A Wisconsin ethics panel is recommending that local prosecutors pursue criminal charges against one of Donald Trump’s fundraising arms and several other Republican committees that it alleges violated state campaign finance law in an effort to topple a powerful lawmaker who had run afoul of the former president.
The Wisconsin Ethics Commission said it found probable cause that Trump’s Save America political action committee – along with a state lawmaker, three county Republican parties and the campaign committee of one-time Republican candidate Adam Steen – conspired to circumvent the state’s donation limits during Steen’s unsuccessful bid to unseat Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos in the 2022 Republican primary.
A Trump campaign spokesman and Save America’s treasurer did not respond to CNN’s inquiries about the commission’s recommendation. Steen did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages.
The referral from the bipartisan commission comes as the former president – and front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination – faces a litany of legal troubles, including 91 criminal charges in four jurisdictions and recent civil judgments that total hundreds of millions of dollars.
Under state law, individuals, candidate committees and PACs are barred from donating more than $1,000 to the committees of candidates running for the state assembly, the commission said. But party committees can make unlimited contributions to candidates.
The ethics panel said its investigation found Steen’s campaign, three county party committees and others arranged to circumvent those limits and steer larger donations – routed through party committees – to Steen’s campaign or to his vendors. Save America donated $5,000 each to the three GOP county committees cited in the…
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