A fact-checking group led by Democratic operative David Brock and seeking to counter alleged “bad-faith lies and misinformation” stemming from GOP-led congressional investigations has quietly shut down ahead of President-elect Donald Trump taking office, records show.
Facts First USA, a nonprofit organization that Brock formed in 2022 with the help of two Democratic consultants who worked on behalf of the Clintons, is now listed as “dissolved” in corporate records filed in Washington, D.C.
Over the last two years, the group worked to counter “the lies of the MAGA-Majority” in Congress, blasting out fundraising emails and a reliable stream of press releases criticizing House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) for spreading alleged “conspiracies” through their inquiries into President Joe Biden’s family.
Facts First USA “was planned as a temporary project dealing with investigation pushback whose work has been completed,” a Facts First USA official told the Washington Examiner.
The news comes as Trump and his allies vow to take on fact-checkers and some large corporations roll back programs to target purported misinformation online. To Republicans, the industry has demonstrated itself to be partisan in favor of the Left.
In January, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company would stop using fact-checkers and instead embrace so-called community notes, which were popularized by Elon Musk’s X.
Facts First USA disclosed on its most recent tax forms that it received $1.4 million in grants in 2023. A sizable portion of that sum, $535,000, came from the Franklin Education Forum, a charity in Washington that works with left-leaning activists. The charity, for instance, was created by officials involved with Facts First USA and sponsored the 65 Project taking aim at former Trump administration officials.
It is unclear what money is left of Facts First USA’s war chest and where it is being transferred. The organization did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
Brock, 62, had a unique trajectory to becoming a high-profile Democratic operative. A former reporter for the conservative American Spectator who investigated former President Bill Clinton, Brock later renounced his right-wing ties and founded the progressive Media Matters for America organization.
Brock also founded American Bridge, a Democratic super PAC, and previously was chairman of the progressive Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington watchdog group.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
After leaving Media Matters in 2022, Brock founded Facts First USA. In a memo, Brock said the group was necessary to investigate Republicans, who, he said, would “engage in character assassination that distracts from real issues” while looking into Biden’s family and administration.
Brock, who was active on X during the Biden administration, has not posted on the platform since Trump won the election in November. Facts First USA, meanwhile, has not posted on the platform since March of last year.