How Matt Gaetz’s Legal Problems Could Lead to Campaign Finance Violations | Talking Points Memo

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This article was originally published at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis.

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1375400
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I appreciate the analysis here, but do we have any evidence and/or confidence that anyone even bothers to prosecute campaign finance violations anymore? I mean, Trump paid off strippers and porn stars to avoid damaging his campaign and nobody did anything about it. Seriously, what does Gaetz have to worry about?

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’Gaetz took a short-lived stance against taking PAC money in the 2020 election stating in particularly colorful turn of phrase, “I’ve never turned tricks for Washington PACs, but as of today, I’m done picking up their money in the nightstand.”'

Meretricious Matt seems to know an awful lot about hookers.

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Glad to see the legal headaches piling up for #Gaetzgate, but I think campaign finance problems are the least of his worries.

Unless someone was campaign collecting for Gaetz at the same time she was selling her Girl Scout cookies.

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Yeah…Gaetz as a lead-in is the only thing most people care about.

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A campaign finance violation was one of the charges that led to Michael Cohen serving jail time. “Individual One” in that case should have been charged too, and wasn’t. I wonder if the statute of limitations has run out on that by now…

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If there is one certainty in life its that you will be prosecuted for the misuse of campaign funds. Since the post Watergate ethics laws were passed financial disclosure is required and it’s far more difficult to pull of schemes like Gaetz’s “Send me money because I’m under attack from (fill in the blank). Just look at the recent cases of Duncan Hunter Jr. and Chris Collins as well as Jesse Jackson Jr. over a decade ago.

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Gaetz and his plan for the future ?
Hope for a long stay in the Gray Bar Hotel…

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Capone probably didn’t think tax evasion was what they’d get him on, either.

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Hey, any way they can take that scumbag down is fine with me, even if its just for jaywalking, cutting the heads off of parking meters, or removing the tag from a mattress.

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The operative word here is could. I’ve come to expect little to nothing to happen with these criminals. I mean, look at what happened to that law supposedly on the books about doing things as an elected official that financially benefit themselves and what a joke that’s been. Whatever happened to the Hatch Act violations over the last five years? Anyone know anything about the STOCK act violations in Congress? How about the Federal Election Campaign Act? Then there’s the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch , 5 C.F.R. Part 2635.

Gaetz knows nothing will come of this. And so do we.

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Federal investigators have reportedly been looking at whether any of the millions of dollars flowing through Gaetz’s campaign committee may have been used in any of the Greenberg-related crimes. If so, then this story might make its way into Duncan Hunter territory — where the California congressman got in criminal legal trouble for using campaign funds to pay for five affairs.

Yep, called it a couple weeks ago: I like gaetzie’s odds of getting nailed for using campaign funds to pay for nookie much more than the odds of him getting convicted of transporting a 17-year old across state lines for sex.

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Duncan Hunter was referenced in the article.

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Mattie is a long overdue for a comeuppance, his days of acting like a spoiled child need to come to an end.

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You’re likely confusing illegal campaign contributions with campaign spending violations. The enforcement against illegal contributions is pretty toothless, with the worst punishment being the disgorgement of the contribution and the payment of a minor fine.

Spending the campaign money on unapproved activities, however, is a criminal offense and has taken town many a politician, including congresscritter Duncan Hunter, who was indicted, prosecuted, and sentenced by even TFG’s DOJ. Then TFG pardoned him, which is a bit surprising, because AFAIK neither Duncan Hunter nor his dad had anything on TFG.

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That’s right, Matt. You get the money up front.

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Jennifer
She drinks her sherry wine
She keeps her lady’s love for me all the time
She’s seventeen, barely old enough to cry
A child in her father’s eyes
A woman every night…

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How Matt Gaetz’s Legal Problems Campaign Finance Violations Could Lead to Campaign Finance Violations Legal Problems

FIFY!

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Both are true. Synergy!

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If he’s never turned tricks how can he be "done" with picking up money off the night stand?

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