Ex-AOC Aide Cashes In On Anti-Filibuster Crusade
A former top aide to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) launched a political action committee in 2021 to abolish the filibuster and exert progressive pressure on Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV). But The Daily Beast discovered the PAC has put little cash toward its purported purpose, and instead funneled most of its funds to the founder and a close political ally.
Corbin Trent, co-creator of powerhouse left-of-center outfits Justice Democrats and Brand New Congress, inaugurated the No Excuses PAC in early 2021—nine months after finishing a stint handling campaign communications for Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT). From its inception, the new committee vowed to aerially bombard the pair of centrist senators who threatened to withhold their votes from the more ambitious elements of President Joe Biden’s agenda, and even recruit challengers.
By February of that year, it had added a new objective: the obliteration of parliamentary obstructions to the president’s program.