FEC goes after Donald Trump for more than 1,000 violations of campaign finance laws

[CPUd]

Not a big fan of historic fwc-elect, but if true, this could be crossing the line by damaging him before he takes office and begins the swamp draining:

FEC goes after Donald Trump for more than 1,000 violations of campaign finance laws

The Federal Election Commission says Trump accepted $1.3 million in contributions that were over the legal limit


With mounting evidence and growing complaints that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign improperly coordinated with supportive super PACs during the election, calls for the Federal Election Commission to take action have only grown louder. Now it appears that the government’s electoral watchdog is finally making the first steps.

On Sunday, the FEC sent a letter to the Trump campaign flagging more than 1,000 potentially illegal mistakes in the campaign’s October latest filing. In the letter addressed to Trump campaign treasurer Timothy Jost, the FEC warned that hundreds of Trump’s donors exceeded the $2,700 contribution limit. In total, the FEC said Trump’s presidential campaign accepted almost 1,100 donations totaling about $1.3 million that appear to have violated campaign finance laws.

While the notice from the FEC doesn’t necessarily implicate Trump’s campaign in illegal activity, it does demand Trump refund any donations over the legal limit within 60 days.

“If any apparently excessive contribution in question was incompletely or incorrectly disclosed, you must amend your original report with the clarifying information,” the FEC wrote to the Trump campaign.

In addition to the thousands of excessive contributions in apparent violation of the law, the letter also flagged other campaign finance law violations, such as accepting donations from groups that hadn’t properly registered with FEC.

Last week, a liberal grassroots organization filed a complaint alleging that a pro-Trump super PAC improperly funneled payments to Steve Bannon, Trump’s campaign CEO and soon-to-be White House strategist, in violation of the law.

In another complaint filed with the FEC last month, the Campaign Legal Center said it had reviewed undercover videos that reportedly show top members of a separate pro-Trump super PAC soliciting $2 million from a reporter acting as a Chinese national. Jesse Benton, the former chief strategist at Great America PAC and former top aide to Ron and Rand Paul, who was convicted in May on charges of campaign bribery, is reportedly seen on tape assuring the undercover reporter he believed to be a wealthy Chinese businessman that the contribution would remain anonymous, and that the Chinese benefactor was “going to get credit” for the $2 million.

Though the FEC’s latest letter does not address those two specific complaints against pro-Trump super PACs, it does name a third super PAC as in violation of the law.

“The Conservative Action Fund and Manufacturer and Business Association Political Action Committee did not meet the requirements for qualified multi-candidate status as of the date the contribution(s) was made to your committee,” the FEC informed the Trump campaign. “If any apparently prohibited contribution in question was incompletely or incorrectly disclosed, you should amend your original report with clarifying information. In addition, please clarify whether the contribution(s) received from the referenced organization(s) is permissible.”

Despite the FEC calling out the Trump campaign for these apparent violations of campaign finance laws, it would be a mistake to assume the regulatory elections agency will take significant further action.

Due to a pattern of Republican obstruction and a long-term disinclination to investigate prior apparent violations of the law by Republican candidates, the FEC is widely perceived as an impotent regulator.

The Campaign Legal Center’s Larry Noble explained that despite the eye-popping number of apparent violations in Trump’s FEC filing, the letter from the agency is fairly routine. Both Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign and Barack Obama’s previous campaigns also received warnings that many of their donors, especially those online, had run afoul of spending limits. Noble adds, however, that the FEC’s comments on the Trump campaign’s coordination with unsanctioned super PACs may have gotten even the most partisan of Republican FEC members to take notice.

http://www.salon.com/2016/11/21/fec-...-finance-laws/

[Danke]

^ Not a Clinton supporter. LOL

[Weston White]

Jesse Benton, the former chief strategist at Great America PAC and former top aide to Ron and Rand Paul, who was convicted in May on charges of campaign bribery, is reportedly seen on tape assuring the undercover reporter he believed to be a wealthy Chinese businessman that the contribution would remain anonymous, and that the Chinese benefactor was “going to get credit” for the $2 million.

Seriously, who is this guy really?

[Weston White]

Are we going to call out the Hillary campaign too?

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia donated more than $10 million. Through a foundation, so did the son-in-law of a former Ukrainian president whose government was widely criticized for corruption and the murder of journalists. A Lebanese-Nigerian developer with vast business interests contributed as much as $5 million.

For years the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation thrived largely on the generosity of foreign donors and individuals who gave hundreds of millions of dollars to the global charity. But now, as Mrs. Clinton seeks the White House, the funding of the sprawling philanthropy has become an Achilles’ heel for her campaign and, if she is victorious, potentially her administration as well.

SRC: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/21/us...rity.html?_r=0

SRC: https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...fae_story.html

As Kirk Hanson, director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University in California, told the Wall Street Journal, the "potential exists for foreign governments to curry favor with (Clinton) as a potential president of the United States."

Getting back to Saudi Arabia, working with them would necessarily be a part of any president’s job. Its donations might not make a difference, but there is no question that the foundation’s work creates a tangle of relationships.

SRC: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-me...on-foundation/

[randomname]

Seriously, who is this guy really?

either incredibly dumb or compromized...

[Brian4Liberty]

This is outrageous! Such campaign violations are unheard of, with the exception of the 2012 Benton fiasco.

Why is it that every candidate that even hints at opposition to the Leninist/Trotskyite/neocon agenda is involved in campaign irregularities? Why can't they be honest and fully compliant with all laws and regulations like all of the other honest candidates like Saint Hillary?


/s

[enhanced_deficit]

To give credit where due, Obama administration's zero tolerance for financial corruption is the reason that Obama is seen as one of the most honest and trustworthy politicians in US history.



Jeremiah Wright claims Obama ally offered $150,000 bribe
May 13, 2012 - According to Wright, Obama met personally with his then-pastor to ask him ... Wright $150,000 to stay silent during Obama's 2008 presidential ...

KUHNER: Jeremiah Wright can sink Obama
The Washington Times
May 17, 2012 - President's former pastor telling story of betrayal and bribery ... claims that in 2008, the Obama campaign offered $150,000 to buy his silence.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright Daughter Indicted for Alleged Money Laundering
abcnews.go.com
Apr 11, 2013

Rev. Wright's Daughter Headed To Prison
dailycaller.com/.../chickens-coming-home-to-roost-rev-...The Daily Caller
Feb 23, 2015 - Jeri Wright, the 48-year-old daughter of President Barack Obama's mentor and former pastor Jeremiah Wright, is heading to jail.

[William Tell]

This is outrageous! Such campaign violations are unheard of, with the exception of the 2012 Benton fiasco.

Why is it that every candidate that even hints at opposition to the Leninist/Trotskyite/neocon agenda is involved in campaign irregularities? Why can't they be honest and fully compliant with all laws and regulations like all of the other honest candidates like Saint Hillary?

Meh. It's not rocket science. Every campaign that I know of just immediately refunds any donation over the limit. Plenty of people gave too much to Ron and his campaign gave it back. Trump just had a bad treasurer/bad treasury policy. Anyone in the campaign should have seen this coming if they saw huge checks. They may not have intentionally violated the law but they were very sloppy at least.

[Superfluous Man]

Meh. It's not rocket science. Every campaign that I know of just immediately refunds any donation over the limit. Plenty of people gave too much to Ron and his campaign gave it back. Trump just had a bad treasurer/bad treasury policy. Anyone in the campaign should have seen this coming if they saw huge checks. They may not have intentionally violated the law but they were very sloppy at least.

Looks like the coordination was the bigger deal than just donations over the max.

[presence]

lol

Benton strikes again!

[presence]

1,100 donations totaling about $1.3 million

so we're talking about 1000 donations 40% over the $2700 limit
barely newsworthy and certainly didn't effect trump's overall funding.
this is peanuts. he'll stroke a check and it will go away.

[Matt Collins]

Campaign finance laws are unconstitutional.

[enhanced_deficit]

Most probably just parting meaningless shot from an administration with a tarnished legacy to give another illusion of fake hope to demoralized Dem base. But almost zero chance of any real action against Trump because of enormous leverage he has now.
We should hope that this does not start another competition of throwing redmeat to the bases and Trumpster does not bring "lock her up"/"lock him up" back to the table. That would be not good for national unity and bipartisanship.