The Hill News

A spokesman for the Koch brothers' lobbying firm said the billionaire brothers would not be "intimidated or silenced by the President's aides and his allies" after President Obama's reelection campaign announced earlier this week that they would encourage fundraising by a super-PAC supporting his campaign.

"We will exercise our First Amendment rights and not be intimidated or silenced by the President's aides and his allies who criticize private citizens that disagree with the President's policies," said Philip Ellender, president of Koch Companies Public Sector, in a statement. "The Obama campaign's decision to embrace Super PACs is similar to the President's hypocrisy in 2008 when he broke his promise to use public campaign financing and became the first major party presidential candidate in history to turn down public financing in a general election."

The Koch brothers were cited by name in a background conference call with reporters on why the pr! esident had decided to support fundraising by the outside group despite having railed against the Supreme Court ruling that allowed unlimited contributions to PACs.

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