FLASHBACK: Obama Fined $350,000 for Trying to Hide $2 Million in 2008 Campaign Donations
3 days ago
Written by Warner Todd Huston
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Barack Obama’s presidential campaign committee has been handed a $350,000 fine for campaign finance violations from 2008, one of the largest fines ever levied on a presidential campaign. This is all an important reminder as liberals claim that Donald Trump committed campaign finance violations.
As it happens, Obama tried to hide nearly $2 million in illegal campaign donations, according to the Federal Election Commission.
The violations include illegal contributions, improper disclosures, fraudulent filings, as well as taking too long to rectify the donations even after it was pointed out.
As U.S. News recently reported:
An FEC audit of Obama for America’s 2008 records found the committee failed to disclose millions of dollars in contributions and dragged its feet in refunding millions more in excess contributions.
The resulting fine, one of the largest ever handed down by the FEC, is the result of a failure to disclose or improperly disclosing thousands of contributions to Obama for America during the then-senator’s 2008 presidential run, documents show.
The FEC says the Obama campaign failed to disclose the sources of 1,300 large donations, which together accounted for nearly $1.9 million. Election Commission rules state campaigns must report donations of $1,000 or more within 20 days of Election Day.
Obama for America was also fined for “untimely resolution of excessive contributions,” according to the conciliation agreement, FEC says. The campaign accepted more than $1.3 million in contributions that came from donors who had already given $46,000—the maximum allowed by FEC rules. The campaign eventually refunded the excess cash but did not do so within the 60-day window allotted for resolving such cases, FEC said.
In addition to failing to report big donors and excess donations in a timely manner, the Obama campaign incorrectly dated the filings dealing with $85 million in funds, the FEC claims. This error appears to have been primarily the result of one transfer to the campaign committee from the Obama Victory Fund, a fundraising group that includes money raised by the Democratic National Committee that is earmarked for the presidential race.
The case was brought after the Republican National Committee alerted the agency to the Obama campaign’s violations.
So, what is Obama’s excuse? Well, he doesn’t really have one. Instead the Obama campaign has tried misdirection saying that the nearly $2 million in illegal contributions was only a small percentage of the total contributions they took in during the 2008 campaign.
As if it being only a “small percentage” justified hiding the illegal donations, misreporting them, illegally altering paperwork, and then even dragging their feet to return them once all the subterfuge was fully discovered.
Sounds like the criminal Obama administration, doesn’t it?
So, keep this all in mind as the liberals crow about Trump’s supposed violations of FEC rules.
But, just think of what this means. The deep state went from shock over “Russia collusion” and sure that it would be “proven” that Trump helped the Russians attack our election… to a possible FEC violation that isn’t even half as bad as what Obama did in 2008.
Seems like quite a change of focus, doesn’t it? |
