Pardon to Trump, a former Rand Paul aide charged with pouring Russian money into the 2016 elections


Jesse Benton speaks to a reporter.

Ron Paul campaign spokesman Jesse Benton spoke to reporters in the spin room after the CNN debate on January 1, 2012. Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc / Corbis via Getty Images

  • Jesse Benton worked as a campaign staff member for former Senator Ron Paul, Senator Rand Paul, and Senator Mitch McConnell.

  • In 2016, he was convicted of an election funding crime related to his role in the Ron Paul campaign.

  • Trump forgave him before leaving the office.

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Former Senator Rand Paul campaign staff have been charged with directing Russian funding to the 2016 presidential election, according to the US Department of Justice.

In the unsealed indictment, Dated September 9thThe prosecutor claims that Jesse Benton “illegally poured thousands of dollars of foreign currency from Russian foreigners.”

In October 2016, Benton received a $ 100,000 telegraph from an unnamed Russian citizen, and the indictment promised to “meet a celebrity” in a Philadelphia fundraising campaign on September 22, 2016.

Prosecutors do not nominate candidates, but former President Donald Trump Host fundraising activities That night at the Ritz-Carlton in Center City, Philadelphia.

According to the indictment, Russians participated in fundraising activities, and conservative writer Roy Douglas Weed, a conservative collusion, facilitated a trip to the United States. All three “taken official photos with Candidate 1”, the prosecutor said.

The two have been accused of misrepresenting donations as “consulting” payments. According to the indictment, Benton kept most of it himself for $ 75,000. The rest was donated to politicians in the name of Benton.

Around the same time, he managed the 2014 campaign for Benton, who managed Paul’s 2010 candidacy, and another Kentucky Republican, Senator Mitch McConnell. Convicted Investigation of election fund fraud over his role in the 2012 Ron Paul presidential election. He was sentenced to two years of probation a few days before Philadelphia’s fundraising and was ordered to pay a $ 10,000 fine.

Trump pardoned Benton for the crime before resigning.

In this case, Benton and Weed could face considerable imprisonment if convicted, and each of the six counts would be sentenced to five years after 20 years.

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