On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that the Democrats and failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton funded the now-debunked Trump Dossier that has allegations of collusion between now-President Donald Trump and Russia.
Today, the non-partisan Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that claims Hillary’s campaign and the DNC violated campaign finance law over payments for the Trump Dossier.
From LawNewz:
According to a recent reports in the media, Marc Elias, who also served as the Clinton campaign lawyer, paid opposition research firm Fusion GPS to produce the dossier which exposed alleged connection between Donald Trump and Russia government. It also contained salacious allegations about Trump’s personal escapades. According to reports, the Hillary for America campaign paid for the research but routed the payments through Elias’ law firm Perkins Coie and described the purpose of the money as “legal services” on their FEC disclosures. The DNC and the Clinton campaign reported dozens of payments totaling more that $12 million dollars to Perkins Coie over the course of the campaign.“By filing misleading reports, the DNC and Clinton campaign undermined the vital public information role of campaign disclosures,” said Adav Noti, with the Campaign Legal Center in a statement obtained by LawNewz. Noti previously served as the FEC’s Associate General Counsel for Policy. “Voters need campaign disclosure laws to be enforced so they can hold candidates accountable for how they raise and spend money. The FEC must investigate this apparent violation and take appropriate action.”
Elias continued to pay for the dossier after a Republican donor decided to stop payments.
The complaint states that “Clinton’s campaign committee reported 37 payments to Perkins Coie over the 2016 election cycle totaling $5,631,421” labeled as “Legal Services.” The next item says that the DNC forked over $6,726,407 to Perkins Coie for Legal and Compliance Consulting, Administrative Fees, Travel, Data Services Subscription, and Research Consulting.
The Post’s report says that Hillary’s campaign and the DNC shared the costs of the dossier from “Fusion GPS through Perkins Coie to conduct opposition research on Donald Trump.” The complaint concludes that “the purpose of at least some portion of the payments to Perkins Coie was not for legal services; instead, those payments were intended to fund opposition research.
LawNewz points out that a campaign has the ability to hire an opposition research company “to dig up dirt” on opponents. The law does not allow campaigns “to pay a law firm who then hires other [sic] to perform campaign related activities without reporting the purpose of the expenditures.”
Hillary’s campaign and the DNC face fines if violations are found. Those fines will go higher if the FEC determines they purposely mislead the American people.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY