[11] The Government Accountability Institute was set up by Steve Bannon as a tool for transmitting partisan dirt-digging and questionable opposition research to the mainstream media.

He set out, with Schweizer, to produce material that would generate mainstream coverage, and right-wing outrage", wrote The New Yorker's Jane Mayer.

[14] While GAI claims to be "a self-styled corruption watchdog group chaired and funded by conservative mega-donor Rebekah Mercer.

[16] Members of GAI's board of directors include Steve Bannon, Peter Schweizer, Hunter Lewis, Ron Robinson (president of Young America's Foundation), and Wynton Hall.

[25] Another debunked[26] book is Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends, which was the first printed source about the false Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory.

[27][28] A November 2016 investigation by The Washington Post detailed ties between the Government Accountability Institute and the conservative website Breitbart News.