President Donald Trump’s campaign seems to have kept a $2,800 donation from a foreign national despite being aware of the illegality of the donation.
Accepting donations from foreign nationals violates federal campaign finance law, and campaigns are usually quick to refund the money as soon as they are made aware of the donation, either by campaign finance watchdogs or the FEC.
In this case, however, it appears that the Trump campaign kept the donation while the Trump Victory Committee covered what they call a “chargeback,” even though the money was not returned by the Trump campaign itself.
According to Salon:
Rabia Kazan, a Turkish writer and author living in the U.S. on a student visa, made a $2,800 campaign donation in exchange for access to a March 2019 event at Mar-a-Lago featuring the president. The contribution was first reported this February…
But FEC records show that the campaign has not yet disgorged that money, as required by law.
‘This is actually one of the rare areas where election law is quite clear,’ Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, professor of election law at Stetson University, told BuzzFeed when asked about Kazan’s contribution.
‘Unless you’ve got a green card, foreign nationals can’t give money to campaigns, and campaigns can’t accept that money,’ she added.”
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The Trump campaign kept the money while the Trump Victory fundraising committee that originally accepted the donation put the amount back on Kazan’s credit card. Salon spoke to Kazan and explained to her that the Trump Victory Committee did not get the money it transferred to Trump’s campaign back. Instead, the committee let Trump’s campaign keep it and paid back the money out of existing funds.
‘I made the donation, and Trump Victory returned it,’ Kazan told Salon. When reminded that her money ended up not with Trump Victory but with the Trump campaign, she replied: ‘Yes, I see. They kept it.'”
Of course, the RNC denied that there’s anything shady going on.
“The fact is Kazan donated to Trump Victory, so the donation was returned by Trump Victory,” an RNC spokesperson said. “We have given you two proofs that the donation was returned — the FEC link and the receipt. There is nothing to dispute here.”
Again, Trump Victory transferred Kazan’s donation to the Trump campaign. The Trump campaign should be the one to refund the money. But it kept the donation and Trump Victory picked up the tab.
This is not how it’s supposed to work because Trump’s campaign is still using the money Kazan donated.
It may be a small amount, but it matters nonetheless.
Featured image via screen capture
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