The Texas senator may have violated campaign finance law with his podcast.

Ted Cruzā€™s podcast may be crossing some major lines.

The Campaign Legal Center, or CLC, a nonprofit organization,Ā filedĀ a complaint against the Texas senator on Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission. The watchdog group argues that theĀ Verdict With Ted CruzĀ podcast canā€™t send its profits to a super PAC that supports Cruzā€™s campaign.

Cruzā€™s podcast, produced with iHeartMedia, generates hundreds of thousands of dollars, and may be a lucrative loophole in campaign finance law since heā€™s making the money himself. But, asĀ The Daily BeastĀ found, it raises a number of legal and ethical issues.

For one, campaign finance records show that at least seven lobbyists registered to represent iHeartMediaā€™s interests have donated tens of thousands of dollars to Cruzā€™s campaign since the podcast launched in 2022, The Daily Beast reports. Cruz and iHeartMedia claim that he doesnā€™t get paid for the podcast, volunteering his time instead, so the money isĀ reportedĀ as ā€œdigital revenueā€ from ads on the podcast.

    • AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      They bought a lot of the local radio stations where I live and now they all suck. I live in Philly and used to love 104.5, one of the things they were known for was no morning show, they just played music during peoples commute. Now itā€™s the god awful iHeartRadio woody morning show.

    • dunidane@lemmy.sdf.org
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      7 months ago

      Its crazy how the same corporation supports shit stains like Cruz also runs Cool Zone Media that has Behind the Bastards and It could Happen here both of which are way to the left for an American audience.