...still lost, it seems money doesn't buy elections anymore.

The money came from government settlements/litigations (think VW diesel scandal) into a DoJ slush fund and was redistributed without involving Congress or giving it back to the tax-payer.

The Obama administration funneled billions of dollars to activist organizations through a Department of Justice slush fund scheme, according to congressional investigators...“The underlying problem with the slush funds is we don’t know exactly where the money is going,”  ...“Using enforcement authority to go after corporate defendants, DOJ bureaucrats are taking billions away from taxpayers to fund their pet projects overriding congressional preferences.”...A sample of the left-leaning organizations benefiting from the largesse include the National Council of La Raza, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and the National Urban League.

Totally grassroot protests with Billions $ from the government.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/01/gop-wants-to-eliminate-shadowy-doj-slush-fund-bankrolling-leftist-groups.html

Obama originally promised transparency and to eliminate those slush funds... but then there was money lol
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jvdelong/2016/09/11/settlements-and-slush-funds/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/02/11/obamas-tenure-set-to-close-by-spending-59-billion-through-pentagon-slush-fund/

move to politics please...

I don't see anywhere in any of those articles where it said money was given to groups advocating for Hillary or speaking against Drumpf or used to fund protests.

Left-leaning...

Left leaning doesn't mean they were engaging any way in the electoral process as is being alleged.  There are groups that can be defined as left leaning that don't get involved much in politics.  I don't know that that was the case here, but if OP is suggesting that this money was specifically used to campaign against Trump, that's a claim that has to be supported.