A complaint has been filed against the Trump campaign for illegally laundering $170 million through the companies of former campaign manager Brad Parscale.
The Campaign Legal Center filed the complaint and said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA:
Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign and joint fundraising committee. The campaign and its committee violated the law by laundering nearly $170 million in campaign spending through firms headed by Trump’s former campaign manager, Brad Parscale, and other firms created by Trump campaign lawyers.
The campaign reported millions in payment–American Made and Parscale Strategy—which disbursed the funds to the campaign’s ultimate vendors. Ultimately, this hid millions in payments to companies engaged in significant work for the campaign, as well as payments to Trump family members or associates like Lara Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle.
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The Trump campaign appears to be laundering donations and using the money to pay Trump’s family and associates. Trump is also trying to hide money for work being done for his campaign.
“Voters have a right know how campaigns are spending money to influence elections,†said CLC President and former Republican Chair of the FEC Trevor Potter. “This scheme flies in the face of transparency requirements mandated by federal law, and it leaves voters and donors in the dark about where the campaign’s funds are actually going. This secrecy could also disguise other campaign finance violations, but we don’t know, because the campaign isn’t disclosing these routed payments.”
Donors and voters don’t know who is working for the campaign, what they are doing, and how much they are being paid. It is possible, some would say likely, knowing Trump that what the Campaign Legal Center found is the tip of the iceberg.
Trump has always viewed campaign donations as his money and has found numerous ways to line his own pockets with campaign donations.
Voters need to know where the money is going, but they probably won’t find out unless Joe Biden wins, and the FEC becomes a functional oversight body again.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
