Former President Donald Trump is already under scrutiny regarding current probes into his involvement in the January 6 insurrection and his business in New York. A recent report has brought added scrutiny on the former president, but this time from the Federal Election Commission.
A report by The Daily Beast revealed that Trump is facing added scrutiny over the handling of $800 million of his campaign funds during his 2020 re-election bid. The former president may be facing a fine from the FEC regarding the issue. The scrutiny lies in how the Trump campaign handled the funds during his re-election.
The Daily Beast’s Roger Sollenberger noted that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was fined $116,000 by the FEC during her 2016 campaign last week for the campaign’s involvement in the research for the Steele file. The federal government claimed the Clinton campaign hid the payments.
Sollenberger reported that watchdog Campaign Legal Center previously filed a complaint with the FEC that claimed Trump’s campaign committed a violation of campaign finance transparency requirements by “routing hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign spending through intermediaries without disclosing the ultimate payees.” A former FEC official has now asked a judge to look into the allegations.
The report added that the three Republican members of the FEC “turned a blind eye to accusations against the Trump campaign, but now, the recent Clinton fine as a reminder, that may change.” Former FEC counsel Dan Weiner told the outlet that the Republican members of the FEC would have to contend with the precedent that was set.
The former president was permanently banned by social media platform Twitter following the January 6 insurrection, with its officials previously reiterating that Trump would stay banned. But with the addition of Tesla CEO Elon Musk to the platform’s board after purchasing a 9.2 percent stake in the company, Twitter reiterated that the former president would remain suspended despite Musk joining the board.
The platform cited in a statement that while the company’s board “plays an important and advisory role,” the company’s policy decisions remain in place and will not be reversed.