I don’t have any particular issue with Russian people. With the exception of Putin and his henchmen I assume they are pretty much like other humans, some good, some bad. But I do find strange how much interaction there is between Russian oligarchs and Republican operatives and politicians. There are just dozens of examples of this and as far as I know there are few if any with Democrats.
A former campaign manager for both of Kentucky’s U.S. senators, who was convicted on criminal charges in 2016 and later pardoned by President Trump, is facing more federal charges.
Jesse Benton has been indicted on multiple counts, including conspiracy to solicit and cause an illegal campaign contribution by a foreign national, the Department of Justice said in a statement Monday.
Benton is accused of “conspiring” with Roy Douglas “Doug” Wead of Florida “to solicit a political contribution from a Russian foreign national.”
Wead told the foreign national he could arrange for them to meet with a 2016 presidential candidate “in exchange for a payment,” the Justice Department says in court documents.
Benton then arranged, according to the Justice Department, for the foreign national to attend a fundraiser “and get a photograph with” the candidate if they gave a contribution to a “joint fundraising committee” that included the candidate’s campaign committee and national party committee.
The complaint doesn’t name the political candidate.
It’s tempting to assume it was Trump but it could have been any of that group of candidates. It could easily have been Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio as well. Or anyone else. This just seems to have been a common thing in GOP circles. It probably still is.
The foreign national allegedly “wired $100,000” to a consulting company Benton owned. He is accused of then creating a “fake invoice” as a “cover story” for the payment.
“Benton ultimately filled out a contributor form, indicated that he was the contributor, and used a personal credit card to make a $25,000 contribution. Benton retained the remaining $75,000 of Foreign National 1’s money,” the Justice Department claims in their statement.
If convicted, Benton and Wead face “maximum penalties” of five to 20 years in prison, per count, the Justice Department said.
Benton was previously convicted in 2016 of criminal charges related to an endorsement scheme during the 2012 presidential primaries involving a plot to provide $73,000 in payments to a former Iowa state representative to secure his endorsement of Sen. Rand Paul’s father, former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul.
Benton managed Rand Paul’s 2010 general election campaign and is married to Paul’s niece. He also managed Sen. Mitch McConnell’s 2014 reelection bid but resigned that position amid the scandal over the 2012 incident.
Benton spent six months on home confinement and two years on probation before he received a full pardon from Trump in December. Another former Ron Paul campaign staffer was also pardoned in connection with the same case.
What a racket.