Target Confirms It’s Pausing Political Donations After Capitol Riots

Target Corp. has confirmed that it is putting a pause to its political giving following unprecedented events last week at the United States Capitol.

“The TargetCitizens PAC is funded through voluntary contributions from our team members and contributes in a bipartisan manner to a range of federal candidates and organizations,” the company said in an email statement to FN. “We know that there isn’t a single candidate who aligns completely with Target or our team members on every issue, which is why we rely on established criteria like a candidate’s impact on our business, committee assignments, and more when we make contributions. Target is fully transparent about our PAC contributions and provides regular updates on our corporate website. Given the political volatility of the past year, including last week’s events, we are temporarily pausing all political donations.”

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According to multiple reports over the weekend, the big-box retailer was one of several large firms, including CVS Health Corp. and FedEx, reviewing their political giving as dozens of of U.S. and global leaders call for President Donald Trump to be removed from office after he incited a mob of his supporters to storm the Capitol in protest of the 2020 presidential election results.

Several large organizations this weekend — including Marriott International, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Commerce Bancshares and Citibank — told political newsletter Popular Information that they will stop donating to any member of Congress who objected to the certification of the Electoral College vote for President-elect Joe Biden. Meanwhile, Bank of America, Ford Motor Co. and AT&T said they will take recent events into consideration before making future donations.

Following what has been widely deemed an attack on democracy incited by President Trump last week, multiple social media networks, including Twitter and Facebook, have permanently removed Trump from their platforms. What’s more, this week, Democrats have been taking steps to make him the first President to be impeached twice.

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