Moulton’s congressional work directly intersects with Schmidt’s business ventures
Billionaire tech mogul and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt flew Massachusetts Senate hopeful Seth Moulton (D.) and his family to a ritzy Montana retreat to rub shoulders in a “strictly confidential” setting with other policymakers, celebrities, and foreign dignitaries. All the while, Moulton sat on a powerful House committee with oversight of many of Schmidt’s business interests.
According to financial disclosures reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, Schmidt’s eponymous nonprofit paid for the Moulton family’s airfare, lodging, and food at his annual Yellowstone weekend summer retreat in 2021, 2022, and 2023, with just one exception—the disclosures state that Moulton paid for his own airfare in 2023. The retreat is held at the exclusive Yellowstone Club, home to multimillion-dollar mansions, a private ski mountain, and a golf course. Standalone homes there go for at least $20 million.
Moulton’s work directly intersects with Schmidt’s business ventures. In addition to leading Google for a decade, Schmidt serves as a founding partner of Innovation Endeavors, a venture capital firm that invests in early stage tech and AI startups. Schmidt is also the chairman of SandboxAQ, an AI and quantum computing startup that reached a $5.6 billion valuation last year.
Schmidt also chaired the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, which published a sprawling final report in 2021. The report cited Moulton’s work with the Future of Defense Task Force, a fact Moulton noted when he lobbed a softball question to Schmidt during a congressional hearing about AI.
That hearing came just four months before Moulton’s first trip to Schmidt’s Yellowstone weekend retreat.
Since it was first held over a decade ago, the retreat has been shrouded in secrecy—the full list of its attendees and details of its activities are closely guarded. In internal documents reviewed by the Free Beacon, the retreat’s itinerary includes “sessions,” “lightning round sessions,” and “activities,” offering few additional details. Eric Lander, who served as former president Joe Biden’s top science adviser, attended the Schmidt confab in 2021, Fox News reported. Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) and celebrities like Lady Gaga and Ashton Kutcher attended in previous years, according to reports.
The junkets could pose conflict-of-interest concerns for Moulton, given his position overseeing the military’s use of emerging technologies. Moulton, who announced a primary challenge against incumbent Sen. Ed Markey in October, serves on the House Armed Services Committee and is a member of its Cyber Innovation Technology and Information Systems subcommittee. That subcommittee has taken the lead on shaping the military’s cooperation with the private sector on AI and other cutting-edge technologies.
Moulton was also named co-chair of the Future of Defense Task Force assembled in 2019. One year later, the task force published a report with a series of recommendations for how the United States can boost innovation to address future national security threats—its first recommendation was that the United States deploy a Manhattan Project-like strategy to lead the world in AI development.
In recent years, meanwhile, Moulton has emerged as one of the most vocal lawmakers on the issue of AI development and AI regulation.
“If America falls short in this new AI arms race, someone else will set the moral guardrails for its use. And once that happens, it will be very difficult to pull back,” he wrote in a 2023 Boston Globe op-ed.
He later told the local Massachusetts outlet WGBH that the United States should help create international standards for AI in the vein of the Geneva Conventions.
Moulton, who once proclaimed that “democracy belongs to the people, not billionaires,” has taken other all-expenses-paid junkets. Qatar, the pro-Hamas Gulf monarchy, funded Moulton’s trip to Doha in 2020, the Free Beacon reported. Lobbyists for the Qatari government who organized the trip have donated $11,500 to Moulton’s campaign over the years.
Moulton faced scrutiny over the trip after he announced in October, just after he launched his Senate campaign, that he would refund donations he’s received from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel advocacy group.
Moulton has not made a similar proclamation about the Qatari funding.
A spokeswoman for Schmidt declined to comment. Moulton’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
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