The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is fining the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign a combined $113,000 due to their failure to properly report funding of the Steele Dossier through the Perkins Coie law firm.
During the 2016 presidential election, the DNC and the Clinton campaign paid a combined $1,024,407.97 to Perkins Coie, which the law firm then paid to Fusion GPS. Both the DNC and the Clinton campaign claimed all payments to Perkins Coie for legal services in filings with the FEC, thus constituting a violation of campaign finance laws requiring organizations to truthfully describe payments to vendors, the FEC ruled on March 25.
The FEC found “probable cause” to believe that the DNC and the Clinton campaign did not correctly “make the purpose of the disbursement[s] clear” in their filings. The DNC received a $105,000 fine and the Clinton campaign an $8,000 fine.
“This may well be the first time that Hillary Clinton—evidently one of the most corrupt politicians in American history—has actually been held legally accountable, and I’m proud to see the FEC do its job for once,” Coolidge Reagan attorney Dan Backer, who authored the FEC complaint, said in a statement. “The Coolidge Reagan Foundation proved that, with pluck and grit, Americans standing with integrity can stand up to the Clinton machine and other corrupt political elites. Clinton and her cronies willfully engaged in the greatest political fraud in history, destroying our nation’s faith in the electoral process, and it’s high time they were held accountable. Let’s hope this is only the beginning for accountability, not the end.”
This has not been the only legal entanglement for the Clinton campaign and its associates. Two individuals have been indicted for making false statements to federal officials as part of his investigation into the origins of a federal probe into Trump’s alleged Russia connections. Former Perkins Coie attorney Michael Sussmann, gave documents to FBI general counsel James Baker purporting to show that a computer in Trump Tower was communicating with Alfa Bank, a financial institution located in Moscow. Perkins Coie’s political division was working for the Clinton campaign, but Sussmann denied to Baker that he was working for a particular client.
Sussmann later billed the Clinton campaign for time spent disseminating the Alfa Bank allegations to the media.
Igor Danchenko, who worked as the lead researcher for the Steele Dossier was also charged with lying to investigators. Danchenko misrepresented information he received then used it in the Dossier in interviews with FBI agents, according to the indictment.
