Kanye West has spent nearly $6M of his own money on what is increasingly looking like a futile bid for the White House in November, with some of the companies he has parcelled out cash to linked to past Republican campaigns.
The billionaire rapper’s latest links to Republican Party operatives are likely to deepen suspicions that West is just a Trojan horse meant to siphon votes from Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Due to the funding, West likely to appear on the ballot in at least 12 states — including swing states like Minnesota and Iowa.
While West’s Birthday Party initially missed an FEC deadline, his self-funded campaign has since made its spending public, with West himself loaning $6.8 million to cover expenses from July 15th to August 31st. Contributions from followers are $11 000 in total.
From the funds disbursed by West’s campaign, Atlas Strategy Group, was paid nearly $1.3 million while Arizona based Fortified Consulting was paid $1.5 million with another $1.2 million owed to it in outstanding debt. Long Island-based Millennial Strategies was paid $2.6 million.
The listed companies’ links to Republican operatives look likely to strengthen the resolve the view of critics that West, who has come out openly of Trump in the past, has been deployed as a high profile spoiler.
Fortified Consulting has the address as Lincoln Strategy Group, which led by Nathan Sproul, who worked for President Trump’s campaign in 2016 and was formerly the executive director of the Arizona Republican Party.
Atlas Strategy Group is led by Greg Keller, a longtime Republican operative. Keller is the former executive director of the American Conservative Union and has met with President Trump to interview as a campaign manager for his 2016 campaign.
