I don’t know how many such charges have already been lodged and that sort of thing, but this one’s not entirely surprising:
A former campaign staffer and the grandson-in-law of US Senator Rand Paul who received a presidential pardon from former President Donald Trump has been charged with directing Russian money into the 2016 presidential election, according to the US Department of Justice.
The announcement came on Monday via an unseal indictment from 9 September.
Business Insider reports that Jesse Benton, Mr Paul’s former aide, “conspired to illegally funnel thousands of dollars of foreign money from a Russian foreign national” into the 2016 campaign.
He also managed Senator Mitch McConnell’s 2014 campaign.
Mr Benton received a $100,000 wire transfer from an unnamed Russian national in October of 2016, according to the indictment. He was allegedly promised that he would get to “meet a celebrity” at a Philadelphia fundraiser a month earlier.
Though prosecutors did not name the candidate involved in the memo, Insider confirmed that Mr Trump was hosting a fundraiser in Philadelphia the night of the fundraiser mentioned by the Russian national.
Why isn’t this surprising? Senator Paul (R-KY) passes himself off as being from the libertarian wing of the Republican Party, and, if you read libertarian literature, you’ll see that one of their stated goals is to use human greed and selfishness for the good of society.
It’s not a long trek from greed and selfishness to the acceptance of bribes, now is it? It’s almost as elevation of money as the chief goal of existence, both here and hereafter.
That the Russians are involved is of little surprise, given Russian interference in the 2016 elections, as documented in the Mueller Report, and Putin’s interest in keeping America on its heels and divided.
I am expecting more such indictments.
Mr. Benton’s previous conviction, for which he was pardoned, was for campaign finance fraud. This would appear to be more serious. And Mr. Benton does not appear to be burdened with the usual weight of morals.
