for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington showed that the Office of Government Ethics was refusing to certify West's financial returns. According to CREW's communications director Jordan Libowitz, this was likely because West declined to fully disclose his wife Kim Kardashian's income and assets by using a rare exemption when the candidate has no knowledge of such income and assets. Libowitz also pointed out West's failure to disclose information about three trusts he was a trustee for, and that any penalties were unlikely to be substantial. In December 2021, The Daily Beast reported that Kanye's presidential campaign received millions of dollars in services from a secret network of Republican Party operatives, including Republican elite advisors and a managing partner at one of the largest conservative political firms in the United States. The Kanye campaign committee also did not report having paid some of these advisors and used an abbreviation for another advisor, constituting a potential violation of federal laws. According to campaign finance experts, these actions were done in an attempt to hide any connections between Kanye's presidential campaign and Republican operatives. Analysis On July 4, Jack Dolan of the Los Angeles Times speculated that West's presidential campaign "might be part of an effort to draw Black supporters away from Joe Biden to help Trump." However, Andrew Solender of Forbes wrote that available polling data suggested that, if anything, West's run would likely hurt Trump rather than Biden. On July 7, West stated that he was okay with splitting off black voters from the Democratic Party. Trump stated on July 11 that it "shouldn't be hard" for West to siphon black voters from Biden. In his South Carolina rally, West stated that "the most racist thing that's ever been said out loud" was the idea that he would split black voters. On August 6, when asked if he intended to damage Biden's campaign, he stated, "I'm not denying it." Several publications, including Politico, The Guardian, and Forbes, questioned whether West's campaign was a legitimate effort or a publicity stunt. West disputed allegations that his campaign was promotion for his music in July 2020. Multiple Republican operatives assisted West in his attempts to make the presidential ballots of multiple states, including convention delegates for incumbent U.S. president Donald Trump. Lane Ruhland, a Republican lawyer and former general counsel for the Wisconsin Republican Party, personally delivered West's nominating papers to state regulators past