Hillary Clinton just can’t help herself.
Scandal follows her around like stink follows garbage.
And now she was caught red handed in this criminal scheme.
The Clinton’s are no strangers to shady fundraising tactics.
They rented out the Lincoln bedroom when Bill was in the White House, and disturbing allegations of illegal foreign donations dogged his 1996 Presidential campaign.
2016 was no different.
Clinton’s campaign exploited the 2014 McCutcheon v FEC ruling that allowed for individuals to support more candidates through joint fundraising committees.
Critics claim Hillary and her henchmen used the ruling to establish an $84 million dollar money laundering scheme by urging big money donors to funnel millions through state parties who, in turn, kicked the money back to the Clinton campaign.
And now, the Committee to Defend the President has filed a FEC complaint with the FEC insisting on an investigation.
Dan Backer – the Committee’s counsel – wrote an op-ed in Investor’s Business Daily outlining the scheme:
“As Fox News reported, we documented the Democratic establishment “us[ing] state chapters as straw men to circumvent campaign donation limits and launder(ing) the money back to her campaign.” The 101-page complaint focused on the Hillary Victory Fund (HVF) — the $500 million joint fundraising committee between the Clinton campaign, DNC, and dozens of state parties — which did exactly that the Supreme Court declared would still be illegal.
HVF solicited six-figure donations from major donors, including Calvin Klein and “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, and routed them through state parties en route to the Clinton campaign. Roughly $84 million may have been laundered in what might be the single largest campaign finance scandal in U.S. history.
Here’s what we know. Campaign finance law is incredibly complex and infamous for its lack of clarity. As I’ve explained before, its complexity is a feature, not a bug. Major political players with the resources to hire the very few attorneys who practice campaign finance law benefit from the complexity that keeps others out. Perhaps HVF’s architects thought so too, and assumed that if no one understands what’s happening, no one would complain.
Here’s what you can do, legally. Per election, an individual donor can contribute $2,700 to any candidate, $10,000 to any state party committee, and (during the 2016 cycle) $33,400 to a national party’s main account. These groups can all get together and take a single check from a donor for the sum of those contribution limits — it’s legal because the donor cannot exceed the base limit for any one recipient. And state parties can make unlimited transfers to their national party.
Here’s what you can’t do, which the Clinton machine appeared to do anyway. As the Supreme Court made clear in McCutcheon v. FEC, the JFC may not solicit or accept contributions to circumvent base limits, through “earmarks” and “straw men” that are ultimately excessive — there are five separate prohibitions here.
On top of that, six-figure donations either never actually passed through state party accounts or were never actually under state party control, which adds false FEC reporting by HVF, state parties, and the DNC to the laundry list.”
In her book, former Democrat National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile alleged that the joint fundraising committees being under the control of the Clinton campaign was evidence that the national party colluded with Hillary to rig the 2016 primary.
But Hillary now has bigger problems on her hand.
Will this complaint be the criminal investigation that takes down Hillary for good?
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.
