DeSantis help falls in new poll as campaign resets, Trump stays atop industry

Mabinty Quarshie

August 01, 12:28 PM August 01, 12:28 PM

As Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) attempts to reset his 2024 presidential campaign, a new poll suggests he has his get the job done minimize out for him.

A Early morning Check with poll introduced on Tuesday confirmed the governor slipping to 15% assistance between opportunity Republican primary voters, as former President Donald Trump continues to dominate the main race at 58% support. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy landed in 3rd place at 9%, with previous Vice President Mike Pence behind him at 7%. All other candidates obtained 3% or considerably less in the survey.

TIM SCOTT'S MESSAGING AND Tactics COULD Shift DESANTIS OUT OF 2nd Put

Notably, Trump is major DeSantis by 43 proportion factors even as he confronted a superseding indictment from special counsel Jack Smith in excess of allegations he mishandled labeled paperwork after leaving office environment and as DeSantis has attempted to reset a campaign that has confronted unfavorable headlines over its campaign strategy.

Ramaswamy, commonly viewed as a long-shot candidate, has found his poll quantities increase 6 proportion points given that mid-June even though DeSantis's poll numbers dropped five proportion points in the same period of time.

When Morning Check with began tracking Republican key voters in December, DeSantis polled at 30% and Trump at 50%. But since then, DeSantis's help has dropped by 15 percentage points whilst Trump's support has enhanced eight percentage points irrespective of the two indictments he is faced this 12 months.

In April, Manhattan District Legal professional Alvin Bragg unveiled a 34-rely indictment from Trump about a hush money payment plan to grownup movie actress Stormy Daniels for the duration of the 2016 presidential election. Then arrived Smith's 37-depend indictment in June over the categorised files, which then enhanced to 40 federal expenses final week in the superseding indictment. The former president has denied any wrongdoing on any of the costs.

But he could facial area two far more indictments above Smith's Jan. 6 Capitol riot investigation and a Georgia investigation into allegations that Trump and his allies tried to overturn the effects of the 2020 presidential election.

DeSantis has faced queries above his retail politics awkwardness, his capability to encourage voters to abandon Trump, and his campaign investing soon after his campaign fired 38 staffers just lately.

However, DeSantis has preserved that he is the only candidate who can credibly gain back the White Dwelling during upcoming year's elections. In a hypothetical matchup, President Joe Biden would win over both Trump and DeSantis, the Morning Check with poll showed. Biden potential customers Trump 44% to 41%, a three percentage point gap. Biden leads DeSantis by 6 proportion factors, 44% to 38%, in a hypothetical matchup, an indication that worries DeSantis's assertion he is the most effective candidate to defeat Biden.

Trump also scores large in favorability with voters at 71%, as does DeSantis, who has a 63% favorability ranking. Pence comes in 3rd location with a 50% favorability, with no other applicant getting higher than 50% just after the former vice president.

The surveys were executed July 28-30 and have a margin of error of additionally or minus four share details.

GOP senators split over Trump verdict: 'I'm looking at other candidates'

Samantha-Jo Roth

May 10, 06:00 AM May 10, 06:01 AM

Republican senators are further divided on whether former President Donald Trump should be the party's 2024 presidential nominee after a New York jury found him liable for battery and defamation in a civil trial.

The case stemmed from allegations Trump raped the writer E. Jean Carroll in a Manhattan department store nearly 30 years ago.

JURY ORDERS TRUMP TO PAY $5M IN DAMAGES TO CARROLL FOR BATTERY AND DEFAMATION

While the former president has denied wrongdoing in these matters, some Republican senators said they’d prefer to support another candidate in the 2024 race.

“I have a difficult time doing so,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) when asked by reporters if he’d support Trump after he was found liable for battery and defamation. “I’m not supporting Trump. I’m looking at other candidates.”

Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the No. 2 Republican in the Senate who has openly feuded with the former president, admitted the verdict may not make a dent with his base but emphasized the growing number of legal problems could pose a risk to his 2024 bid to regain the White House.

“I do think there’s a cumulative effect, just the constant drama and chaos that always seems to surround him,” Thune told reporters on Tuesday. “But that doesn’t seem to impact his hardcore supporters. The question, I guess, is does it impact people in the middle who are going to decide a national election?”

The question of electability is also one Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) brought up.

“I don’t think he can get elected,” Cornyn told reporters on Tuesday. “You can’t win a general election with just your base.”

Following a two-week trial, jurors arrived at their verdict after 2 ½ hours of deliberating, awarding Carroll $5 million in damages. The jury didn’t find Trump committed rape but found it more likely than not that he sexually abused Carroll in a dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman in the 1990s and that he defamed Carroll in comments he made, denying her allegations.

The verdict delivered on Tuesday is the latest blow for Trump as he seeks the 2024 Republican presidential nomination while facing a growing number of legal headaches. In a different case in New York, he’s facing criminal charges connected to the payment of hush money to a porn star ahead of the 2016 election and other investigations probing his involvement with Georgia election officials after the 2020 election, his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection and how he handled classified documents at his private residence at Mar-a-Lago.

Nearly a dozen Republicans senators have already endorsed Trump’s 2024 bid, including the National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT). The latest legal action has Trump’s supporters digging in, questioning the fairness of the legal process in what they're calling a “liberal stronghold” in New York.

“I think the New York Legal system is off the rails when it comes to Donald Trump,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who has endorsed his run.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) dismissed the verdict, saying it was only “civil action.” The Missouri senator stopped short of endorsing his run but said he’d be surprised if Trump did not become the Republican nominee.

“I think he’ll be the nominee. I’d be very surprised if he wasn’t,” Hawley told reporters on Tuesday. “I think the general election is going to be an interesting affair because we are going to have whatever the situation ends up being here. I mean, the former president will appeal, so wherever we’re at with this by that point.”

Hawley isn’t alone. Many Senate Republicans have said publicly and privately that Trump is consolidating his support within the GOP and looks likely to become the nominee in 2024 despite looming legal problems. The former president has doubled his lead in recent polling over rival Ron DeSantis, Florida's GOP governor, since Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted him in late March.

While some Republicans like Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), one of the most prominent critics of the 45th president within the GOP, voiced their skepticism with the earlier Trump indictment, the Utah senator finds this most recent verdict more troubling.

“The jury of Donald Trump’s peers found him guilty of sexual assault. I hope the jury of the American people conclude as well that he should not be the next nominee for the Republican Party or the president,” Romney said.

Thune acknowledged the divisions within the conference, with some members deciding to continue to stand by Trump through all matters of adversity, but doubted it would have an impact on the Senate’s work.

“I think most senators in the end are going to do what they think is right for them and the constituency they represent,” Thune said, “We’re going to continue to do our work. The campaigns at some point will get more fully formed, and I assume there will be other candidates out there. In the meantime, we’ll just try and keep our heads down and do the stuff we are supposed to do.”

DeSantis supporters leap to his defense against Trump ahead of primary fight

Naomi Lim

April 18, 05:30 AM April 18, 05:30 AM

Voters are getting a glimpse of what is shaping up to be an ugly 2024 Republican presidential primary between the top contenders, declared candidate former President Donald Trump and undeclared Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).

But while DeSantis's supporters are now more vociferously jumping to his defense, with the governor not expected to announce a campaign until Florida's 2023 legislative session concludes next month, he risks being defined by Trump while the governor and his allies criticize the former president for his temperament and policy positions amid his mounting legal challenges.

BIDEN TRIES TO BREAK THROUGH AS GOP PRIMARY BRAWL STARTS

Last week, Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. launched its second TV ad attacking DeSantis, claiming he sought cuts to Social Security and Medicare, in addition to trying to raise the retirement age to 70. The 30-second spot, which came after a $3 million buy last month, also mocks DeSantis for allegedly eating chocolate pudding with three fingers in a 2019 anecdote reported by the Daily Beast.

Two days later, Never Back Down, the DeSantis-aligned super PAC, hit back during WHD News Sunday with its first TV ad, asking, “What happened to Donald Trump?" and urging the former president to "fight Democrats," not "lie" about the governor regarding entitlement reform. The previous day, the group had described Trump as a "gun grabber" during a 90-second digit spot geo-targeted to the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana.

"About time," Republican strategist John Feehery told the Washington Examiner. "Trump is starting to land some blows in defining DeSantis. About time that DeSantis starts fighting back."

But Claremont McKenna College politics professor John Pitney, a former Republican staffer, was uncertain about the Never Back Down ad's audience as Trump continues to dominate early polls. Months before the first GOP debate this summer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Trump averages 52% of the primary electorate to DeSantis' 24%, according to RealClearPolitics. Simultaneously, Trump raised roughly $14 million during the first quarter of 2023, particularly around the time of his indictment in March.

"Here is the message: 'Trump is stealing pages from the Biden-Pelosi playbook,'" Pitney said of President Joe Biden and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "Do the DeSantis people really think that they can convince Republicans that Trump is too much like Biden and Pelosi? That seems pretty unlikely."

"Here's the problem for DeSantis," he added. "From the standpoint of hard evidence, the strongest arguments against Trump are that he's corrupt, that he stole government documents, and that he illegally tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election. But Republicans don't like those arguments."

Former Texas Republican Party Chairman Tom Pauken, who no longer backs Trump, contended DeSantis's other problem is that Democrats "want" the former president to be the 2024 nominee. For Pauken, DeSantis is better positioned to win a general election than Trump, standing by the governor's decision to downplay Florida's new six-week abortion ban.

"Well, it got done," Pauken said. "He [came] down on the side of life. ... I understand that there's a great division over abortion. But he signed the law, and he's focusing on the issues that he's really been in the fight over, which is the wokeism and taking on Disney."

The ads underscore concerns related to Biden, the White House, and Democrats scrutinizing Republicans over Social Security and Medicare, as well as the tone for the GOP primary between Trump and DeSantis.

The Trump spots cite votes DeSantis took in 2013, 2014, and 2015 when he was a congressman to change Social Security and the retirement age, as well as votes in 2013 and 2015 to tinker with Medicare. In response, Never Back Down points to DeSantis saying last month that he is "not going to mess with Social Security" and comments Trump made in 2020 that he would "look" at entitlement programs "at some point."

Trump has more recently repeated that Republicans should not "cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security." But his presidential budgets proposed decreases to the programs, and in 2012, Trump said then-GOP presidential standard-bearer Mitt Romney and vice presidential pick Paul Ryan's ideas would "save Medicare."

"We can also raise the age for receipt of full Social Security benefits to seventy," Trump wrote in his 2000 book, The America We Deserve. "We have to allow individuals to invest some portion of their Social Security funds in investments that are real and conservative. ... Privatization would be good for all of us."

MAGA Inc. spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in New Hampshire last year, even backed privatizing Social Security and upping the retirement age on the trail.

A Republican operative supporting Trump's campaign quipped this was not "a smart road for the DeSantis camp to go down."

"His PAC's spokesman Matt Wolking used to praise Trump for building the wall and now claims he didn't," the source said. "The fact that they're responding to this shows how vulnerable they know they are on this issue."

Donald Trump indicted: Can he turn Manhattan grand jury vote into 2024 gold?

W. James Antle III

March 30, 07:22 PM March 30, 07:22 PM

Former President Donald Trump’s long anticipated New York indictment, handed down on Thursday, will test whether he can continue to defy the laws of political gravity.

The rumors of the Manhattan grand jury indictment, stoked by Trump himself, rallied the Republican base behind the former president, who has already announced for 2024.

DESANTIS VS. TRUMP AS THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE

Rank-and-file Republican voters are animated by the belief that the criminal justice system has been weaponized against conservatives. Trump’s argument is that this can be done to him, it could happen to any of his supporters.

“A former president, a current candidate and my friend President Donald J. Trump is a victim of a corrupt and distorted version of the American justice system and history,” Trump attorney Alina Habba said in a statement afterward. “He will be vindicated.”

Trump himself described the indictment as “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”

“The Democrats have cheated countless times over the decades, including spying on my campaign, but weaponizing our justice system to punish a political opponent, who just so happens to be a President of the United States and by far the leading Republican candidate for President, has never happened before,” he continued. “Ever.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is viewed as a partisan figure. The legal case is believed by some experts to not be very strong. The issues at hand — the charges are believed to be related to the payment of hush money to a porn star — are less consequential than those involving Jan. 6, the 2020 election, or Trump’s handling of classified documents.

But there is no guarantee that this will continue to redound to Trump’s benefit. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is not a declared candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. But the expected contender has already displayed a willingness to relitigate Trump’s alleged affair with Stormy Daniels, a story that might not age well with social conservatives. And central to the Florida governor’s appeal is that he is a no-drama alternative to Trump.

Trump, by contrast, is leaning into the drama. He has denounced Bragg as the latest of his Democratic tormentors. He held his first rally since the indictment reports began circulating in Waco, Texas, the site of the deadly federal raid on the Branch Davidians’ compound in 1993.

Nearly any other candidate would have to suspend their campaign in response to a development of this nature. Trump could easily use his mugshot or images of his perp walk to galvanize the Republican base. He has denied reports that he would welcome being shot during an arrest, but many in his orbit are seeking to turn his legal woes into a political windfall.

"The unprecedented election interference from corrupt Socialist District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a political witch-hunt and a dark day for America,” House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said in a statement.

President Joe Biden and the White House have remained quiet about Trump’s latest legal issues. Many Republicans allege the indictment is designed to aid Biden politically, pointing to the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation during the 2016 campaign.

Trump has survived two impeachments, the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, his 2020 reelection defeat, and his role in a disappointing midterm election result for Republicans with his hold on the base intact.

It is possible that even if an indictment helps Trump in the Republican primaries, it won’t have the same effect in a general election. Trump will carry the distinction of being the first president ever to be indicted, a marker that does not seem likely to enable him to win back suburban voters who swung against him four years ago.

Both Biden and DeSantis are likely to play up the chaotic nature of Trump’s presidency. The headlines surrounding a criminal trial will help feed that narrative.

There is also the possibility that the Manhattan grand jury will only be the beginning of the legal troubles Trump will face, with other investigations brewing elsewhere on multiple fronts.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE IN THE

But for now, Trump is betting he can benefit politically from a legal development that would doom any more conventional campaign. To him, the grand jury vote is the ultimate proof of his argument that he is the victim of a sustained witch hunt.

The question is how long Republican primary voters will agree.

Top takeaways from Trump's first rally since news of looming indictment threat

Cami Mondeaux

March 25, 10:07 PM March 25, 10:07 PM

A familiar version of Donald Trump was on full display Saturday evening as the former president addressed an energized crowd of hundreds of supporters in his first official campaign rally in Waco, Texas.

The event marked Trump’s first public appearance since reports emerged about looming indictment charges related to a hush money case that began during his first presidential run in 2016. Trump capitalized on those threats as he spoke to attendees, seeking to use the possible charges as a way to paint himself as a victim of political attacks while he seeks a return to the Oval Office.

WATCH LIVE: TRUMP HOLDS FIRST 2024 CAMPAIGN RALLY IN TEXAS AS INDICTMENT FEARS LOOM

“As far as the eye can see, the abuses of power that we’re currently witnessing at all levels of government will go down as among the most shameful, corrupt, and depraved chapters in all of American history,” Trump told the crowd. “The thugs and criminals who are corrupting our justice system will be defeated, discredited, and totally disgraced. That’s what’s been happening from the beginning, it’s been one witch hunt and phony investigation after another.”

Trump also leaned into old campaign habits throughout the rally, firing off against his critics and political challengers while seeking to position himself as the best option for the GOP nomination in 2024.

Here are five key moments from Trump’s rally:

‘It’s bulls***’: Trump addresses indictment charges for first time

Trump denounced efforts by the Manhattan district attorney’s office to indict him, decrying possible criminal charges as being politically motivated to tarnish his reputation ahead of a crucial election cycle.

Trump lamented the ongoing investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as being “rigged” by Democrats, arguing the inquiry was being improperly used to make him ineligible for the 2024 presidential election.

“Can you imagine that in order to prosecute and do everything he could to get rid of Trump because you know our poll numbers are through the roof,” Trump told a crowd of supporters on Saturday. “They don’t like it.”

Trump denied any wrongdoing in the Manhattan investigation, which centers on allegations that Trump paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about a sexual affair while he was running for office. Trump denied both the affair and the payments during the rally, arguing prosecutors “have nothing.”

“The Department of Injustice in Washington, D.C., was investigating me for something that is not a crime, not a misdemeanor, not an affair. I never liked Horseface,” Trump said, referring to a nickname he has previously used for Daniels.

Trump hammers dangers of ‘Deep State’ on backdrop of Waco massacre

Trump extended his criticisms to the federal government at large, framing the 2024 election as crucial to stopping Democrats’ “demonic forces” that he said are destroying the country.

“Either the Deep State destroys America or we destroy the Deep State. That's the way it's got to be,” Trump said.

His comments were delivered on the backdrop of the Waco massacre that occurred 30 years ago that white supremacists and militia activists still view as "proof that the government—now usually called the Deep State—is out to get them," Dr. Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Alabama-based Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, told the Washington Examiner.

The Waco siege was a 51-day stand-off in the spring of 1993 that occurred when FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives agents battled residents inside the Branch Davidian complex for control of the property from its leader, David Koresh. Since then, the event has become one of the nation's most infamous citizen showdowns against the government.

In total, four federal agents and 82 Branch Davidians, including 28 children, died in the incident.

Trump's campaign spokesman didn't mention whether the symbolism of the anti-government landmark was intentional, but he noted Waco was the "ideal location" because of its proximity to Texas's major metropolitan areas and its infrastructure to host "a rally of this magnitude."

Trump ramps up attacks against DeSantis, taking credit for Florida governor’s successes

Trump ramped up attacks against Gov. Ron DeSantis, ripping into the Florida Republican for his dwindling poll numbers and recent criticism leveled against the former president.

Trump reiterated previous comments taking credit for DeSantis’s successes in the Sunshine state, telling supporters that the Florida governor’s political career would be “dead” without Trump’s popularity. Trump recalled stories of DeSantis asking the former president for his endorsement in 2018, which he claimed allowed the Florida governor to become “like a rocketship.”

“We laugh at him now, but he was one of the hottest people in politics,” Trump said. “But I think we’re doing well, I mean we’re up … in the polls in the last four or five in the last month.”

Trump also attacked DeSantis on some key policy issues, accusing the Florida Republican of wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits — something that has become a flashpoint issue ahead of the 2024 election cycle. DeSantis has previously responded to similar attacks, noting he and other Republicans will not “mess with” the welfare programs.

Trump takes hard stance on war in Ukraine, warns of impending World War III

Going further, Trump went to great lengths to separate himself from DeSantis regarding the war in Ukraine, pledging to end the conflict should he be elected to a second term. He pointed to the working relationship he had with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his White House term, arguing an invasion was never something that was discussed.

"I'm going to get a settlement very quickly," Trump told supporters. "As president, I will end the inflation nightmare and rebuild the greatest economy in the history of the world just like we had it before.”

He also offered warnings to attendees that the U.S. is “heading into World War III,” positioning himself as the “only candidate” to prevent such a global conflict from happening.

“This will be a war like no other,” Trump said. "Not only is Biden courting nuclear holocaust, he's blowing up the U.S. economy with the Biden banking crisis."

Trump announces Texas campaign team stacked with high-profile Republicans

Trump used the night to tout his campaign’s strength despite pending legal battles, unveiling his initial leadership team that includes a slate of several high-profile Republican lawmakers on both the state and federal level.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton will both play key roles in Trump’s campaign, as well as 10 GOP members of Texas’s congressional delegation including Reps Ronny Jackson, Troy Nehls, Wesley Hunt, Michael Burgess, Pete Sessions, John Carter, Randy Weber, Roger Williams, Brian Babin, Beth Van Duyne, and Pat Fallon.

The key team appointments come as Trump seeks to establish Texas as “Trump country” early on in the primary season before the GOP field gets too crowded. His campaign has spent weeks touting polling numbers coming out of the Lone Star state over the last few months that show Trump overcoming an early lead by DeSantis in January to lead the field by 16 points in March.

“In conclusion, our MAGA movement is the greatest political movement in the history of our country,” Trump said. “No matter how hateful and corrupt the communist criminals we’re fighting against, you must never forget this nation does not belong to them. This nation belongs to you.”

Anna Giaritelli contributed to this report.

Trump snubbing Twitter in bid to save Truth Social, but insiders think he'll cave

Christian Datoc

November 23, 07:00 AM November 23, 07:00 AM

Former President Donald Trump has yet to tweet following the weekend restoration of his Twitter account, but sources close to Trump suggest his now optional boycott of the platform won't last long.

Multiple Trumpworld figures familiar with the former president's thinking on the topic told the Washington Examiner that his initial hesitation about tweeting is only a ploy to save his own struggling social media company, Truth Social.

ELON MUSK REINSTATES TRUMP'S TWITTER ACCOUNT

New Twitter owner Elon Musk restored Trump's access over the weekend after publicly toying with the idea since purchasing the company. Musk has also brought back Twitter privileges for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Kanye West, comedian Kathy Griffin, Jordan Peterson, and Andrew Tate in recent days, though he refused to allow conspiracy theorist Alex Jones back onto the platform.

Trump first reacted to the news Saturday, during a virtual appearance before the Republican Jewish Coalition meeting in Las Vegas, but said he sees "a lot of problems" with his once-preferred messaging tool.

"I hear we’re getting a big vote to also go back on Twitter. I don’t see it because I don’t see any reason for it," Trump said during his remarks. "It may make it; it may not make it."

He additionally suggested that Truth Social "has taken the place for a lot of people, and I don't see them going back onto Twitter."

"Truth Social has been very, very powerful, very, very strong, and I'll be staying there," Trump concluded.

Despite Trump's claims about Truth, sources note the company's precarious legal and financial footing.

Truth launched in February, and it was reported in August that the company has missed nearly $2 million in payments to vendors. Furthermore, the Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly investigating Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special purpose acquisition company Trump hopes to merge Truth's parent company with to go public, for illegally negotiating that potential merger.

DWAC stockholders voted Tuesday morning to delay the merger with Trump Media and Technology Group, Truth's parent company, until September 2023.

One Trumpworld source said shareholders would "for sure" vote to delay the merger, as it "isn't a serious thing." That person insinuated Truth is "flirting" with even larger legal problems in the near future.

Currently, Trump serves as chairman of the board at TMTG, and his stake in the company requires him to make any social media posts on Truth first, though he is not prevented from posting elsewhere. Facebook and Instagram, like Twitter, both banned the former president from their platform following the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

Putting Truth's tenuous future aside, the significantly larger reach Trump would have on Twitter compared to his own company will likely lure him back to the blue bird. As of Tuesday, Trump had nearly 4 million followers on Truth but more than 87 million on Twitter.

"I think he has to," one former Trump administration official said of a return to Twitter. "But he’s gonna destroy his own platform in the process."

Two former Trump administration officials claimed that, while a small section of diehard Trump supporters migrated to Truth, most conservative influencers did not. They suggested that Trump would need those large accounts to amplify his messaging if he wants to successfully win the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

"If he doesn't get on Twitter, that's a whole audience and a bunch of ground he's ceding," one person concluded.

Finally, one of Trump's top out-of-government advisers predicted Trump resuming tweeting because he "just wants somewhere to word vomit."

Former senior GOP aide convicted of funneling illegal Russian money to Trump campaign

Brady Knox

November 18, 01:35 AM November 18, 01:35 AM

A former senior Republican operative was convicted of helping a Russian national funnel funds to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Jesse Benton, 45, was found guilty of helping concoct the scheme on behalf of Russian millionaire Roman Vasilenko, the Washington Post reported. Benton schemed with another political operative to funnel $25,000 from Vasilenko to Trump through himself while pocketing an additional $75,000 from the Russian businessman, the Justice Department wrote. With that money, Vasilenko was able to attend a Republican National Committee event where he met and got a picture with Trump.

Benton was able to hide Vasilenko’s contribution by having him wire the money to his political consulting firm, at which point Benton donated some of it to the Trump campaign under his own name.

FORMER RON, RAND PAUL AIDE ACQUITTED IN CAMPAIGN FRAUD CASE

“To disguise the scheme, Benton created a fake invoice, which falsely identified the funds as payment for consulting services. Benton acted as a straw donor and contributed $25,000 of the Russian foreign national’s money to the campaign, falsely identified himself as the contributor, and pocketed the remaining $75,000,” a press release from the DOJ read. “Because Benton falsely claimed to have given the contribution himself, the relevant campaign entities unwittingly filed reports with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that inaccurately reported Benton — instead of the Russian foreign national — as the source of the funds.”

On Thursday, Benton was convicted of “conspiring to solicit and cause an illegal campaign contribution by a foreign national, effecting a conduit contribution, and causing false records to be filed with the FEC,” which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. His sentencing is set for Feb. 17.

Benton’s attorney told the Washington Post that he “maintains his innocence and plans to appeal.”

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Benton was previously convicted of filing false statements in a scheme to funnel money from Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign to an Iowa politician who supported Paul, Axios reported but was pardoned by Trump in the final days of his presidency.

The veteran GOP operative previously worked as a senior aide to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). He is married to Paul’s niece.

Trump PAC pays around $1 million to attorney in New York investigation

Brady Knox

September 21, 10:37 PM September 21, 10:38 PM

Former President Donald Trump's political action committees have paid more than $1 million in service fees to his lawyer in the New York investigation, Alina Habba.

Most of this dollars, $943,000, has been paid considering the fact that April by Trump's Save The us PAC, according to marketing campaign finance disclosures, ABC News claimed. The payments are established to boost dramatically in gentle of New York Attorney General Letitia James's sweeping Wednesday lawsuit in search of $250 million.

Trump's PACs have paid a considerable total in authorized resources, with the Help save America PAC by itself paying out $7 million given that its launch in 2020, according to the outlet.

'ART OF THE STEAL': NEW YORK AG LETITIA JAMES UNVEILS FRAUD LAWSUIT Versus TRUMP AND Children

James's newest lawsuit statements that Trump and his corporation "regularly and persistently manipulated the price of assets to induce financial institutions to lend funds to the Trump Corporation on a lot more favorable phrases than [what] would or else have been available to the corporation."

Trump has fervently denied the accusations.

"It is abundantly clear that the Legal professional General’s Place of work has exceeded its statutory authority by prying into transactions where absolutely no wrongdoing has taken area," Habba explained in a assertion obtained by the Washington Examiner. "We are self-assured that our judicial technique will not stand for this unchecked abuse of authority, and we glance ahead to defending our consumer."

James has also engendered criticism within just her very own party, with previous New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, submitting a lawsuit accusing her of improperly handling the investigation into his alleged sexual assaults of many gals, stating she utilized it to additional her personal vocation.