pennsylvania. We just didn’t know how far,” Lamb campaign spokesman Coleman Lamb told Pittsburgh City Paper, which first reported the $1.1 million spending after the spokesman tweeted about it.

America First’s spending in the Western Pennsylvania race began Feb. 23 and ended March 9, about a week and a half before Election Day. It culminated in a series of TV and digital ads, including one called “Big Lie,” which said Mr. Lamb sided with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Obamacare and illegal immigration.

Another ad, titled “Bad Deals,” targeted Mr. Lamb’s record as a federal prosecutor.

The group’s effort was one of several multimillion-dollar campaigns by outside GOP groups to oppose Mr. Lamb. In total, $12 million poured into the race, according to Pro Publica.

Of the $1.1 million, America First spent about $75,000 on postage, production and direct mail printing, $829,000 for television ads produced by the American Media & Advocacy Group and $200,000 on digital advertising with Parscale Strategy.

Parscale Strategy is the firm of Brad Parscale, the director of digital media for Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign who currently is managing Mr. Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign.

Mr. Parscale also was the Trump 2016 campaign’s main liaison to the American Media and Advocacy Group, which was brought on to help the campaign buy TV ad slots to reach specific audiences, PBS reported then.

Beyond the Lamb-Saccone race, America First spent more than $700,000 opposing Democrat George Scott in his 2018 bid for Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District. Mr. Scott lost to incumbent Republican Scott Perry.

In an article posted to America First’s website a month before the 2018 midterms and authored by PennLive, an AFA spokesman said the PAC would spend most of the money on a two-week ad buy hitting Mr. Scott for being “too liberal for us” on energy and taxes.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported last week that the Republican Party of Pennsylvania received a donation from Mr. Parnas, the indicted Giuiliani associate, in October 2016. It refunded the donation, and its executive director said the party had no contact or association with Mr. Parnas beyond it.

It is against federal law for foreign nationals to make political contributions, and for anyone to make contributions in the name of someone else.