The FBI has opened up a criminal campaign-finance investigation into possible “misdeeds” committed by the right wing organization headed by conservative lobbyist and Trump confidant Matt Schlapp.
The group, the American Conservative Union, is best known for its annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) event that attracts right wing politicians and activists from across the country.
Citing sources, The Dispatch reports “federal investigators are currently looking into possible criminal campaign-finance misdeeds at ACU during Schlapp’s tenure. As part of the investigation, the FBI has interviewed former and current ACU employees about the financial dealings of the organization and its leaders—and in particular, as one source said, about their ‘knowledge of the events leading up to the endorsement of Brian Kelsey.’.”
Kelsey is a Tennessee state senator who in 2016 ran for the GOP nomination for a seat in Congress.
Since 2015 Schlapp has been the chairman of the ACU.
“The allegations in our complaint—they’re really quite bad,” Adav Noti, chief of staff at the Campaign Legal Center, told The Dispatch. The CLC is the organization that filed the FEC complaint. “This is not run-of-the-mill shenanigans. It’s true that $100,000 isn’t an overwhelmingamount of money, but it’s not nothing for a congressional race in Tennessee, either. And the two-part scheme to route it back to the campaign—if that is indeed what happened, it’s a very serious violation. It’s not a ticky-tack or a technical issue.”
Read the entire report at The Dispatch.
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