Anti-vaccine group with ties to RFK Jr. noticed one other windfall final yr, data present
Del Bigtree, a number one voice within the anti-vaccine motion, introduced in a file windfall final yr for the nonprofit group he based, in accordance with the newest tax filings.
The Knowledgeable Consent Motion Community, often called ICAN, reported $23 million in income for 2023, a 74% enhance from the earlier yr. The group spent practically $17 million on efforts together with authorized battles and anti-vaccine advocacy, a rise of about 25% from the yr earlier than.
The tax paperwork, obtained by NBC Information from ICAN, present the rising prominence and profitability of the anti-vaccine motion within the ongoing combat over vaccine insurance policies and public well being. The pandemic supercharged teams like ICAN, which reported about $3.5 million in income in 2019, increasing the viewers fascinated by anti-vaccine content material and rising the coffers of those that produce it. Quite a few research have discovered that vaccines are secure and save lives, and will not be linked to autism, however that hasn’t stopped misinformation from spreading.
Income for Kids’s Well being Protection, the anti-vaccine group based by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., had been on the rise as properly till final yr, when it dropped greater than 30%, to $16 million. This loss coincided with Kennedy taking a depart from his positions as chairman and chief litigation counsel to launch an unsuccessful presidential bid.
However ICAN’s income continued to develop, and Bigtree’s profile has risen. The previous tv producer and anti-vaccine filmmaker, whose group was recognized for attention-grabbing stunts and submitting freedom of data requests, turned communications director for Kennedy’s third-party presidential marketing campaign and suggested Kennedy as he ready for his potential function as secretary of Well being and Human Companies.
Bigtree and ICAN didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Katie Miller, a spokesperson for Kennedy’s transition crew who was lately named to hitch the newly created Division of Authorities Effectivity, mentioned Bigtree was by no means concerned within the transition, and his views “don’t characterize Mr. Kennedy’s or President Trump’s administration.”
ICAN shouldn’t be required to reveal particular person donors, although tax paperwork filed final yr present massive donations from household foundations and donor-advised funds, philanthropic intermediaries that mix and anonymize donations.
The group has celebrated what it characterizes as a number of massive wins final yr, together with litigation that compelled Mississippi to grant spiritual exemptions from vaccines. The group says it plans to pursue an identical technique concentrating on the 5 different states that don’t permit spiritual exemptions.
ICAN depends on particular person supporters to fund manufacturing of anti-vaccine content material, together with “The HighWire,” a weekly anti-vaccine and conspiracy-laden web present hosted by Bigtree that the group describes as its academic arm. Bigtree punctuates the present not with commercials however with impassioned pleas for donations, lately with multimillion-dollar fundraising objectives related to particular authorized fights.
ICAN’s largest expenditure final yr, $6 million, was to the New York legislation agency Siri & Glimstad, which pursues public data requests, intervenes in state anti-vaccine fights and petitions the federal authorities to pause or revoke vaccines, together with one for polio. Led by Aaron Siri, an legal professional and Kennedy adviser, the agency, aided by dozens of attorneys engaged on vaccine circumstances, has been paid some $20 million by ICAN since 2017, in accordance with tax paperwork.
Siri defended his work in an e-mail to NBC Information, saying his petitions sought elevated security for vaccines and that ICAN’s monetary help was “trivial” in comparison with spending by the pharmaceutical trade.
Miller mentioned Siri was not concerned within the transition and that he doesn’t characterize Kennedy’s views.
ICAN describes its authorized efforts as “advocating for humanity’s proper to knowledgeable consent.” Specialists have described it as an exploitation of the courts. “Time and again, this anti-vaccine group misrepresented each the authorized and the factual meanings of court docket selections, settlements, and different authorized actions to create a story to provoke its followers and affect newcomers,” a 2022 article within the Northwestern Journal of Regulation and Social Coverage learn. (Siri referred to as the article “replete with categorically false claims.”)
The intent of different spending was much less clear. ICAN paid $176,000 for “analysis consulting” to a U.Ok. firm headed by a chiropractor who has lectured on what he claims are risks from vaccines and 5G know-how. The group additionally paid $152,000 for consulting to Uncover DC, a information web site based and edited by Tracy Diaz, recognized on-line as Tracy Beanz, a preferred conspiracy theorist and early promoter within the QAnon motion. Diaz, who describes her website as “precise journalism,” posts information releases for ICAN and writes for the nonprofit’s web site as a contributor.
Bigtree took residence a $234,000 wage from ICAN in 2023, along with his revenue from paid talking engagements (he says he solely fees for ticketed occasions). Bigtree additionally earned $350,000 for consulting and communications work on Kennedy’s presidential marketing campaign over the previous two years by KFP Consulting, a Texas group registered to Bigtree.
Bigtree now helms a brilliant PAC (MAHA Alliance) and a nonprofit group (MAHA Motion), each quick for Make America Wholesome Once more, a spin on Trump’s MAGA motto adopted by Kennedy after he dropped out of the race and endorsed the finally successful candidate.
Bigtree acknowledged his a number of streams of revenue and endeavors on “The HighWire” in November. “I really feel extremely blessed by God that I had all these alternatives converging abruptly,” he mentioned.
