Zuckerberg Spent Almost As Much As Federal Government To Oversee 2020 Election

LARRY KUDLOW: I want to step in front of a bombshell story from Molly Hemingway's book and additional reports on how Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook influenced and may have changed the whole election fighting against Donald Trump. Anyway, we'll begin with Hillary Vaughn on Capitol Hill.Show more

HILLARY VAUGHN: Good afternoon, Larry. Mark Zuckerberg almost spent as much money as the federal government did in 2020 to make sure the presidential election went off without a hitch during the pandemic.

The government made available $479 million to state and local governments to help them out. Mark Zuckerberg gave $419 million of his own money that he dumped into nonprofits that put money in local election offices. But that is raising a red flag, because a review of where the money went, it helped turn out the vote for President Biden in 2020.

A new report details how Zuckerberg's cold hard cash could have influenced turnout in key districts. They found in the battleground state of Georgia, more money was poured into counties won by Biden than Trump. The dollar difference is huge. $29 million went to Biden-won counties in Georgia. About seven bucks spent per registered voter. $2 million went to counties Trump won. Less than $2 was spent for every voter there.

Some researchers are questioning the cash, saying those dollars could have made a big difference in Georgia and Wisconsin, saying this, "analysis conducted by our team demonstrated this money significantly increased Joe Biden's vote margin in these key states. Spending was large enough and targeted enough to have shifted them in Biden's column."

Zuckerberg spokesperson said every election office that applied for cash got some money. More Republican counties ultimately got cash than Democratic counties. And also said this in a statement: "Mark and Priscilla provided in an overall grant to ensure funding was available they did not participate in the process to determine which jurisdictions received funds."

This has some lawmakers on Capitol Hill asking some questions. Sen. Rand Paul, asking: Did Zuckerberg buy the election?

LARRY KUDLOW: Hillary, two quickies, my understanding from reading Mollie Hemingway's work... It wasn't so much whether it was a Democrat district or Republican district. They poured money into swing districts and helped turn them against Trump and for Biden.

HILLARY VAUGHN: When you look at the money where the money went that is key. You could make that case in certain counties in Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania. Another part of this story is really unraveling Larry, is about where that money had to go.

A lot of these election officials spent this money to get voter turnout but also promote universal mail-in ballots and also go door-to-door and help people get those ballots turned in. So there is a lot of questions from Republicans who wonder whether or not all of that was ethical or partisan, which would make it not okay.