http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/08/05/ron-paul-rand-paul-jesse-benton-kent-sorenson-iowa-caucuses-indictment-federal-justice-charges/31165669/The other shoe has finally dropped in the long-running case concerning criminal activity by former Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson during the 2012 Iowa caucuses campaign.
The Department of Justice on Wednesday announced a host of criminal charges against three staffers from Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign.
Jesse R. Benton, John M. Tate and Dimitrios N. Kesari were indicted on numerous charges stemming from an alleged conspiracy to woo Sorenson, R-Milo, away from rival candidate Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign with $73,000 in illicit payments and then hide those payments from public disclosure.
“Federal campaign finance laws are intended to ensure the integrity and transparency of the federal election process,” Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell said in a statement announcing the charges. “When political operatives make under-the-table payments to buy an elected official’s political support, it undermines public confidence in our entire political system.”
Although the indictment is related to incidents that happened almost four years ago, the case could have repercussions on the 2016 presidential race: Benton and Tate are close confidants of current Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul, and since April have been running a super PAC supporting the Kentucky senator and son of Ron Paul.
The charges come almost a year after Sorenson pleaded guilty to concealing payments he received and obstructing an investigation into the incident. He has not yet been sentenced in that case, and it’s widely assumed that he is cooperating with a wider investigation.
According to the federal indictment, Benton, Tate and Kesari conspired to conceal $73,000 paid to Sorenson by routing payments first through a film production company and then through a company owned by Sorenson.
The subterfuge was necessary because Sorenson was prevented by state Senate rules from receiving payment for work done on a presidential campaign.
An attorney for Benton on said his client has cooperated with the Justice Department and accused prosecutors of advancing the case to damage Rand Paul’s political ambitions.
“That this indictment is now suddenly announced on the eve of the first Republican presidential debate strongly supports our belief that this is a politically motivated prosecution designed to serve a political agenda, not to achieve justice,” attorney Roscoe C. Howard, Jr. said in a statement provided to the Des Moines Register. “Mr. Benton is eager to get before an impartial judge and jury who will quickly recognize this for what he believes it is: Character assassination for political gain.”
In an interview with the Washington, D.C., publication National Journal on Wednesday, Kesari declined to comment, saying there was a “gag order” on the case.
-------------------------------
This one has been brewing awhile here in Iowa. The Paulies pulled a lot of shenanigans in '12, this being one of them, to try and get thier guy elected. It caused some major party turmoil here.
