The Trump campaign funneled money to ad buyers alleged to have facilitated illegal coordination between the campaign and the NRA by routing funds through a secretive LLC that appears to be little more than a shell company, an investigation by the Center for Responsive Politics has found.

While the Trump campaign stopped reporting payments to ad buyers alleged to have facilitated illegal coordination between the campaign and the NRA after the 2016 election cycle, Trump’s 2020 campaign has continued to deploy the same individuals working for the firms at the center of the controversy through payments to Harris Sikes Media LLC — a low-profile limited-liability company operating with no website or public-facing facade whatsoever.

Facing the illegal coordination allegations are National Media, Red Eagle Media Group and American Media & Advocacy Group (AMAG), closely tied consultancies that share staff, resources and adjacent storefronts in Alexandria, Va.

CRP’s analysis of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) records found that Trump campaign political ad disclosures on file with stations across the country have continued to include signatures and names of individuals working for National Media, despite no mention of National Media or its known affiliates on any FCC or Federal Election Commission (FEC) disclosures. Those individual ad buyers’ names have simultaneously continued to be included in ad documents for the National Rifle Association (NRA) and America First, but with the ad buyers’ affiliation listed as National Media or one of its affiliates.

As the election nears, this all-encompassing support of Trump may make it difficult to tell the difference between ads supporting Trump’s agenda as president and his agenda as a presidential candidate — effectively allowing a group run by a candidate’s former staffer to pay the same individual ad buyers paid by the campaign to make purchases at the same time where the only issue listed is supporting the candidate’s agenda.

While some of the issues presented by the Trump campaign’s approach to outside groups may seem novel, Trump is hardly the only candidate with blurred lines between his campaign and outside groups supporting him. And in a political environment where many candidates face allegations of flagrantly violating campaign coordination rules without consequence, it’s unlikely his campaign will be the last to adopt this approach.

After 17 years of torturing Americans’ ears, Laura Ingraham’s radio show finally came to an end this December. The weekday show has long served as a safe space for the Fox News host and her guests to make cruel jokes, practice racism, demonize immigrants, and push wild conspiracy theories. The world will be better off without it.

On Monday, Dick Black announced on Facebook that he would not seek re-election to the Virginia Sate Senate, where he’s served for seven years. Black didn’t specify any particular reason for his retirement, writing only that he is “looking forward to the next chapter.”

While Black isn’t a household name, he has made a name for himself in national security circles for the past few years. He became an outspoken defender of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and Russian propaganda alike, and lately took on a notable role in pushing pro-Trump conspiracy theories about former FBI official Andrew McCabe.

In 2016, Black took a now-infamous trip to Syria, where he had a two-hour meeting with Assad. The Syrian government published photos of their handshake. In the midst of the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons and barrel bombs against civilian populations, Black announced that he didn’t believe the Assad regime “favors any sort of widespread improper conduct.”

“There was sort of a spring in [Assad’s] step and a sense of joy and optimism, and looking out to the future and bringing the nation together,” Black later said.

The visit also came after Black wrote a letter to Assad praising him for his leadership. According to Black, Assad was a “heroic” leader. (A fellow Republican joked at the time, “What’s the matter, Dick? Kim Jong Un not returning your text messages?”) Black would go on to say that the U.S. could not allow Assad to be toppled.

Black’s support for Assad has, unsurprisingly, veered wildly into conspiratorial territory. In September, for instance, Black announced that Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency was plotting a chemical weapons attack in Syria — an attack that, Black explained, London would later blame on Assad.

But Black’s thirst for conspiracy didn’t end in Syria. Instead, it made him a favorite of another font of conspiracy: Russian propaganda outlet RT, which regularly featured Black to prop up Kremlin talking points. (RT mis-identified Black as a “Virginia Senator.”)

Despite the role RT played in Russia’s 2016 interference efforts, Black had no problem making multiple appearances on the outlet in 2018. Black also claimed that the Russian propaganda outlet was “the only credible mainstream media dealing with the Syrian conflict.”

“Virginians deserve public officials who go to Richmond to improve their lives, not ones that defend murderous foreign dictators, discriminate against the LGBTQ community and attack women’s health care rights,” Democratic Party of Virginia spokesperson Jake Rubenstein told ThinkProgress. “We look forward to replacing Senator Black with a Democrat whose focus will be lifting up his or her constituents in Prince William and Loudoun Counties.”

Right now, just 17 states and the District of Columbia allow same-day voter registration, and the bill, introduced by Rep. Julia Brownley (D-CA), would mandate that the rest of the country join them.

“High participation in our elections ensures representation that works for the people, not special interests,” Brownley said in a statement to ThinkProgress before the bill’s introduction. “Same-day voter registration is one of the most effective tools for increasing voter turnout, which means better representation for everyday Americans.”

Brownley’s bill, called the “Same Day Registration Act of 2019,” would amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

“Each [s]tate shall permit any eligible individual on the day of a Federal election and on any day when voting, including early voting, is permitted for a Federal election… to register to vote in such election,” a draft of the bill text shared with ThinkProgress reads. Additionally, the bill would allow individuals already registered to vote to make same-day changes to their registration and cast their ballot.

Brownley’s legislation comes as Democrats officially become the House majority party Thursday. Already, party leaders have signaled voting rights issues will be a priority for the newly-elected Congress. First on the docket, presumed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has said, is a bill they’re symbolically calling H.R. 1, which would create a national voter registration system and expand access to early online voter registration.

The bill would also create new donor disclosure requirements for political organizations and provisions for public financing of elections, including a plan to multiply small dollar campaign donations. Additionally, it would end most first-class travel for federal officials and require that presidents release their tax returns, something President Trump has refused to do.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) reintroduced a bill Thursday that would force sitting presidents to release their tax returns publicly.

Wyden first proposed the measure after Trump became the all-but-assured Republican nominee in May 2016.

The bill would require both sitting presidents and presidential nominees to disclose their tax returns. Wyden’s reintroduction of the bill follows on a House proposal to require presidential nominees to disclose the past 10 years of their tax returns.

At the same time, the battle over Trump’s tax returns is set to heat up. Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA), the incoming chair of the Ways and Means Committee, is the only Democrat in Congress with the authority to request Trump’s returns from the Treasury Department, a move he is expected to take, though the timing remains unclear.