Russiagate: Rohrabacher, Royce, Risch now implicated!
The feisty Independent Reporter web site has a Sunday morning collusion scoop:
Yesterday evening, IR.net was made aware of a complaint that has been filed by Massachusetts Attorney, J. Whitfield Larrabee against Republican U.S. Representatives Dana Rohrabacher (48th Congressional District of California) and Ed Royce (39th Congressional District of California) as well as Republican U.S. Senator James Risch of Idaho, in relation to contributions which appear to have been made through Paul Manafort and other lobbyists who were illegally acting as intermediaries for foreign entities — more specifically the Ukraine Party of Regions (a Vladimir Putin ally) and the European Centre For a Modern Ukraine (also a Putin ally).
“In the course of pursuing litigation against Paul Manafort in Connecticut to revoke his law license, I determined that Rohrabacher, Royce and Risch illegally received payments from the Ukraine Party of Regions and the European Centre For a Modern Ukraine,” Attorney, J. Whitfield Larrabee tells IR.net. “The Federal Election Campaign Act prohibits foreign nationals from making campaign contributions to candidates for federal office. It also prohibits contributions made by one person in the name of another. Paul Manafort, Vin Weber, Ed Kutler and other lobbyists illegally acted as intermediaries for the foreign entities in making the contributions. After the lobbyists made donations, they were reimbursed by the Party of Regions and the European Centre For a Modern Ukraine. The pattern of conduct indicates that the payments originated with foreign nationals and were made by means of a straw donor scheme.”Larrabee has filed a formal complaint with the House Office of Congressional Ethics. He has also sent a formal letter to the Department of Justice, specifically directed at Robert Mueller, Special Counsel, and suggests that other Senators, Representatives, lobbyists, foreign agents and foreign nationals also likely participated in the criminal scheme, often referred to as a straw donor scheme.
Larrabee suggests that Rohrabacher and Royce committed criminal violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act, 52 U.S.C. § 30121 and § 30122, by knowingly receiving and accepting illegal campaign contributions made by foreign nations, and knowingly accepting contributions made by one person in the name of another person as part of a straw donor scheme.
The full story at IR.net has more juicy details.
