# Matt Schlapp
**Matt Schlapp** (Matthew Schlapp) is an American political operative and lobbyist who has chaired the American Conservative Union (ACU), the organization behind the [Conservative Political Action Conference](https://www.edgepedia.org/conservative-political-action-conference) (CPAC), since 2014[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/). He previously served as Director of Political Affairs in the White House under President George W. Bush and later worked as a corporate lobbyist, including for [Koch Industries](https://www.edgepedia.org/koch-industries)[2](https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/results/leadership/bio_534.html) • [1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/). His chairmanship has been marked by CPAC's international expansion and its embrace of Donald Trump's movement, and since early 2023 by a sexual assault lawsuit he settled, staff departures, and allegations of financial mismanagement within the organization[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/) • [3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/05/25/cpac-treasurer-matt-schlapp-resigns-letter/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Current role | Chairman of the American Conservative Union since 2014; runs CPAC and its international spin-offs[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/) |
| Education | B.A. in History and Government, University of Notre Dame; Master of Public Administration, Wichita State University[2](https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/results/leadership/bio_534.html) |
| Bush administration | Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Political Affairs, White House; earlier Regional Political Director on the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign[2](https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/results/leadership/bio_534.html) |
| Lobbying | Top in-house Washington lobbyist for Koch Industries from 2005; founder of the consulting firm Cove Strategies with his wife Mercedes[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/) • [4](https://www.cpac.org/us/press/matt-schlapp) |
| CPAC under his tenure | Events in two U.S. states and six countries in one year; premium packages rose from $1,700 in 2015 to as much as $30,000 in 2023[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/) |
| 2023–2024 turmoil | $9.4 million sexual assault lawsuit by a Herschel Walker campaign staffer, settled; ACU treasurer resigned alleging mismanagement; program revenue fell from $11.7 million to $5.4 million[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/) • [3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/05/25/cpac-treasurer-matt-schlapp-resigns-letter/) • [5](https://www.thedailybeast.com/cpac-tax-docs-reveal-big-losses-after-matt-schlapp-sex-abuse-allegations) • [6](https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/matt-schlapp) |
| Trump ties | Adviser to three GOP presidents; chaired Catholics for Trump in 2020; appointed by Trump to the Library of Congress Board of Trustees[4](https://www.cpac.org/us/press/matt-schlapp) |
## Early life and education
Schlapp grew up in Wichita, Kansas, where his extended family still resides, and has described himself as having been glued to C-SPAN as a child[4](https://www.cpac.org/us/press/matt-schlapp) • [7](https://www.georgewbushlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/2019-02/t081-026ba-536037-20180011p.pdf). He graduated from the [University of Notre Dame](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-notre-dame) with a major in History and Government, then received a [Master of Public Administration](https://www.edgepedia.org/master-of-public-administration) from [Wichita State University](https://www.edgepedia.org/wichita-state-university)[2](https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/results/leadership/bio_534.html).
His entry into Republican politics came as a volunteer for Kansas Representative Todd Tiahrt's 1994 campaign, part of the Republican takeover of the House that year, and he became Tiahrt's chief of staff[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/) • [2](https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/results/leadership/bio_534.html). In 1999, an anonymous account called "Tiahrt Outcasts" circulated emails accusing Schlapp and another top aide of disrespecting and cursing at female employees; Schlapp acknowledged using profanity while disputing the account, and Tiahrt called the episode a "misunderstanding"[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/).
## Bush White House and lobbying career
Schlapp worked on the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign as Regional Political Director and then served in the White House as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Political Affairs[2](https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/results/leadership/bio_534.html). He left the White House in 2005 to become Koch Industries' top in-house lobbyist in Washington[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/).
Former colleagues told The Washington Post that Schlapp left Koch about four years later after a complaint about an anti-gay remark prompted an internal investigation that contributed to his departure; two people with direct knowledge said the inquiry also included allegations that he retaliated against employees he suspected of reporting the remark[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/). He then founded the consulting firm Cove Strategies with his wife, [Mercedes Schlapp](https://www.edgepedia.org/mercedes-schlapp), a former Trump White House senior advisor for strategic communications[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/) • [4](https://www.cpac.org/us/press/matt-schlapp). After Trump left office, most of Cove Strategies' lobbying clients departed; by 2022 his remaining federal lobbying client was Oracle, which paid $50,000 every three months[5](https://www.thedailybeast.com/cpac-tax-docs-reveal-big-losses-after-matt-schlapp-sex-abuse-allegations).
## Chairmanship of the ACU and CPAC
When Schlapp became ACU chairman in 2014, tax returns showed the organization, founded after [Barry Goldwater](https://www.edgepedia.org/barry-goldwater)'s 1964 defeat by conservatives including [William F. Buckley Jr.](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-f-buckley-jr), was struggling financially; Schlapp stabilized it with help from a $750,000 loan from energy executive John Eddy[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/). Under his leadership, CPAC became a fixture of the Trump movement and raised its prices sharply: premium ticket packages rose from $1,700 in 2015 and $5,000 in 2017 to as much as $30,000 in 2023[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/).
**International expansion.** Schlapp turned CPAC into a global brand, with events in two U.S. states and six countries in a single year[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/). CPAC Australia launched in 2019 as Australia's first major conservative political action conference[8](https://www.cpac.network/about). The ACU licenses the CPAC brand to the Budapest-based Center for Fundamental Rights, which has hosted an annual CPAC Hungary since 2022[9](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/04/hungary-maga-orban-gladden-pappin-trump/686652/). In 2025, CPAC held its first event in Poland, near Rzeszów, with speakers including Polish President Andrzej Duda and Schlapp himself[10](https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2025/05/29/zsuzsanna-vegh-politiste-hongroise-la-droite-mondiale-se-coordonne-a-une-echelle-inedite_6609064_3232.html). Argentine president [Javier Milei](https://www.edgepedia.org/javier-milei) publicly credited Matt and Mercedes Schlapp's services with enabling his November 2023 meeting with Trump at his Florida residence[11](https://elpais.com/espana/2024-12-15/la-utraderecha-se-acerca-al-viejo-sueno-de-una-internacional-nacionalista.html).
**Criticism of CPAC under Schlapp.** In 2022, The Guardian reported critics' claims that a "pay-to-play" mentality had become pervasive at CPAC events and that the conference had accepted funding from foreign entities, raising questions about possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act[12](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/14/cpac-pay-to-play-trump-loyalists-gain-power). The Budapest local host of CPAC Hungary received 1 million euros from an entity funded by the Hungarian government of [Viktor Orbán](https://www.edgepedia.org/viktor-orban), according to the investigative nonprofit Átlátszó[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/). By early 2023, more than half of CPAC's staff had left since 2021, and corporate sponsors such as Fox Nation and Facebook had dropped away[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/).
## Sexual assault allegation, litigation, and finances
In early January 2023, Carlton Huffman, a former staffer on [Herschel Walker](https://www.edgepedia.org/herschel-walker)'s Georgia Senate campaign, accused Schlapp of groping him without consent in October 2022 while driving Schlapp to his Atlanta hotel after a night of drinking[5](https://www.thedailybeast.com/cpac-tax-docs-reveal-big-losses-after-matt-schlapp-sex-abuse-allegations). Huffman filed a $9.4 million battery and defamation lawsuit in Alexandria Circuit Court in Virginia, adding defamation claims against Mercedes Schlapp; Schlapp denied the claims in court documents, and The Washington Post reported that call logs, texts, and videos provided by the staffer broadly matched his account[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/). The lawsuit was later settled[6](https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/matt-schlapp).
In May 2023, the ACU's treasurer resigned with a letter alleging financial and staff mismanagement by Schlapp[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/05/25/cpac-treasurer-matt-schlapp-resigns-letter/). ACU's tax return for April 2022 through March 2023 showed program revenue falling by more than half, from $11.7 million to $5.4 million, with CPAC revenue under $2.5 million and a $1.6 million loss from program services; it was the organization's lowest program income since 2018[5](https://www.thedailybeast.com/cpac-tax-docs-reveal-big-losses-after-matt-schlapp-sex-abuse-allegations). For the first time in his chairmanship, Schlapp took a salary, reported at $350,000 for a claimed five-hour work week, while his wife received about $180,000 for strategic communications work; the organization's chairman had traditionally been an unpaid volunteer[5](https://www.thedailybeast.com/cpac-tax-docs-reveal-big-losses-after-matt-schlapp-sex-abuse-allegations) • [1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/). The return also reported travel expenses of over $1.4 million, more than ten times the previous year's total, and was signed amid an alleged document-shredding episode subpoenaed in the Huffman case[5](https://www.thedailybeast.com/cpac-tax-docs-reveal-big-losses-after-matt-schlapp-sex-abuse-allegations).
## Statements and controversies
Schlapp repeatedly made false claims of large-scale voter fraud after the 2020 election, including alleging that "hundreds of dead people" had voted in Nevada, claims he continued to repeat in interviews[13](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/25/trailer-trump-prepares-bask-conservative-movement-he-changed/). Speaking to reporters in Hungary in 2022, he explicitly linked "replacement theory," immigration, and anti-abortion politics, calling the overturning of [Roe v. Wade](https://www.edgepedia.org/roe-v-wade) a good "first step" in fixing the U.S. immigration "problem"[14](https://time.com/6178135/buffalo-shooting-abortion-replacement-theory/). In 2021, he told corporate America "you blew it" by embracing vaccine mandates and refused in a joint interview to share his and his wife's vaccination status[15](https://www.axios.com/2021/10/24/schlapp-vaccines-trump-2024).
By the 2026 CPAC gathering in [Grapevine, Texas](https://www.edgepedia.org/grapevine-texas), the conference had shrunk in Trump's orbit: for the first time in nearly a decade, Trump did not attend, though the program still centered on him[16](https://apnews.com/article/9826e2fe25fe7446072be91b4f880ee3).
## Personal life
Schlapp and his wife Mercedes married in 2002 and have five children; the family attends the Basilica of St. Mary in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/) • [4](https://www.cpac.org/us/press/matt-schlapp). He is a Knight of Malta and chaired Catholics for Trump in 2020; he has served on the boards of the [National Association of Manufacturers](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-association-of-manufacturers), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Political Council, and the Eisenhower Memorial Foundation, and was appointed by Trump to the Board of Trustees of the Library of Congress[4](https://www.cpac.org/us/press/matt-schlapp).
## References
1. [Matt Schlapp, CPAC's head, faces leadership questions amid sex assault allegation, The Washington Post (February 28, 2023)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/28/matt-schlapp-cpac-assault-claim-leadership/)
2. [Matt Schlapp, Appointee Directory, George W. Bush White House Archives](https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/results/leadership/bio_534.html)
3. [CPAC treasurer resigns, alleges financial and staff mismanagement by Matt Schlapp, The Washington Post (May 25, 2023)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/05/25/cpac-treasurer-matt-schlapp-resigns-letter/)
4. [Matt Schlapp, official biography, CPAC](https://www.cpac.org/us/press/matt-schlapp)
5. [CPAC Tax Docs Reveal Big Losses After Matt Schlapp Sex Abuse Allegations, The Daily Beast (March 7, 2024)](https://www.thedailybeast.com/cpac-tax-docs-reveal-big-losses-after-matt-schlapp-sex-abuse-allegations)
6. [Matt Schlapp, topic page (incl. "CPAC's Matt Schlapp settles sexual assault lawsuit"), The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/matt-schlapp)
7. [White House political director profile, George W. Bush Presidential Library](https://www.georgewbushlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/2019-02/t081-026ba-536037-20180011p.pdf)
8. [About CPAC Australia](https://www.cpac.network/about)
9. [The MAGA Intellectual Who Prophesied a Queen Melania, The Atlantic (2026)](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/04/hungary-maga-orban-gladden-pappin-trump/686652/)
10. [Zsuzsanna Végh interview, Le Monde (May 29, 2025)](https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2025/05/29/zsuzsanna-vegh-politiste-hongroise-la-droite-mondiale-se-coordonne-a-une-echelle-inedite_6609064_3232.html)
11. [La ultraderecha se acerca al viejo sueño de una "internacional nacionalista", El País (December 15, 2024)](https://elpais.com/espana/2024-12-15/la-utraderecha-se-acerca-al-viejo-sueno-de-una-internacional-nacionalista.html)
12. [Critics accuse CPAC of becoming pay-to-play as Trump loyalists gain power, The Guardian (March 14, 2022)](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/14/cpac-pay-to-play-trump-loyalists-gain-power)
13. [The Trailer: Trump prepares to bask in the conservative movement he changed, The Washington Post (February 25, 2021)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/25/trailer-trump-prepares-bask-conservative-movement-he-changed/)
14. [What the Buffalo Tragedy Has to Do With the Effort to Overturn Roe, TIME (2022)](https://time.com/6178135/buffalo-shooting-abortion-replacement-theory/)
15. ["You blew it": GOP activist turns on corporations over vaccine mandates, Axios (October 24, 2021)](https://www.axios.com/2021/10/24/schlapp-vaccines-trump-2024)
16. [The top moments from this year's CPAC conference in Texas, AP (2026)](https://apnews.com/article/9826e2fe25fe7446072be91b4f880ee3)
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*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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