DNC has major money problems. A scammer posing as Chairman Ken Martin just made them worse.

As Democrats attempt to win control of the U.S. House and/or Senate in November, they’re doing so with a noticeable national-level limp: the Democratic National Committee finds itself in a world of financial hurt.

Through June 30, the DNC had about $16.3 million cash on hand versus about $18.5 million in debt, according to FEC records.

In other words, the DNC is running its operation in the red.

The Republican National Committee? It had more than $128.5 million cash on hand and no debt through June 30.

But now, there’s some new insult to the DNC’s monetary injuries.

As I exclusively report in NOTUS:

A thief scammed the cash-strapped Democratic National Committee out of nearly $29,000 last year, according to interviews with committee officials and previously unreported federal records.

In February 2025, an unknown party sent a fraudulent email to a committee staffer pretending to be Chairman Ken Martin, a DNC official familiar with the matter confirmed to NOTUS. Martin had begun his tenure days before. The staffer, who is no longer at the DNC, made a payment to the fraudster.

The DNC official said the committee caught the error within minutes and reported it to its financial institution — Wells Fargo, according to federal records — but could only recover $7,000 of the lost money.

The DNC’s lost money the most recently reported example of an alarming trend I’ve been tracking for several years:

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The theft is one of numerous high-profile swindles from prominent political committees — liberal and conservative alike — and comes as the DNC is facing a cash crunch that’s led it to put its Washington, D.C., headquarters up for collateral to obtain a $15 million line of credit …

… Dozens of federal political committees have suffered a financial loss this decade for a number of reasons — particularly cybertheft, mail fraud and embezzlement.

In 2020, the RNC lost $44,000 to fraudsters who went on a shopping spree at a coffee company and agricultural products supplier.

More recently, Sens. John Thune (R-South Dakota), Chuck Schumer (D-New York), Mark Warner (D-Virginia), Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) have experienced campaign thefts.

So, too, have the campaigns of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), Brittany Pettersen (D-Colorado) and Neal Dunn (R-Florida).

Read my full story here.