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Today’s Links:
Articles
Campaign Legal Center – CLC Sues FEC over Dismissal of Complaint Alleging Violations by Trump Campaign
Business Insider – Trump’s campaign committee dodges penalty as federal watchdog deadlocks on complaint it laundered hundreds of millions of dollars
Associated Press – FEC deadlocks, won’t punish Trump over questionable 2020 campaign spending
Campaign Legal Center
Organizations Taking Action
Campaign Legal Center, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Public Citizen
Script
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
We reported back in May on the Federal Elections Commission deadlock over alleged secret payments benefitting Trump family members. The complaint alleges Trump family members and insiders financially benefited from sweetheart contracts paid out by a political action committee supporting President Trump’s re-election campaign. The Campaign Legal Center has now filed a lawsuit contesting that decision.
Based on 2020 reporting by the Business Insider, the Make America Great Again PAC allegedly misreported the payees of secret payments made to American Made Media Consultants, LLC, set up by Jared Kushner. The LLC had Vice President Pence, Lara Trump, and Kushner as board members, among others. American Made Media Consultants was reported to have been paid $617 million dollars from the PAC, and some of that money was used to compensate Trump campaign staffers and the partners of his adult children, violating campaign transparency rules. Parscale Strategy, LLC, headed by Brad Parscale, former Trump campaign manager, was also accused of having received misreported payments. Despite significant evidence, the FEC’s three Republicans and three Democrats deadlocked on whether further investigation was warranted.
The Campaign Legal Center lawsuit contests that decision, pointing out that the commissioners’ reasonings for rejecting the complaint don’t stand up to legal scrutiny. They ask that the court invalidate the FEC’s dismissal, and that the alleged violations be investigated. Stay tuned for more on this story.
We have links to articles and groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. Granny D said “Democracy is not something we have, it’s something we DO.”
For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.