Former Donald Trump on Wednesday accused his 2016 opponent of trying to “illegally destroy” his campaign after it was revealed regulators had fined Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee for spending on the campaign failed to properly disclose the controversial Steele dossier.
Trump used the findings to reiterate his attacks on a number of enemies he detailed in a lawsuit last week.
Payments by the Clinton campaign and the DNC to a law firm, he said, were “an excuse to hire numerous companies, all of whom are now named defendants in my lawsuit, to try to bring down your favorite president, me, and illegally.” to destroy. ‘ he said in an email statement
“This was done to create, as I have said many times, a scam funded by the DNC and the Clinton campaign, and that is now being confirmed.
“This corruption is just beginning to surface, is un-American and must never happen again. Where do I get my reputation back?’
Details of the FEC’s fines emerged Wednesday, allowing Trump to return to one of his favorite subjects: how he was accused of links to Russia in 2016 and the start of what he calls a “witch hunt.”
A letter sent to a conservative group requesting an investigation, first published by the Washington Examiner, showed the DNC was fined $105,000 and the Clinton campaign fined $8,000.
Rumors of ties between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia exploded with Buzzfeed’s release of the dossier days before the new president’s inauguration in January 2017.
It was written by former British spy Christopher Steele.
Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and the Democratic National Committee were fined for campaign finance violations in the Steele dossier, in which Trump alleged collusion with Russia
Former British spy Christopher Steele has been hired by Fusion GPS to use his foreign expertise in investigating the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia
Donald Trump and his supporters have pondered the money trail that led to Steele and his dossier, accusing them of a dirty-tricks campaign and attempting to smear the then-Republican nominee
The content included claims that Trump’s campaign had numerous contacts with Russian officials, as well as more salacious stories about the real estate mogul hanging out with prostitutes in Moscow.
However, key elements were quickly discredited and no one was ever formally charged with collaborating with the Kremlin.
Trump supporters were quick to yell foul and have mulled over the money trail behind the dossier, amid accusations that it was all part of a smear campaign.
Collectively, the Clinton campaign and the DNC paid about $1 million to a law firm, Perkins Coie, which in turn used Fusion GPS for opposition research on Trump. It hired Steele to use his expertise to investigate the Republican candidate’s ties to Russia.
In its letter, the FEC said the DNC and Hillary for America had violated campaign finance regulations.
It said the two parties effectively misreported the money used to fund the dossier, calling it “legal services” and “legal and compliance advice rather than opposition research.”
The Clinton campaign and the DNC did not admit violation, the letter said, but agreed not to appeal the decision and accepted the fines.
The FEC also said it had denied a number of other allegations – filed by the Coolidge Reagan Foundation in 2018 – that the DNC, the Clinton campaign, Steele and Fusion GPS broke other rules.
The DNC said in a statement through a spokesman that the issue had been resolved.
“We settled old and stupid grievances from the 2016 election about ‘purpose descriptions’ in our FEC report,” it said.
The case, filed on Thursday, offers a who’s who of grievances dating back to the 2016 election
Details emerged after Trump himself went to court to punish Clinton and a hit list of his favorite targets, including the architects of the Steele dossier, who claimed they attempted to rig the 2016 US presidential election by using his campaign associated with Russia.
Among the names are Steele, James Comey, then director of the FBI investigating possible links, and the Democratic National Committee.
“In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton and her cohorts orchestrated an unthinkable conspiracy — a conspiracy-shaking conspiracy and an affront to this nation’s democracy,” the complaint reads.
“The defendants acted in concert and maliciously conspired to weave a false narrative that their Republican opponent, Donald J. Trump, was colluding with a hostile foreign sovereignty.
“The actions being taken to further their plan – falsifying evidence, deceiving law enforcement and exploiting access to highly sensitive data sources – are so outrageous, subversive and inflammatory that even the events of Watergate pale in comparison.”
Trump, who defeated Democratic nominee Clinton in the 2016 election, charges including racketeering, theft of trade secrets and “conspiracy to commit harmful falsehoods.”