The Republican National Committee building in Washington, Friday night, Oct. 7, 2016. Caught on tape making shockingly crude comments about a married woman he tried to seduce, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump reeled under widespread condemnation from his own party on Friday. "No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner. Ever," said Reince Priebus, head of the RNC. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
An unknown “foreign country” actor stole more than $16,300 from the National Republican Congressional Committee, according to new federal records reviewed by NOTUS — the latest in a litany of thefts that have befallen prominent federal political committees.
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The “fraud,” as the NRCC described it, occurred July 7 when the campaign committee attempted to pay a bill from Ranger Wi-Fi Consulting, a Texas-based firm that specializes in helping clients “optimize their wireless networks while ensuring healthy security measures are in place.”
In a statement to NOTUS on Sunday, NRCC spokesman Will Kiley confirmed that “a vendor’s systems were compromised and an unauthorized party intercepted a payment as a result.” He did not specify which foreign country may have been involved.
“Protecting donor funds is a top priority for the NRCC,” Kiley said. “We caught it immediately, we’re working to recover the funds, and we’ve taken steps to ensure it can’t happen again.”
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In a separate message to federal regulators, the NRCC said it is “working diligently with banking and legal authorities to recover the funds.”
A representative for Ranger Wi-Fi Consulting could not be reached for comment Sunday. The FBI, which generally investigates crimes like these because they cross state lines, did not immediately return a request for comment.
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This isn’t the first time thieves have hit the NRCC. In December 2024, someone used the committee’s credit card to go on a luxury shopping spree, spending a couple thousand dollars at Canada Goose and Fendi, OpenSecrets reported.
And the NRCC has notable company: Fraudsters, scammers or embezzlers have in recent years struck the already cash-strapped Democratic National Committee and a host of other political committees including those led by Sens. John Thune (R-South Dakota), Chuck Schumer (D-New York), Mark Warner (D-Virginia), Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island).
The campaign committees of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), Brittany Pettersen (D-Colorado) and Neal Dunn (R-Florida) have also lost money because of criminal activity.
And Mike Rogers, a former Republican congressman who’s running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, lost $16,700 in campaign cash this spring to a suspected cyberthief.
Meanwhile, political committees sponsored by the National Venture Capital Association, Seafarers International Union, American Fintech Council, accounting giant KPMG and law firm Arnold & Porter have also experienced thefts, with some allegedly involving inside jobs.
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