Earlier this week, Project Veritas Action released an important video
detailing how the Hillary for America campaign willingly accepted foreign
political contributions. Many journalists have created a good deal of ruckus
about the supposed lack of seriousness of this exposé. Thanks to this
commotion—or deliberate obfuscation—a great deal of confusion needs to be
sorted out.
Project Veritas Action caught a Canadian citizen wanting to make a
contribution to the Hillary campaign at its Roosevelt Island event. After some
discussion, high-ranking campaign staffers and the Canadian came to an
agreement to make the political contribution through a “straw donor.” That is,
the American donor would give $40 of her own money and $35 of the Canadian’s
all under her own name. However the Hillary campaign may spin it, this is
simply illegal under the Federal Election Campaign Act.
The Hillary narrative goes something like this: nothing prohibits someone
from buying campaign merchandise and giving it to a foreigner as a gift. That’s
a fun story, but has no relevance here. It is not a “gift” to buy someone
something when they give you the money to buy it for them. As is made evident
in the video, the Canadian wants to make a political contribution to Hillary
for America. And as is so common, campaigns provide “campaign swag” for certain
levels of political contributions. No doubt about it—money given to the Hillary
for America committee is not funding a new fashion line. It is funding her
political campaign.
Federal law is abundantly clear about these issues. Candidates for federal
office and their campaigns may not accept even a dollar of foreign money in
political contributions. The Veritas Action video illustrates that Hillary’s
staff was aware of this prohibition, discussed it, and decided to create a
scheme to evade it. . Not serious? The law also prohibits the use of “straw
men” contribution schemes where one person makes a political contribution for
another. This kind of scheme landed conservative activist Dinesh D’Souza in
jail. Apparently the law had very serious application for him, but is not so
strict for Hillary.
http://townhall.com/columnists/benjaminbarr/2015/09/03/dissecting-hillarys-campaign-finance-woes-n2047652?utm_
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