‘Right-wing misinformation’ newspaper gave a GOP presidential candidate up to $5M in salary

Long-shot Republican presidential candidate Larry Elder made between $1 million and $5 million from The Epoch Times, according to a new financial disclosure submitted three months past a federal deadline.

The Epoch Times — accused by the New York Times of being “a leading purveyor of right-wing misinformation” — spent heavily on Facebook ads for Donald Trump in 2020 and was later banned from the platform for violating political transparency rules. The Epoch Times is associated with the Chinese religious movement Falun Gong.

Elder’s filing, covering the past year and first reported by Raw Story on Monday, characterized his earnings from The Epoch Times as “salary.”

As Politico reporter Kimberly Leonard observed, Elder failed to report the exact amount of the money as required by federal regulators.

“Despite facing numerous challenges and setbacks, we have never lost hope in our mission to report the truth. Our commitment to journalistic integrity has not wavered, even in the face of adversity,” The Epoch Times states on its “about us” page.

Its stated vision: “To be recognized as the ‘paper of record,’ the world’s most trusted and admired media company, and the organization that will restore, by its example, the best practices and highest principles of journalism.”

Neither Elder nor The Epoch Times responded immediately to requests for comment.

ALSO READ: Trump earned $250,000 from gay Republican event: disclosure

Before he announced his run for president in April, Elder had a talk show on EpochTV that promoted far-right political views.

Raw Story reported in July that Elder, a tough-on-crime conservative, missed a May 20 deadline to file the financial disclosure. Elder then asked federal regulators for an extension, saying he didn’t know about the requirement.

The FEC granted an extension to Aug. 18.

Elder revealed multiple additional sources of income on the federal financial disclosure, including salaries each in the $100,001 to $1 million range from Relief Factor, a pain relief supplement, and Old Glory Bank, where he serves as a director alongside 2016 presidential candidate Ben Carson, who later became Trump’s secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Elder also reported salaries from a machining company, CNC Broach Tools, educational consultancy Yrefy and media companies Creators Syndicate, Breaking Battlegrounds and Salem Radio Network.

His consulting for Elder for America and Baric and Associates earned him up to $1.5 million collectively, according to the disclosure.

ALSO READ: Trump maintains trademarks with Russia, China and numerous other U.S. enemies and frenemies

Elder, who has been a vocal opponent of abortion rights, earned up to $370,000 additional income from honorariums, including from anti-abortion centers like the Crisis Pregnancy Clinic of Southern California and Avenues Pregnancy Clinics.

Elder is not slated to appear in the Republican Party’s first presidential candidate debate on Wednesday in Milwaukee, with the Republican National Committee ruling he didn’t meet pre-set fundraising and polling thresholds.

Elder has disputed the ruling, and on Tuesday, asked his supporters to contribute to a lawsuit against the RNC, accusing it of unfairly sidelining him.

“The RNC told us they would be fair in their qualification for the August debate happening tomorrow night,” an email solicitation said. “They lied. And to prove their lies, we’re going to take them on in court.”

Elder contends he met the RNC’s criteria for participation.


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New York Republican gubernatorial nominee Bruce Blakeman erupted in anger on Thursday, spilling a fight among New York MAGA out into the open.

Blakeman, the executive of Nassau County on Long Island, was given President Donald Trump's endorsement after his actual preference for the seat, Upstate New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, dropped her own bid for governor. Ultimately, Blakeman lost so badly that he isn't even on track to win his own county.

In a rant on X, Blakeman appeared to blame the shellacking the broader New York GOP got on Stefanik's decision to give up.

"Elise Stefanik is a selfish, do nothing (sic) politician that didn’t lift a finger to help Republican candidates in New York this year. She had one moment of glory in what was otherwise an unremarkable career," wrote Blakeman — presumably referring to either Stefanik's high-profile tirade against the first Trump impeachment, or her stint as House Republican Conference Chair after MAGA leadership forced former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) out of the role.

But other Republicans in New York didn't take this attack on Stefanik lying down — including Inna Vernikov, the Republican Whip of the New York City Council.

"Elise Stefanic [sic] was and is a star in the Republican Party," wrote Vernikov on X. "You should have never primaried her. Nassau County ran a grift, pushed out a very competent & worthy candidate in Elise, and lied to voters and donors about your prospects via fake polling."

"No elected Republican with half of a brain ever believed you had a shot of winning governor and beating Hochul," she continued. "Nassau thought they were smarter than everyone else ... At her young age, Elise did more for our country and party, and accomplished more for New York, especially for its Jewish community and college students, than you and the entire Nassau County boys' club can ever imagine possible. She has got more intelligence, charisma, political acumen, courage and grit than all of you combined and you have some chutzpah to attack her after your failed grift of a campaign."

Vernikov ended by calling Blakeman's post "petty and childish" and adding, "Don’t be bitter. Reflect on your own missteps."

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President Donald Trump's newest effort to cement his White House makeover drew a wave of ridicule from critics who say it reeks of hypocrisy.

Trump on Thursday signed a proclamation aimed at locking the Oval Office and Cabinet Room into their redesigned states, the Associated Press reported. During the signing, Trump said the document would make both rooms "a landmark for the ages" and that any major future alterations would need Congress to sign off.

Critics were quick to note that Trump never sought lawmakers' blessing before tearing down the White House's East Wing to make way for his ballroom.

"The same man who tore down the East Wing now wants to lecture America about historic preservation," progressive commentator Alex Cole posted on X. "The hypocrisy is spectacular."

Cole went further in a separate post, arguing that Trump was guarding "his gold-plated midlife crisis" after Republicans "got demolished at the ballot box."

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) seized on the same contrast, declaring that voters had handed Republicans "a clear and massive repudiation of the harmful MAGA agenda."

"And this is what trump is focused on?" the congressman asked. "His furniture?"

Political scientist Norman Ornstein, who was a consultant for the show Veep, dismissed the move outright. "Of course it is bulls—," he wrote. "Any executive order can be altered by another executive order."

Attorney Jeffrey Evan Gold acknowledged the legal question remains unsettled but argued the next president has the implied power to undo it unless the Supreme Court steps in. "There is no way even this Court will save Trump's decor, which every new pres changes," he added.

University of California San Diego political science professor Branislav Slantchev mocked Trump for thinking he could protect his handiwork forever when he "bulldozes half of the White House without congressional permission."

Others reacted with disbelief. Author and activist Amy Siskind declared that Trump "has lost his natural mind," while progressive commentator Brian Tyler Cohen sarcastically thanked God that "someone is protecting the White House from being destroyed."

President Donald Trump took to his social media platform with a gloomy tantrum about the stock market and insults for his political opponents.

In a Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump blamed the election results for what he called one of the worst days in stock market history, lamenting that it was "such a sad thing to watch!" He claimed it had taken "so much work" to push the market to record heights, and he told followers their 401(k)s had dropped as a result.

"Remember, it wasn't Republicans, it was Dumocrats," Trump insisted. He closed with a vague vow that the country would "soon, one way or the other" be "BIGGER AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE."

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