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Last June, the nationwide grocery and department store chain Target debuted a Pride Month collection in collaboration with self-proclaimed “satanist” designer Erik Carnell. The collection was prominently displayed in many stores across the country and even included items for children. CPAC penned a petition to the Target CEO Brian Cornell to end the collaboration with Carnell and pull the collection from shelves. The petition cited “more than 2,000 products including “tuck friendly” swimsuits, chest binders, music, home furnishings, and products geared toward kids between the ages of 2-8 with phrases like “gender fluid,” “queer all year,” “Bye Bye, Binary,” “Pride 1,2,3” and “I’m not a girl.” Target betrayed its customer base of center-right families with this collection that was clearly intended to confuse and indoctrinate children with a radical, Leftist agenda and push innocent children towards permanently damaging and traumatizing transgender procedures. CPAC called Target out in its petition for its mockery of the beliefs of its customers and the people who have long supported them. “We can no longer tolerate your leftist policy agenda,” the petition declares, “particularly when it facilitates demonic messaging and the destruction of the American family.” Read the petition for yourself and add your name to the list of those demanding Target end its assault on America’s children and stop promoting radical political ideologies. Sign the petition at CPAC.org.

CPAC is continuing its support of President Donald Trump after the jury in Manhattan found him guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records. The verdict was determined from the outset of the trial. It comes as little surprise but still a disappointment that our country has fallen so far as to weaponize its government and justice system against its own citizens and political opponents. This verdict is just another way the Left is desperately trying to stop President Trump from returning to office. “They know that they cannot defeat him at the ballot box, so they will resort to any means necessary, lawful, or otherwise, to prevent him from taking the Oath of Office,” stated CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp in the wake of the guilty verdict. It is a political ploy for the Left to impose their agenda and impede the will of the people, sadly at the expense of our justice system and republic as founded. Like we know many Americans are, CPAC is standing by President Trump because we recognize this latest effort by the Left is meant to discourage us, scare us, and prevent us from being active in elections, from voting, and from sharing our values publicly. As Schlapp stated, “The Left's actions throughout this trial, along with those stalled in the courts, have only served to galvanize support for President Trump.” We will not be threatened into silence but will only shout the conservative message louder and be more determined to secure victory in November.

The state of the country has never been more chaotic, but the state of the conservative party in America has never been more vibrant. Host of The Ben Ferguson Podcast Ben Ferguson delivers a motivating speech at CPAC in DC 2024. A lot is happening in the country to give conservatives reason to lose hope. Our sitting president, Joe Biden, is weak and incompetent. Our children are being indoctrinated and endangered in public schools. The federal government is turning on citizens and political opponents. Nonetheless, conservatives are rising to the occasion and are only strengthening as a movement. “[If] you look at where we are right now as a country, it is a disaster, but [if] you look at where we are right now as a conservative movement, I think we’re in one of the best moments of my entire life,” said Ferguson. President Trump’s 2024 bid for a second presidential term despite being hunted by a skewed justice system gives Ferguson hope, and he encourages other conservatives to feel likewise empowered to protect their children, reform the government, and defend the country. Watch Ferguson’s full remarks on Rumble @CPAC.

Why does such a red state have such a liberal legislature? Coleton Furlow and South Carolina State Senate Candidate Autry Benton discuss South Carolina politics and conservatism on the state level on this episode of Battle Belongs. CPAC rated the South Carolina legislature just 43% conservative overall in 2023, and representatives in the Senate were just 69% conservative. The incumbent, a former Democrat, for District 33, the district Benton is running for, is only rated at 60% with a 37% conservative lifetime rating. Why is such a conservative constituent population represented by such middle-of-the-road officials?  And how do the people of South Carolina change this? “I think it comes down to not compromising and number one, making sure that we are electing true conservatives, true conservative Republicans that believe what Republicans believe, I think, making sure we’re electing those and that we don’t have Rhinos,” theorized Benton. Benton is running to be the change in District 33. He is a native of Conway, South Carolina where he has raised his four children with his high school sweetheart wife, Amanda. He started in public service as a city council member for the city of Conway where he learned a lot about winning races and getting things done in elected office. He is a devout Christian and plans to act on his experience in city government to advocate for the needs of the people of Conway and District 33 informed by his Christian conservative principles. Watch the full conversation on CPAC+ and follow @CPAC and @coletonfurlow for more.

CPAC enthusiastically endorsed President Donald J. Trump for president in the 2024 election before any votes were cast. The work he did in his first term in office to defend life and liberty led to a prosperity this country had not seen since Reagan. He took on the issues Americans are most concerned about. He secured the border, cut taxes, strengthened the military, reopened the American energy industry, protected life, and cut back the size of the federal government. Because of what he did in the past and what he can do again to make our country great, we are proud to continue to endorse President Donald Trump for a second term in 2025. As we stated in our endorsement, we were with him in 2016 on Jan 7 and have always supported him. “Now is the time to unite and support the candidate who best can accomplish what is needed to put America back on track.” We know that Donald J. Trump is the president our country needs right now, and a rigged trial with a fraudulent guilty verdict does not change that. In fact, it is only emboldening Americans to support the man who has weathered so much to support them. CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp stated in response to the guilty verdict, “Make no mistake, their lawfare will backfire. No matter what dastardly deed they come up with, President Donald J. Trump will return to the White House.”

“No one is above the law.”  That is what we hear from Leftists and their accomplices in the media in justifying the Trump persecution.  But no one is beneath the law either.  Everyone deserves a fair playing field.  Indeed, that is the primary responsibility of judges – to protect the rights of the accused from an all-powerful prosecutor.  In the case of New York vs. Donald J. Trump, “Judge” Merchan (and I use the term “judge” loosely) didn’t just fail in his duty to ensure a level playing field, he was essentially an arm of Prosecutor Alvin Bragg’s team.  Nearly every ruling, big or small, went against the President. There are more than sufficient grounds to reverse this travesty on appeal. It is doubtful, however, that President Trump will be vindicated by Election Day, which was the goal of the judge and prosecutor all along. Merchan should never have been selected to be the judge in the Trump case in the first place.  He contributed to Democrat candidates (and was sanctioned for violating the judicial ethics rules for doing so).  His daughter, another left-wing activist, was fundraising off of the Trump persecutions. Merchan had at least an apparent conflict of interest, if not an actual one.  Had Merchan had any integrity, he would have recused himself.  Had the judicial system of New York been fair and competent, it would have forced him to step aside.  Of course, in deep blue Manhattan, neither happened.  But that is only the beginning of a trail of illegitimate decisions by this judge. In the long list of transgressions, here are a few examples of Merchan’s blatant bias: He eliminated observant Jews, who are far more conservative than the average New Yorker, from the jury pool by holding keeping the court in session on Fridays.  (Tellingly, he did not hold court on Wednesdays. Hmmmm… I wonder why?) Merchan allowed for graphic testimony from a porn star.  This case wasn’t about illicit sex.  It was about how money was accounted for. Courts are supposed to prevent highly prejudicial testimony to come into evidence if it doesn’t add to the ability of a jury to find the truth behind the criminal charge. The judge let prosecutors go far and wide in presenting their case, including putting a convicted perjurer on the stand who was caught in blatant lies.  But when the Trump defense team wanted to put their own witnesses on to rebut the charges, Merchan either severely limited what they could say, or excluded them from the trial altogether. Yet, most damaging were the jury instructions, which have a huge impact on the outcome of any case.  This judge allowed jurors to use a cafeteria approach to finding guilt.  A key element of the felony charges was that Trump had to have made accounting errors in furtherance of other unlawful activity.  The prosecution was never required to identify what other conduct formed the basis of that underlying activity to obtain (or defend against) a felony conviction.  Indeed, the judge said that if four jurors determined that the accounting was to commit tax evasion, and four found that was to commit federal election fraud, and another four found it was in furtherance of state election crimes, that would be ok.  Unanimity wasn’t required. Essentially, the judge used his position to make it easy for prosecutors to convict President Trump and nearly impossible for him to prove his innocence.  And that came through loud and clear yesterday.  The general rule of thumb is that juries deliberate about a day for every week a defendant is on trial.  So, we should have expected a verdict in five or six days if they took their obligations seriously.  This jury plowed through 34 charges in less than 13 hours – or less than 20 minutes of deliberation for each count.  There is zero chance a serious jury could have considered all of the evidence for each charge and come to a thoughtful conclusion based solely on that evidence in 20 minutes. The bottom line is that this verdict has more holes than a block of Swiss cheese.  It will ultimately be reversed.  But by then, the political damage will be done.

In an unprecedented and shocking turn of events, a New York jury has found President Trump guilty on all 34 charges in the hush money criminal trial. This disgraceful verdict marks the first time in American history that a former or current president has been labeled a convicted felon. This decision, coming out of Manhattan, reeks of political manipulation and has injected even more uncertainty into an already chaotic election cycle. President Trump, speaking shortly after the verdict, did not mince words. He rightfully called it a “rigged decision” and vowed that “this is far from over.” His allies, outraged by this blatant injustice, have rallied to his defense, condemning the verdict as a politically motivated attack. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was quick to point out the political nature of the trial, stating unequivocally that it was a “purely political exercise.” He also made it clear that the Biden administration had a hand in this travesty, suggesting that the conviction in New York was orchestrated by the Democrats. Johnson’s words resonate with many: “Today is a shameful day in American history. Democrats cheered as they convicted the leader of the opposing party on ridiculous charges, predicated on the testimony of a disbarred, convicted felon.” The weaponization of our justice system has been a hallmark of the Biden Administration, and the decision today is further evidence that Democrats will stop at nothing to silence dissent and crush their political opponents. The American people see this as lawfare, and they know it is wrong—and dangerous. President Trump will rightfully appeal this absurd verdict—and he WILL WIN! Chris LaCivita, a senior campaign adviser to Trump, did not hold back in his response, stating, “The FIX was always in…” This sentiment is echoed by Matt Schlapp, chair of CPAC, who called this a “tragic day in American history” and assured that Trump would win office again. Republicans are not just stopping at the verdict. They are going after the individuals responsible for this travesty. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) condemned the verdict as the corrupt result of a corrupt trial, a corrupt judge, and a corrupt DA. He assured President Trump that they will stand with him now more than ever to save the country. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) was equally vocal, calling the verdict a “complete travesty that makes a mockery of our justice system” and suggesting that it was politically motivated. He didn’t shy away from attacking the judge’s family, emphasizing that Biden and the Trump deranged left will stop at nothing to remain in power. Even Republicans who previously had differences with Trump have come to his defense. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) pointed out the biased nature of the trial, describing it as a process “bent to the political will of the actors involved: a leftist prosecutor, a partisan judge, and a jury reflective of one of the most liberal enclaves in America—all in an effort to ‘get’ Donald Trump.” DeSantis’s statement rings true: “It is often said that no one is above the law, but it is also true that no one is below the law. If the defendant were not Donald Trump, this case would never have been brought.” This verdict is not just an attack on President Trump; it’s an attack on the principles of justice and fairness in America. Despite the mainstream media's attempt to downplay this, the American people see through the charade. President Trump continues to lead President Biden in polling in key battleground states, and this political persecution will only strengthen his resolve and the resolve of his supporters. The fight is far from over. President Trump will appeal this unjust verdict, and we will stand by him every step of the way. The MAGA movement is stronger than ever, and together, we will ensure that justice prevails and that President Trump is rightfully exonerated. America deserves nothing less.

Earlier this month, Germany took an unprecedented step in passing legislation that downgrades the possession and acquisition of child pornography from a felony to a misdemeanor. Celebrated by pro-pedophile groups, this proposal would lower the penalties for these egregious offenses to three-month minimum imprisonment for possession and six months for distribution, which drastically undermines the severity of these horrific crimes. This softening stance is not only a betrayal of the victims but a dangerous precedent that can make perpetrators bolder. Unsurprisingly, California isn’t far behind in this alarming trend. Just last year, progressives in the state took a similar approach when the California Assembly Public Safety Committee blocked a bill that would have classified sex trafficking of minors as a “serious felony.” By refusing to acknowledge the gravity of this crime, these legislators have failed our children, leaving them vulnerable to perpetrators and sending a clear message to the public: these crimes should not be taken seriously. This decision mirrors the dangerous leniency seen in Germany, signaling a troubling shift that could continue to spread if left unchecked. CPAC won’t simply standby and let these attacks on our children go unabated. Last year, we joined with partners in public safety to call on California to take modern slavery seriously. Shortly after the public was made aware of this travesty, lawmakers in the state quickly reversed course and classified trafficking as the serious crime that it is. The evidence is clear: raising awareness, advocating for stronger legislation, and holding our leaders accountable are imperative in this fight to hold traffickers accountable. Our laws must reflect the severity of crimes against children, ensuring justice and safety for the most vulnerable among us. Let’s stand united against any attempt to diminish the protection of our children, ensuring these dangerous trends are halted in their tracks.

Pam Bondi joins Mercedes Schlapp on this episode of America Uncanceled to discuss President Donald Trump’s New York trial. “It’s unheard of,” said Bondi of the whole case. “We both know if he is convicted, it will not be upheld. This judge has committed reversible error. I’ve seen it from jury selection now all the way through to jury instruction, every single step of this trial, but they don’t care!” It will only take one juror to create a hung jury, and even if President Trump is convicted, the verdict can and will be appealed. Bondi is confident that the judge in this case has made so many mistakes that the whole case will be overturned when appealed. Bondi urges Americans to pray for former the president, the jurors, and the country during this time and to get active in this election and to vote. “If they can do this to Donald Trump, they can do it to any of us, and I think Americans are all seeing that even in the Bronx,” Bondi warned. For more, follow @CPAC on social media. You can also follow Matt Schlapp @MSchlapp or Mercedes Schlapp @MercedesSchlapp to keep up with current events.

America has long been viewed as the leader of the free world. Our Judeo-Christian founding principles have guided us to exceptional prosperity and freedom. In recent years, we’ve lost touch with our roots and distanced ourselves from God. We became too comfortable with the status quo and let our guards down. The Left took advantage, and while the country sat passively, they aggressively advanced their agenda. But Matt Schlapp had a message for the Left at CPAC Hungary 2024: “What happened in America is millions of wonderful people in the last twenty-five years fell asleep. They fell into a stupor. They didn’t realize how aggressive the Left would be. But the Left was so aggressive that we’ve been woken up. We’ve been woken up from our slumber, from our coma, from out stupor, and you should know that as fear has gripped America, the virtue of hope is now overtaking fear.” The message also spoke to the worldwide conservative movement that has been missing America as its leader. Places like Hungary have risen to the occasion and inspired America to wake up. Now, America is ready to rejoin the fight for liberty, lead the free world with new energy and vigor, and strengthen our friendships with our allies. Watch Schlapp’s full remarks here.

Julie Kelly was the first to break the news that the FBI was authorized to use deadly force in the raid on President Donald Trump’s private residence, Mar-a-Lago. She breaks down the raid and the orchestrated witch hunts against the former president on America Uncanceled with Mercedes Schlapp. The Mar-a-Lago raid was botched and unconventional in many ways. First, the raid was made on questionable grounds. There are doubts that the classified documents the FBI was supposedly after are even still considered classified. On top of that, the FBI was granted the use of deadly force in this raid, an unnecessary escalation and a conflict with Secret Service’s duty to protect the former president. “This could have represented really a dangerous situation not just for Donald Trump or Melania Trump or Barron Trump is they would have arrived at Mar-a-Lago during this nine hour raid, which was very conceivable, but a blue on blue situation as Dan Bongino has said between U.S. Secret Service who are obligated to protect people under their protection and FBI agents who were executing this unnecessary armed raid,” said Kelly. The FBI agents sent to the scene were not even carrying badges or dressed in identifying attire. Now the affair is in the discovery process of court proceedings, in which, more evidence of illegal behavior is coming out against the Biden administration and DOJ than against President Trump. “This is basically, as I said, a three-day trial against DOJ and Jack Smith and the Biden White House,” anticipated Kelly. Hear her full take on this episode on CPAC+, and for more, follow @CPAC on social media. You can also follow Matt Schlapp @MSchlapp or Mercedes Schlapp @MercedesSchlapp to keep up with current events.

Last week, Director of the CPAC Foundation Center for Regulatory Freedom Andrew Langer submitted complaints of unethical professional behavior to the New York and California Bar Associations about former Securities and Exchange Commission official William Hinman. Evidence indicates that Hinman, former Director of SEC's Division of Corporation Finance, had a conflict of interest while working at the SEC and actively sought to gain from it, using his influence to benefit his previous employer. Langer’s complaints express this to the California and New York Bar Associations, asking for investigations into Hinman’s behavior. Read Langer's complaint from May 23, 2024: The CPAC Foundation is a non-profit, 501C(3) research and education organization focused on, among other areas, the accountability of government officials in terms of ethically discharging their professional responsibilities. Today, our organization is reaching out as we believe certain public statements and actions of California attorney William Harold Hinman, CA Bar No. 104095 (inactive) since at least Summer 2017 and continuing to this day may violate the California State Bar Association’s Rules of Professional Conduct. Mr. Hinman left his position as a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (“STB”), to join the Securities and Exchange Commission as the Director of the Division of Corporate Finance. See William Hinman Named Director of Division of Corporation Finance, U.S. SECS. & EXCH. COMM’N (May 9, 2017), available at https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2017-97. On June 14, 2018, while Mr. Hinman was at the SEC, he gave a now well-recognized speech in which he laid out the elements that he believed made a digital asset a security subject to the SEC’s oversight. In that speech, Mr. Hinman stated, “based on my understanding of the present state of Ether, the Ethereum network and its decentralized structure, current offers and sales of Ether are not securities transactions.” Speech, Digital Asset Transactions: When Howey Met Gary (Plastic), U.S. SECS. & EXCH.COMM’N (June 14, 2018), https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/speech-hinman061418. Around the same time Mr. Hinman gave that speech, his former firm, STB, joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (“EEA”). See Enterprise Ethereum Alliance Newsletter (July 2018), available at https://entethalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/EEA_July_Newsletter.pdf. The EEA’s “objective is to drive the use of Enterprise Ethereum”. Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (last accessed April 12, 2024), available at https://entethalliance.org/about-enterprise-ethereum-alliance/. This objective is much more easily achieved if the top U.S. regulator deems Ether to not be a security. It became particularly suspicious as the remarks from Mr. Hinman in SEC intraoffice emails were only made public through an extraordinarily drawn-out and unnecessarily contentious discover process in the SEC’s years-long litigation against global payments company Ripple Labs. Those communications exposed that Mr. Hinman was particularly interested in input from Ethereum Foundation’s Vitalik Buterin before giving his speech, despite having already reached the conclusion that Ether would not be a security under his rubric. See, Exhibits 210 (ECF 831-69) and 211 (ECF 831-70) to Declaration of Erol Gulay in Support of Defendants’ Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment, SEC v. Ripple Labs Inc., et al, Case No. 20-cv-10832, ECF 831 (filed June 13, 2023). Further questions about Mr. Hinman’s potential conflicts of interest are raised by emails between himself and SEC Ethics Counsel Shira Pavis Minton at the beginning of his tenure that were only revealed through a FOIA request submitted by my organization, Empower Oversight, attached to this complaint and available as archived April 3, 2024, at https://tinyurl.com/ychpm62h. Mr. Hinman maintained a direct financial interest in STB’s financial performance via the firm’s partnership agreement and maintained conversations with his former business partners at the firm while in office. Empower Oversight has requested an investigation of these matters, as well as other apparent ethics issues at the Commission during Mr. Hinman’s tenure. See, CONFIRMED: SEC Inspector General in “Final Stages” of Investigation on Crypto Conflicts Referred by Empower Oversight, EMPOWER OVERSIGHT (Feb. 15, 2024), https://empowr.us/confirmed-sec-inspectorgeneral-in-final-stages-of-investigation-on-crypto-conflicts-referred-by-empower-oversight/. Mr. Hinman left the SEC in 2020 and returned to STB, which was still a member of the EEA, and continued to be through at least May 18, 2022. See William H. Hinman, SIMPSON THACHER (last accessed April 12, 2024), available at https://www.stblaw.com/our-team/search/william-hhinman; EEA Members, ENTERPRISE ETHEREUM ALLIANCE (as archived May 18, 2022), available at https://web.archive.org/web/20220518155436/https://entethalliance.org/eea-members/. Not long after Mr. Hinman resumed his position at STB, Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz announced that it had also hired Mr. Hinman as an “advisory partner” for its cryptocurrency team. See Chris Dixon, et al., Crypto Fund III, A16ZCRYPTO (June 24, 2021), available at https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/crypto-fund-iii/. As an advisor to that firm, Mr. Hinman “provide[s] valuable insights to [Andreessen Horowitz] and [their] portfolio companies as well as play[s] a key role in shaping the future regulatory environment.” Bill Hinman, A16ZCRYPTO (last accessed April 12, 2024), available at https://a16zcrypto.com/team/bill-hinman/. These statements only add to the appearance of impropriety, suggesting to Andreessen Horowitz’s current and potential portfolio companies that Mr. Hinman has the ability to influence the SEC and provide a safe harbor like the one he gave to Ethereum during his time in a role funded by taxpayers. Without answers from the SEC Inspector General, the public sees only that Mr. Hinman was eager to help Ethereum, which seems to have benefited his former and current firm in which he appears to have maintained a degree of financial interest during the relevant period. This clear appearance of impropriety undermines the public’s trust in the rule of law and can only be rectified with a proper investigation by a body that has the ability to hold Mr. Hinman accountable for any potential ethical violations he may have committed. For these reasons and pending even further evidence, we are compelled to submit this complaint to the attention of the Bar for its consideration.