Revealed: top UK firms are bankrolling Trump’s election deniers
“British companies who contribute to American insurrectionists are committing acts of self-harm.”
Jacob Chansley became famous, or least infamous, on January 6 2021.
The so-called ‘QAnon Shaman’ - yep, that’s him with the bison-horned helmet and the fur hat - Chansley was the most recognisable face of the riot in the US Capitol, hellbent on overturning Donald Trump’s election defeat.
Chansley was eventually sentenced to 41 months in prison. These days, of course, he’s a free man: Trump pardoned more than 1,500 insurrectionists earlier this year.
But today’s story is about another side of what happened after January 6.
In the wake of the assault on the Capitol, big businesses from Amazon to American Express announced that they were suspending donations to the 147 Republican politicians who had refused to certify Joe Biden’s election win.
But, behind the scenes, something very different happened.
A Democracy for Sale investigation, published today with the Mirror, has found that major companies - including many based in the UK - continued donating to Republican election deniers after January 6.
The donations come through the firms' Political Action Committees, or PACs, which are often run by senior company executives and which channel staff donations to politicians. Under US law, companies are not allowed to donate directly.
Companies contacted for comment said that their PACs operate independently and comply fully with US campaign finance rules.
Among our key findings are:
The US subsidiaries of more than 20 leading UK-based firms - including defence manufacturer BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, BP, British American Tobacco and others - have funnelled over $1.7 million to more than 100 Republicans who refused to certify the 2020 election.
BAE Systems’ PAC said it was suspending all donations “in response to the deeply disturbing violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th”. Less than four months later, the PAC began giving money again—ultimately donating $229,500 to 46 Republican lawmakers who voted against certifying the election.
Reynolds American, the US arm of British American Tobacco (BAT), gave $236,000 to 55 Congress members after their votes against certification. One recipient, Trump loyalist Andrew Clyde, claimed the Capitol riot resembled a “normal tourist visit” and opposed awarding medals to police officers who responded to the violence.
BAT, BP, WPP, and Deloitte’s PACs have all contributed to Steve Scalise, who spoke at a white nationalist conference with former Ku Klux Klan head David Duke.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) pledged to withhold donations to lawmakers who refused to certify Joe Biden’s win —but its PAC has since donated $93,000 to Republican election deniers.
BAE Systems, BAT, Rolls Royce and Deloitte’s PACs also funded house speaker Mike Johnson, a central figure in attempts to overturn the 2020 election result. Johnson has said America must return to "eighteenth-century values" and voted against the Respect for Marriage Act, which protects same-sex and interracial marriages.
Company PACs are funded by donations from eligible US employees - who are often executives. While companies cannot contribute directly, they frequently cover administrative costs such as staff, rent, and fundraising.
Although nominally independent, PACs can only donate to candidates selected or approved by their company-appointed board.
The PACs themselves are often headed by a senior company executive. For example:
BAE Systems PAC is run by Brian Wilson, VP of legislative affairs and a former Senate Appropriations Committee staffer.
Deloitte’s PAC is led by Patrick Givens, a longtime Deloitte employee and former congressional staffer.
Reynolds’ PAC is overseen by Steve Kottak, a 21-year BAT/Reynolds veteran and director of state and local government relations.
Treasurer of the PwC PAC is Roz Brooks, a senior PwC employee who has worked for the firm for 29 years.
To encourage employee contributions, companies often offer incentives such as raffles, matching charitable donations, or rewards like plaques and parties. Some firms have even been accused of pressuring staff to donate, despite rules requiring PAC donations to be voluntary.
By law, PACs can donate up to $5,000 per candidate per election. While modest by US standards, these sums do not include the vast lobbying budgets deployed by major corporations, or donations to other influential political committees.
As well as their PACs donating to more than 100 Republicans who voted against certifying Biden’s election win, some UK-listed companies have also donated huge sums to other Republican causes.
British American Tobacco gave more than $25m to conservative causes in 2024, including $10m to the pro-Trump Make America Great Again PAC, according to OpenSecrets.
Christopher Avery, director at the campaign group Donations and Democracy, said: "It is exceptionally disappointing that so many major UK companies have subsidiaries whose Political Action Committees have been directly funding the campaigns of politicians after they tried to overturn the results of a democratic election in the United States.
“Making donations to those politicians raises serious concerns about respect for democracy, human rights and the rule of law."
A spokesperson for British American Tobacco said that “it is a well-established practice in the U.S. political system for individuals, not-for-profits and private sector companies to make financial contributions to major political parties.”
BAE Systems said: “We do not make corporate contributions or donations to political parties. Eligible employees in the US can choose to contribute to the BAE Systems Political Action Committee, which must operate in full compliance with US federal laws and regulations.”
Donations and Democracy has published a full briefing on this data, available here.
I can't say it surprises me that some companies in the UK and probably elsewhere contribute to the Anti-Democracy movement in the USA. I'd be naive to suggest otherwise. They know that supporting the Republicans in the States can be financially rewarding, otherwise they wouldn't do it. It's the hypocrisy that galls me. Just a mere 4 months later they hope the world will have forgotten how shocked we were that the USA had an insurrection, coup attempt. Now that same politician that called for it Trump along with General Mike Flynn AKA, Q-Anon, and some Russian assets entrenched into their government, are not bothering with a coup, they are now going full ahead into Fascism. Does it not bother anybody that we, the British people are, by feighning ignorance, complicit in this regime? They are not the only ones responsible for "disappearing" people off the streets of America by bands of masked, armed thugs, now we are too! This blatant lawlessness is because executives of companies "pretending" that they aren't the ones contributing but that those employees are! What complete bullshit! I want to know, now that WE know, how can the laws that make this an acceptable way of doing business, be stopped. Any suggestions anybody? If the ministers in our government are listening only to the lobbying groups then we are sunk. All they care about is money and power. Are Russian assets being investigated in out government? Are our elections going to be run by the Kremlin?