Handing out $1 million checks is something else entirely

WOLF: Canvassing with a campaign is one thing. In that case, you’re trying to convince voters to get out there. It seems like a step further when there are $1 million checks being handed out at a rally. How do we get from coordinated activity to writing million-dollar checks?

GHOSH: Well, I should be really clear on this point. I am of the opinion — and I think this is an opinion other election lawyers share — that that is actually not sanctioned by campaign finance law. It’s not a campaign finance issue. It’s really more a question of election laws that prohibit vote-buying, but that appears to be what Musk’s program did in the 2024 election, and potentially even with what’s happening with the judicial election in Wisconsin.

What’s the mechanism to stop this behavior?
WOLF: But people made those arguments in the fall of 2024 in Pennsylvania. The attorney general made the argument in Wisconsin. Nobody has stopped Musk to date. If it runs afoul of the law, is there any mechanism to stop this behavior?

GHOSH: What you’re seeing here is largely the era of directly challenging what seemed to be well-settled legal principles. That’s the MO of the Trump administration, generally. Musk’s payoffs for voters to sign a petition — I think they’re illegal. I think pursuing a lawsuit in the courts is what you would usually use to challenge something illegal like that, but we’re in extraordinary times where it’s not even clear if that would be enough to stop them. It certainly should be.