Thread: Why did AOC and her campaign manager have “legal control” of the Justice Dems PAC from November 2017 through June 2018 during her initial run for Congress?

It’s clearly illegal for a candidate for Congress to control her own PAC. So what the hell is going on here?

Background Part 1: Justice Dems is a PAC formed in January 2017 to stage a hostile takeover of the Democratic Party by installing “progressive” candidates in Congress. Their full backstory is covered in this thread: https://twitter.com/justicedemwatch/status/1340017403166638084

Background Part 2: Justice Dems claims to have “discovered” AOC when her brother sent in a nomination to JD’s sister PAC, Brand New Congress, in late December 2016. You can read about that story, and how it appears to have been fabricated, in this thread: https://twitter.com/justicedemwatch/status/1342545415309242369

In early 2019, a right wing watchdog group filed an FEC complaint alleging that AOC and her campaign manager, Saikat Chakrabarti, violated federal election law by controlling the Justice Dems PAC that supported AOC’s run for Congress. https://dailycaller.com/2019/03/04/ocasio-cortez-justice-democrats/

In response to the FEC complaint, AOC amended her federal disclosure form and admitted that she was in fact on the board of directors of the Justice Dems PAC from November 18, 2017 through June 30, 2018 (credit: @lizburgh):

Using Wayback Machine to view old versions of the Justice Dems website, you can see the composition of the JD board over time:

Kulinski stepped down from the JD board in late December 2017, meaning AOC and Chakrabarti were the sole members of the Justice Dems PAC’s board of directors from at least January 1, 2018 through June 30, 2018, giving them, in their own words, “legal control over the entity”:

Chakrabarti became AOC’s campaign manager in February 2018, and AOC’s primary election against Crowley was held on June 26, 2018, meaning AOC and her campaign manager had complete “legal control” over the Justice Dems PAC that supported her campaign, in violation of federal law.

AOC and her campaign manager having control of Justice Dems during this period raises a host of questions, including:

1. Did the dozens of other candidates who were running for office in 2018 with the support of JD know that the PAC was being run by AOC and her campaign manager?

2. Are we really supposed to believe that AOC was just a random bartender who Justice Dems “discovered” in December 2016, only to turn around and give her a seat on the board and control of their entire organization less than a year later?

3. Are we really supposed to believe that AOC and her campaign manager directed Justice Dems to spend equal time, money and resources on all Justice Dems candidates running in 2018 when they had complete control over the PAC?

4. Wasn’t it completely inappropriate for AOC and her campaign manager to control the Justice Dems PAC and direct the PAC to give a consulting contract to AOC’s boyfriend?

5. Why did AOC fail to disclose her position on the board of Justice Dems in her original disclosure form, and why did she amend it only after she got busted?

The fact that AOC was given control of the Justice Dems PAC should make it obvious that she was not some random bartender they pulled off the street and ran for Congress.

I smell a rat.