Common Cause, the left - leaning watchdog group, strongly believes that the McDougal payment was not a legitimate press function, and has filed a Federal Election Commission complaint against both Trump and American Media Inc. over the payment, calling it «an
illegal corporate in - kind
contribution to the 2016 Trump
campaign.»
The Federal Election
Campaign Act (FECA), passed by Congress in the early 1970s, had made it a federal offense for PACs to accept money from corporations, and Viacom — the
corporate owner of Colbert's network — feared that it would face accusations of making
illegal in - kind
contributions should ColbertPAC become a fully functioning money - raising PAC.