‘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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President Donald Trump is nearing a $500 million deal to bail out Spirit Airlines, which would also see the federal government potentially taking a majority equity stake in the troubled ultra-low-cost carrier.

The news resulted in a surge in stock prices for Spirit, which was reportedly on the verge of ceasing all operations and liquidating as soon as this week. But several current and former elected Republican lawmakers were enraged over the news, seeing it as an irresponsible intervention in the free market.

"This is an absolutely TERRIBLE idea. The TARP corporate bailouts were a huge mistake & the government doesn’t know a damn thing about running a failed budget airline (that the Biden admin killed)," wrote Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on X — a reference to the bid for JetBlue and Spirit to merge in 2024 being blocked by an antitrust suit, although in reality a bigger factor in Spirit's demise was the Iran war spiking fuel prices.

"If Spirit’s creditors or other potential investors don’t think they can run it profitably coming out of its second bankruptcy in under two years, I doubt the US Government can either," wrote Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR). "Not the best use of taxpayer dollars."

Meanwhile, former far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who soured on Trump in her final year of office, had a lot to say about the whole ordeal.

"Customers rated Spirit Airlines: poor customer service, uncomfortable, non-reclining seats, and high fees for luggage," she wrote. "But Spirit gets a $500 million dollar taxpayer funded bailout. No you don’t get a DOGE check. No you don’t get a tariff refund check, actually you pay back tariffs by the billions. You get another foreign war that you have to pay for and someone you know gets shipped off to serve in."

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Republican Rep. James Comer made a heated defense and promise not to shield an accomplice of disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffery Epstein after he was criticized for watering down the rules of an investigation.

"I made my position clear: I am not open to a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell," Comer wrote on X in response to an article by Politico reporter Hailey Fuchs.

In the Wednesday article, Fuchs reported that Comer told her that "a lot of people" and fellow members of the House Oversight Committee, which he chairs, want to pardon Maxwell.

"My committee is split on that," Comer is quoted saying in the article, which stated that "Comer himself wasn't in favor."

Despite the clarification of Comer's position on Maxwell, he felt like he needed to reiterate it on X in response to Fuchs posting her article.

"In the future, use my full statement," Comer posted. "Don't post clickbait."

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee penned a letter on April 17 to Comer for "running scared" from the Epstein investigation and allowing informal "roundtables" without rules.

"Republicans are retreating from real hearings and hiding behind roundtables to avoid votes they are losing," House Democrats wrote in the letter.

CNN's Senior White House Correspondent, Kristen Holmes, reported on Wednesday that there is an unspoken reason Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth removed a Navy leader.

Holmes reported that Hegseth may have removed Navy Secretary John Phelan because of his proximity to President Donald Trump, rather than for any job-related reason, because he was a threat to Hegseth's power. Initial reports of Phelan's departure indicated Hegseth may have fired him because he was "too slow on ship reform," Holmes said.

"There's another part of this that I think is always key in a Trump White House, which is proximity to power, and the reason being that Hegseth was annoyed by Phelan because Phelan would go directly to President Trump," Holmes said.

"Now remember this, Phelan was not somebody with military experience," she added. "He was a donor. He and his wife had raised millions of dollars for President Trump. He had a personal relationship with President Trump. And in Trump's White House administration, even the top branches of government, the top cabinet officials know that the closer you are to Donald Trump, the more power you have. So, Hegseth felt like Phelan was going around him, having these direct conversations with President Trump."

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