And we have ANOTHER Donald Trump INVESTIGATION for possible money issues running folks….
I wonder how many more are out there?
When the Federal Elections Commission rejected a recent Freedom of Information Act request related to Donald Trump’s “recount” expenses after the 2020 election, the campaign watchdog had a conspicuous reason for turning down the petition: Trump’s political spending after he left the White House is currently the subject of an FEC enforcement matter.
According to agency records obtained by The Daily Beast, the FEC rejected a FOIA request—filed Dec. 20 by a nonpartisan research group that shared the documents on condition of anonymity—because those records may involve an active inquiry.
“To the extent that the records you requested concern an ongoing FEC enforcement matter, we can neither confirm nor deny that any such records exist,” the agency’s FOIA attorney wrote in the letter, which was shared with The Daily Beast.
The request asked the agency for documents and communications related to a major Trump vendor that has received millions in campaign “recount” funds for seemingly unrelated services—including document production for subpoenas from the congressional COVID subcommittee….
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“Recount fundraising is a particularly wild west area of campaign finance, where the absence of any visible guidelines has led to some fairly abusive behavior,” Weiner said, pointing to Trump’s recount spending as a glaring example.
That spending—including payments through possible shell vendors—is now reportedly a target of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation. But Trump isn’t alone. Other “recount” funds have recently drawn attention, including those belonging to Rep. George Santos (R-NY) and former senatorial hopeful Herschel Walker, who received a notice from the FECafter shuffling tens of thousands of dollars in donor funds to a “recount” that was never in the cards.
Transparency advocates say those misuses of donor money expose a loophole in a lightly regulated area of election law. Federal law allows certain political committees to maintain an extra account where they can raise and spend money to pay costs associated with recounts, which can give rise to unforeseen expenses. But, these critics say, a pattern seems to be emerging where candidates exploit the loose rules, treating “recount” accounts as slush funds or repositories for excess contributions.
Weiner pointed out that recount fundraising, left unchecked, could also create perverse incentives for democracy….