At the end of March, the political battleground over AI looked set to be joined by a new heavy weight: a MAGA-friendly advocacy group with a claimed $100m war chest run by former White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich. In a statement accompanying the announcement, Trump adviser David Sacks welcomed the venture, saying it would “play a critical role in advancing the innovation agenda championed by President Trump and this administration.”
The advocacy group, established as a 501(c)(4) called Innovation Council Action, was expected to spin out a super PAC to push its deregulatory agenda, joining five others related to AI that have collectively spent more than $44m on the midterms.
Almost three months later we’ve so far heard surprisingly little from the new gorilla on the block, which reports at the time suggested was likely to spend on Trump-aligned candidates. A look through federal and state government records shows, as far as we can tell, no spending, and some slightly strange goings on.
On April 29 Charles Gantt, officer and director of the Innovation Council Action 501(c)(4), filed to dissolve it, before refiling to revoke the dissolution just 11 minutes later. Gantt is treasurer of the MAGA Inc PAC Budowich founded and used to direct.
