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THREAD: Trump's John Tate & Jesse Benton pardons are an even bigger deal than they initially seem, sending a very specific message that it is ok to violate FEC ultimate vendor disclosure rules—which Trump's 2020 campaign allegedly violated by routing money through shell companies https://twitter.com/Bencjacobs/status/1341904800737325057
John Tate & Jesse Benton were convicted in 2016 for charges tied to hiding bribes by paying a vendor who then paid a subvendor.
Trump came under scrutiny for deploying a similar tactic for different purposes—hiding ultimate vendors with an LLC created by 2020 campaign aides.
Trump came under scrutiny for deploying a similar tactic for different purposes—hiding ultimate vendors with an LLC created by 2020 campaign aides.
Trump's top 2020 campaign vendor is an LLC, AMMC, created to act as a clearinghouse for Donald Trump's media & ad spending—funneling $557M+ through an opaque structure that hides information about the identities of sub-vendors & how much money is paid to those ultimate recipients
FEC rules require political groups to disclose spending but campaign finance law imposes few restrictions on merely disclosing payments to opaque firms or shell companies that funnel money to "ultimate" vendors whose identities remain hidden. It is becoming the ultimate loophole.
A 2018 @OpenSecretsDC investigation found Trump's 2020 campaign used a shell company to pay ad buyers implicated in an alleged coordination scheme while a pro-Trump super PAC & "dark money" 501(c)(4) paid the same individuals for "pro-Trump agenda" ads http://crp.org/20cord
Opaque payment structures with shell companies & firms hiding "ultimate" vendors of Trump's campaign prompted FEC complaints but few prior cases show campaign finance disclosure law resulting in substantial consequences.
Tate & Benson—who Trump pardoned—are one of those cases.
Tate & Benson—who Trump pardoned—are one of those cases.
