Daniel Craig donated almost $50,000 to a super PAC that claims to support Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, but a Washington public interest group has raised questions about the organization’s legitimacy.
Craig’s publicist, Laura Symons, confirmed to Variety that he had made a donation.
But the investigative organization Center for Public Integrity, in a report posted on Thursday, is questioning whether Craig and many other donors may have been “duped” into giving to the super PAC, Americans Socially United, citing its failure to file forms with the Federal Election Commission and requests from Sanders’ official campaign to cease their activities.
Sanders himself has criticized the role of super PACs in the election, even if his campaign cannot stop such independent groups from working in support of his candidacy.
According to the Center for Public Integrity, which first reported on the contribution, Craig gave $47,300 in July to the super PAC.
“I made a donation to this organisation in good faith as I understood it to support Senator Sanders’ candidacy,” Craig said in a statement. “Currently, I have been informed of no evidence to question that my donation has not been used as intended. Should that situation occur, then clearly, I will review my position.”
The Center for Public Integrity questions the role of the super PAC’s founder, Cary Lee Peterson, including money owed to creditors and outstanding warrants in Arizona. The Sanders campaign has asked him to cease his activities, citing names given to the PAC including Bet on Bernie, and Ready for Bernie Sanders 2016. The campaign says that the use of Sanders’ name creates confusion and violates election law.
The SuperPAC did not immediately return a request for comment.
But Peterson told CPI that he set up the super PAC because “I just believe in the cause.” He told them that the PAC had already spent more than $1 million paying for billboards, field organizers and Sanders materials.
BERNIE SANDERS DOES NOT HAVE A SUPERPAC!
Somebody better tell Craig that James Bond kills communists. Another limousine liberal idiot in love with a socialist moron.
And another jealous right winger. Gimme the limo over the bible anyday!
The same Daniel Craig who refused Sony’s offer of $5 million to carry their Xperia Z5 cell phone in a James Bond movie because it wasn’t enough money for him personally and the phone wasn’t priced higher than an iPhone 6+? More proof actors and musicians are hypocritical loudmouths who want the poor to remain poor while they make hundreds of millions. Socialism creates poverty, misery, destitution except for politicians, actors, musicians and liberal run businesses using briberies to pay off politicians.
There are a lot of inept comments on this post filled with hatred and a lack of understanding of socialism. I don’t want to speculate as to why so much idiocy is showing up, but I’d like to illuminate the fact that socialism is simply a property and wealth distribution system. Communism and Capitalism are on polar ends and Socialism is right in the middle. In America we have countless socialism systems. A few examples would be state highway systems, public libraries and parks, the US postal service, medicare, social security, hell even the US Military. If taxes are involved and the government is in control of the property or projects, that is socialism in action. SO why is “socialism” such a dirty word? Because of cold war propaganda and economic warfare. You want to know where “poverty, misery, destitution, etc” are attributed to? Corruption. And guess which systems of government, are most easily corrupted? Not democracies. Oligarchies and Autocracies. That is why every time you hear GOP media blathering about one nationalist regime or another, with examples of the USSR and Nazi Germany, they want to completely ignore the fact that these problems were directly related to dictatorship rule and the people lacking a voice in how their government was run and their money was spent. If you REALLY want to be honest, democratic socialism works just as well if not better than democratic capitalism around the world. Finland, Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, and many more have forms of democratic socialism and most of them have thriving economies with higher qualities of living for their citizens, better health care systems, better education, and better infrastructure. Stop letting greedy corporations manipulate you with labels. PLEASE. If you do nothing else this year, educate yourself before getting wrapped up in one candidate or another. Establishment politics and Bipartisan systems are a rigged, fraudulent system and it’s turning our “democratic republic” into a mercantile oligarchy. Thanks for reading.
Correct me if I’m wrong but we (and Daniel Craig) both live in capitalist economies. So by any sort of logical reasoning him making millions would be connected to capitalism, not to socialism. If you look at some socialist countries like Norway. Sweden. Switzerland and even Canada to a certain extent you do not see the same (or at least not as extreme) sort of problems as you see in America. I would argue that the issue is right wing blow hards who have no formal education in economics attempting to manipulate a system that is incomprehensible, not the people who want to live decently. We live in a world with billionaires, that is fundamentally unjustifiable with the existence of the homeless and starving. Good luck living in your fantasy world.
Of course a Brit would be ok with a socialist. They do not have american values…
A Brit doesn’t have American values??? Quick, stop the presses!! Guess what Jared? A Canadian doesn’t have American values. As well as a person from France, Spain, etc.
As for American values, what are they? As YOU define them? No, they are multicultural and a vast array of ideals.
If someone tells you to donate to their pro-Sanders SuperPAC, any familiarity with Sanders should let you know right off the bat that he would never support such an organization; donating to it is like buying the Brookyln Bridge off some guy, a situation where someone dishonorable is scamming off the name of someone/something honorable which they have absolutely no association with. Instead of a PAC, give Bernie Sanders’ campaign $31.20, his average campaign donation, and be a part now of the reformed system you’d like to see him enact as President, presumably, if you’re donating to him.
I am Canadian and tried to donate $10 – no go. I thought I could contribute by buying a $10 item from the Bernie store – no shipping outside of US. I read the rules so I understand why I am not getting my magnet or donating. Can Super PAC’s (I know this one maybe a scam) take donations from non-US citizens and get around the rules? Not stirring up controversy just curious how Daniel Craig thought he could donate (that man is the real “killer” :) :) :) )
Socialism is the real scam! Save your money, you’re going to need it if the NDP get into power.
you’re putting your zealot level cognitive dissonance on display. you just told someone happily living in a democratic socialist country to save their money because socialism is going to bankrupt them.
Isn’t it a felony to accept a contribution to a presidential candidates campaign from a foreign entity? I believe Mr. Craig is a citizen of the United Kingdom.
superpacs are not a part of a candidate’s campaign, so they are not bound by the legislation intent on putting constraints on money in politics. it is why they are a political issue.
Sorry, but Daniel Craig did NOT just donate $50K to “Bernie Sanders Super PAC”. There is no such thing. There is a person with a dubious past who apparently likes Bernie who created a super PAC–which the Sanders campaign has repeatedly repudiated and asked to cease and desist–to which Mr. Craig gave money. Even a cursory read of the CPI report would have revealed these facts, but those pesky things would have prevented you from running that click-bait headline. Sad.
The headine for this article is misleading — as currently worded, it gives the misimpression that Bernie Sanders is connected to this organization, and he’s not at all. In fact, he has nothing to do with any PAC’s whatsoever. Please fulfill your ethical responsibility Variety and correct this headline immediately.
I looked into this organization (and Peterson) over the internet and it looks like a complete scam. Cary Lee Peterson claims to have paid for a billboard in Times Square, but there is no evidence that it ever happened aside from a picture that could easily be photoshopped. I am a grassroots volunteer for the Sanders campaign and I don’t know of any grassroots organizing that is being done by any group affiliated with this SuperPAC. If you do a cursory background check of Peterson, you will see all kinds of claims about being involved with the U.N. and questionable degrees and certificates. And legal problems. And money owed. I don’t know why some government agency hasn’t done something about this con artist by now.
The billboard photo sells for 396 dollars from PRnewswire.
I guess this is the eleltronic version of the annoying door-to-door salesman