GOP operative gets 1.5 years in prison for facilitating illegal Russian donation to Trump 2016 campaign

A Republican strategist was sentenced Friday to 1.5 years in jail for helping with a prohibited contribution from a Russian entrepreneur to Donald Trump’s governmental project in 2016.

Jessie Benton, who worked for the pro-Trump extremely PAC and was a long time assistant to previous GOP Rep. Ron Paul, was founded guilty by a federal jury in November on a number of charges, consisting of conspiring to obtain a prohibited foreign project contribution.

Both the Trump project and Trump himself were not familiar with the plan including Russian cash, the Justice Department has actually stated.

According to proof provided at trial, Benton assisted a Russian nationwide protected a ticket to a Republican politician National Committee occasion in 2016, where he would have the chance to satisfy and take a photo with Trump. The Russian nationwide paid Benton $100,000 to get the ticket, district attorneys stated.

Benton produced a phony billing recommending he had actually gotten the cash for speaking with services, contributed $25,000 of that cash under his own name to the RNC to get a ticket to the occasion and swiped the staying $75,000.

A seasoned GOP operative, Benton has actually now been founded guilty of criminal offenses connected to the 2016 and 2012 elections.

He was formerly founded guilty of falsifying federal records as part of a plot to purchase a recommendation from an Iowa state senator, who turned her assistance to Paul throughout the 2012 Republican politician primary. Trump pardoned Benton for those criminal offenses in late 2020, cleaning those convictions off the books.