Republican Committees Split on Whether to Dump Convicted Political Fundraising Fraudster

One of President Donald Trump’s leading political action committees abruptly stopped paying consulting firm Better Mousetrap Digital last November, after months of regularly giving the firm thousands in “fundraising fees.”

The Trump National Committee Joint Fundraising Committee’s apparent breakup with the firm coincided with NOTUS detailing on Oct. 31 how Better Mousetrap Digital is led by Jack Daly, a political operative who pleaded guilty in 2023 to defrauding thousands of conservative political donors.

The Republican National Committee joined the Trump committee, which did not respond to requests for comment, in seemingly ditching Daly’s firm. “Can confirm payments were stopped,” RNC spokesperson Kiersten Pels told NOTUS. In Wyoming, Rep. Harriet Hageman’s congressional campaign committee previously confirmed severing ties with Better Mousetrap Digital.

Other committees that suddenly stopped paying Better Mousetrap Digital late last year include Rep. Jeff Crank’s congressional campaign, Rep. Brian Jack’s congressional campaign and the Republican state party committees in Minnesota and West Virginia, according to a NOTUS analysis of Federal Election Commission campaign finance records.

Several other conservative campaign PACs, including the campaign of U.S. Senate candidate Derek Dooley in Georgia, the Early Vote Action PAC, the Anti-Woke Fund and the Next Generation PAC, have also stopped paying Better Mousetrap Digital after doing business with the firm as recently as September or October, federal records indicate.

None responded to requests for comment.

But some prominent Republican committees have continued paying Better Mousetrap Digital hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars each month for campaign fundraising services, FEC records indicate.

Among them: the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which paid Better Mousetrap Digital more than $117,000 in “digital fundraising fees” from November through February. The NRSC did not respond to questions about why it continues doing business with Daly and if it plans to continue paying Better Mousetrap Digital for services.

The 1776 Project PAC — one of Better Mousetrap Digital’s more lucrative clients in 2025 — told NOTUS in October that it was quitting Daly.

But records 1776 Project PAC filed with the FEC indicate that the PAC has paid Better Mousetrap Digital nearly $148,000 from November through February, including nearly $112,000 on Dec. 31 and more than $15,400 on Feb. 28. The PAC did not return requests for comment this week.

Other Republican committees that have continued doing recent business with Better Mousetrap Digital include those of Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas, Rep. Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania, the Mississippi Republican Party and the federal campaign committees of Ryan Binkley in Texas, Eric Flores in Texas and Morgan Murphy in Alabama. None returned requests for comment.

Daly’s attorney, Brandon Sample, acknowledged emailed questions from NOTUS but did not answer them, citing a deadline he considered “not reasonable.”

“This is not an emergency situation. If you would like a response from Mr. Daly, we need until April 24 to appropriately confer,” Sample wrote.

Daly established Better Mousetrap Digital in September 2023, around the time he surrendered his North Carolina law license, accepted notice of disbarment and pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and lying to the FEC.

Prosecutors accused Daly and fellow attorney Nathanael Pendley of raising more than $1.6 million for a political committee, known as Draft PAC, that promised to convince former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke to run for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin ahead of the 2018 midterm election.

Clarke disavowed their efforts, said he wasn’t running and called Daly’s operation a “scam.” Federal prosecutors said Daly and Pendley nevertheless kept fundraising, in part for their personal benefit, and lied about their activities to federal officials.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Daly “targeted vulnerable victims, including a woman with Alzheimer’s and elderly veterans.” A judge in December 2023 sentenced Daly to four months in prison, a $20,000 fine and nearly $70,000 in restitution payments. Daly served his prison sentence in 2024, and federal records indicate he is scheduled to remain on supervised release until sometime during the middle of this year.

Legal troubles haven’t stopped Daly from reigniting his political consultant career. NOTUS’ October investigation found that from late 2023 to late 2025, dozens of federal-level Republican political committees together spent nearly $18 million on digital fundraising, donor lists and other services from Better Mousetrap Digital, according to Virgin Islands corporate filings and FEC records.

From November 2025 through February 2026, federal-level Republican committees have together spent about $650,000 more with Better Mousetrap Digital, which on its website describes itself as “the premier digital fundraising consulting firm for Republicans” with “world-class support, ready to help you fundraise at a moment’s notice.”

Daly is now fighting his conviction in federal court in Wisconsin. His lawyer argued in a Sept. 30, 2025, filing with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin that Daly received “substantively incorrect advice” from his previous attorneys and was in “profound turmoil over his plea” — and therefore unable to make a “knowing and intelligent decision during the critical window when his right to withdraw that plea was absolute.”

Since then, federal court records indicate no formal action in the case.