Two longtime Republican operatives have been charged with illegally contributing to former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign by funneling cash from a Russian national.
According to a press release put out by the DOJ Monday, the operatives — Jesse Benton and Doug Wead — have been indicted on conspiracy to solicit and cause an illegal campaign contribution by a foreign national, effect a conduit contribution and cause false records to be filed with the Federal Election Commission, among other offenses. The newly unsealed indictment from the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. accused Benton and Wead of having “conspired together to solicit a political contribution from a Russian foreign national.”
