Bernie Sanders Accuses Hillary Clinton of Violations in Campaign Finance Rules
Bernie Sanders' campaign attorney, Brad Deutsch, outlined a letter Monday to the Democratic National Committee Chair, United States Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, questioning whether Clinton's campaign violated the limits set on donations through the Hillary Victory Fund, which is meant for the use of Clinton's campaign committee, the DNC, as well as 33 other state Democratic parties.
Under Federal election rules, individual donors are allowed to donate as much as $2,700. However, Clinton's committee is structured in such a way as to make it possible for it to accept donations amounting to "hundreds of thousands" of dollars of individual donations in excess of the limitations set. These amounts by way of the joint DNC−Clinton committee are being used to support Clinton's campaign as salaries to the aforementioned candidate's staff, as well as her campaign activities.
Clinton's campaign committee, Hillary for America, is eligible to accept large donations up to $356,100. Whereas the $2,700 can be transferred to the Clinton campaign, DNC can receive as much as $33,400 out of it, with each participating state party getting as much as $10,000.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Publicly disclosed files show that the joint committee invested in online fundraising and campaign activities that benefited only Clinton's campaign. Deutsch wrote that the Bernie Sanders campaign "is particularly concerned that these extremely large-dollar individual contributions have been used by the Hillary Victory Fund to pay for more than $7.8 million in direct mail efforts and over $8.6 million in online advertising," benefitting only Hillary for America instead of the jointly the DNC and other state parties participating in present campaigns.
The letter also states that the amounts concerned have already reached "staggering" proportions and can thus "no longer be ignored." Deutsch goes on to outline the in-excess contributions of certain individuals donating more than the $2,700 limit which have gone into the HFA. It pointed out that the joint committee funds meant to benefit not just the Clinton campaign but also that of other participating state committees are being used on HFA alone "impermissibly."
Jeff Weaver, who manages Sanders' campaign has also expressed his view regarding the matter, "… it is unprecedented for the DNC to allow a joint committee to be exploited to the benefit of one candidate in the midst of a contested nominating contest."
Responding to these accusations from the camp of Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, Robby Mook, manager of Clinton's campaign, released a statement Monday.
Mook's statement read, "As Senator Sanders faces nearly insurmountable odds, he is resorting to baseless accusations of illegal actions and poisoning the well for Democratic candidates up and down the ticket."
He also called Sanders' "attacks" as "irresponsible and misleading," adding that these constituted Sanders' efforts to "raise money for himself."
The DNC also responded by way of their national press secretary, Mark Paustenbach, who said, "The DNC offered to engage in the same joint fundraising efforts with all the major presidential candidates early in the cycle." Paustenbach stated that the DNC accepted the help in raising funds which are instrumental in bringing in the win on November. He also pointed out that Sanders could also benefit from the joint fundraising agreement.
