The legal dilemmas surrounding Donald Trump and his team are so numerous, it’s a challenge to keep up with them all. At the top of the list, of course, is the fact that the former president is facing 91 felony counts across multiple jurisdictions.
But the list doesn’t end there. There’s also the civil fraud case in New York. And the E. Jean Carroll case. And the civil cases filed by police officers who were assaulted during the Jan. 6 riot.
It was against this backdrop that the Wisconsin Ethics Commission made matters even worse for the Republican and his political operation, recommending felony charges against Trump’s Save America. The Washington Post reported late last week:
A bipartisan ethics panel in Wisconsin has recommended felony charges against one of Donald Trump’s fundraising arms in relation to an alleged scheme that it says was meant to circumvent campaign finance laws to take out a powerful GOP lawmaker who has turned against Trump.
The efforts didn’t generate a lot of attention outside of the Badger State, but in the years following his 2020 defeat, Trump came to see Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos as a villain who deserved his contempt. Vos, a very conservative Republican, said he lacked the legal authority to decertify the results of the presidential election, which was a position Trump deemed unforgivable.
The former president not only publicly condemned the GOP legislative leader, he also went all out in the hopes of defeating Vos in a 2022 primary. That effort fell short: The assembly Speaker narrowly fended off Adam Steen, his Trump-backed primary opponent and soon after cruised to an easy victory in the general election.
In theory, Vos’ success at the ballot box ended the matter. But in practice, there were lingering questions about just how far Team Trump went in its campaign against Wisconsin’s Assembly speaker. From the Post’s report:
Individuals and most political entities can give a maximum of $1,000 each to candidates for the Wisconsin Assembly under state law, but arms of political parties can give them unlimited amounts. The commission alleges that Steen, his campaign and three county Republican parties arranged to sidestep campaign finance laws by having donors give money to one of the county parties, which would then steer it to Steen’s campaign or his vendors, according to the records released Friday.
It doesn’t help matters that the Save America operation only made three donations to county parties in 2021 and 2022: $5,000 each to the Republican parties in Wisconsin’s Chippewa, Florence, and Langlade counties. Those are, of course, the three relevant counties in the Vos/Steen race.
Time will tell what, if anything, comes of the allegations, but the Post’s report added that the potential legal fallout, if prosecutors pursue the matter, could result in prison sentences and fines of $10,000. Watch this space.