Bisbee, a lieutenant in the Leo network, previously worked at the Federalist Society as Director of State Courts and Deputy Director of External Relations while Leo was an executive. Leo still co-chairs the board.
Bisbee launched two nonprofits out of Nashville in 2024: First Principles Foundation and First Principles Action. Both filed 990–N forms with the IRS in their first year, meaning they each brought in less than $50,000 in revenue. However, this year Bisbee funneled $1.1 million through First Principles Action to the campaign of Republican candidate Katherine Robertson, who is running for the open attorney general seat in Alabama next year and will face former state Supreme Court Justice Jay Mitchell in the Republican primary.
The source of the $1.1 million is unknown, but while Bisbee was in charge at RAGA Trump’s first term “judge whisperer” Leonard Leo was the top contributor to the group year after year, giving millions through his Concord Fund.
According to RAGA’s latest IRS filing, it received no contributions from Leo’s groups in the first half of this year, and his PR firm Creative Response Concepts (doing business as CRC Advisors) is no longer receiving payments of $7,500/month from the AG’s group for “consulting” — signaling a sudden split in the long relationship between Leo and RAGA. RAGA had paid Creative Response Concepts for consulting since 2020.
In a Truth Social rant in May after the U.S. Court of International Trade struck down his tariffs, President Trump suddenly turned on Leo and the Federalist Society, calling him a “sleazebag” who “probably hates America.” Trump “believes Leo tried to take too much credit for the judicial picks” of Federalist Society members Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, and Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, The Wall Street Journal reported. Trump and Leo haven’t spoken in five years, the paper noted.
Trump and MAGA world are also likely aware that the Leo-funded right-wing litigation center New Civil Liberties Alliance is challenging the legality of his emergency tariffs.