Tuesday, October 25, 2016

BOMBSHELL Utterly Incredible: Jesse Benton Turns Out to Be An October Surprise That Hillary Will Use to Skate Into the White House

Jesse Benton on Undercover Tape Plotting to Funnel Chinese Money Into a Trump PAC 

Jesse Benton, who managed to screw up Ron Paul's 2012 presidential bid and who managed to get himself convicted of a felony, is back in the news.

He has been caught on tape plotting to take foreign Chinese money for a Trump PAC.

Of  course, the PAC and Benton have absolutely no connection to Trump himself, but the media is playing it up as "Trump taking foreign money."

Some headlines:

From Raw Story: BOMBSHELL: Trump campaign super PAC facing new foreign donor scandal involving Chinese millions

From Salon: Donald Trump super PAC solicited money from fake Chinese donor, offered to“whisper” into “Trump’s ear”

From The New York Times: Consultant With Ties to Donald Trump Linked to Offer to Hide Source of Donations

From The Telegraph: Exclusive investigation: Donald Trump faces foreign donor fundraising scandal



Here are the facts on the latest escapade of the bumbling Benton as reported by The Times:
A video posted on Monday by a British newspaper appeared to show a Republican consultant with ties to Donald J. Trump offering to disguise the source of contributions to a “super PAC” intended to aid Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign.

In an accompanying article, the newspaper, The Telegraph, wrote that two of its reporters, posing as representatives of a Chinese national who supported Mr. Trump as the Republican presidential nominee, had proposed making a $2 million contribution in support of him. According to the newspaper, the G.O.P. consultant, Jesse Benton, had proposed routing the contribution through his own public relations firm and into nonprofit groups that do not disclose their donors, disguising the foreign source. The groups would then make the contribution to the super PAC, known as Great America PAC, or spend it to benefit Mr. Trump.

United States law strictly forbids foreign nationals from making contributions to candidates, political parties or PACs. And Mr. Benton has a checkered history: Last month he was sentenced to two years of probation for his role in a 2012 scheme to make secret payments to an Iowa state senator in exchange for an endorsement....In the video, shot during a meeting at a New York hotel, Mr. Benton can be seen saying, “I’ll send money from my company to both.” The video then cuts to another shot, with Mr. Benton agreeing that money would move from his firm into a nonprofit. In neither case does the video show the full exchange.
Here's The Telegraph:
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is facing a fundraising scandal after a Telegraph investigation exposed how key supporters were prepared to accept illicit donations from foreign backers.

Senior figures involved with the Great America PAC, one of the leading "independent" groups organising television advertisements and grassroots support for the Republican nominee, sought to channel $2 million from a Chinese donor into the campaign to elect the billionaire despite laws prohibiting donations from foreigners.

In return, undercover reporters purporting to represent the fictitious donor were assured that he would obtain “influence” if Mr Trump made it to the White House...
The reporter then received an email from Jesse Benton, a senior figure at the PAC until being convicted in May in connection with buying a senator’s endorsement on a prior campaign. He said he was a “consultant” and that [the PAC’s co-chairman Eric] Beach had not wanted a “paper trail” of contact. He and the PAC later denied that he had worked for it at all since May.

Mr Benton proposed channelling the donation through his own company to mask its origin. It would then be passed on to two C4s before being donated by them to the PAC, or simply used to fund projects the PAC had already planned...Mr Benton denied any “unethical” behaviour. He claimed he spoke to the reporters after a “business referral” from Mr Beach and proposed a  “public affairs contract” with his firm “having determined money could not go into a 501(c)4”.

Dan Backer, counsel to the PAC, denied that Mr Beach asked Mr Benton to act for him and said Mr Benton “has not had a role with the PAC since May and does not speak for it”. The "professional referral" for "Mr Benton's own benefit" was so that "Mr Benton could explore legal options for your reporters' alleged client".

He continued: “Mr Benton has not solicited any contributions to the PAC that I am aware of, nor has he been asked to do so.”

He suggested Mr Benton had simply engaged in “puffery and self-promotion”, adding that “the conduct of the PAC and Mr. Beach’s conduct was appropriate, ethical and legal at all times.”
The undercover video here.

For the record, I doubt Benton has ever met Trump. That until today, Trump had never heard of Benton.

 -RW

18 comments:

  1. Unbelievable. That Benton character is indicative of the problems in politics.that he was so close to the Paul campaign makes it even more frustrating.

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  2. How does the media jump on this and not the project veritas stuff?

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    Replies
    1. It won't effect Trump at all.

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    2. We all know the answer to that. The crony capitalist "news" media is just an extension of the Clinton Campaign press office. Their job is to filter the truth out of the news and inject confusion and discord among the enemies of the permanent, uni-party establishment.

      None of this reflects well on Ron Paul however. He should be ashamed of himself for having anything to do with an opportunistic dirt bag like Jesse Benton. Tsk, Tsk, Tsk.

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    3. Probably because Veritas is proven to be Trump propaganda and not actual news. The Trump Foundation financed O'Keefe...

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    4. Or to put it more succinctly, the MSM is the propaganda arm of the establishment.

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  3. Benton is scummy, but I didn't see any mention of China anywhere in the video. Maybe I missed it.

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  4. Jesse Benton is a rube who looks like he stepped out of a Li'l Abner cartoon. Unfortunately it never occurred to Jesse that his mental acuity was two-dimensional, and would lead to his frequent appearences on court dockets.

    I will never forget the image of Jesse Benton walking around the 2008 Republican convention wearing a bullet proof vest, and repeatedly looking over his shoulder.

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  5. Dollars to donuts he was a plant from the beginning. Everything he has touched for the R team has failed famously in favor of the D team. It has nothing to do who his wife is - if results are anything to go by, then he's working for the opposing team.

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    1. I think he was either corrupt from the very beginning or "took a deal" (e.g. "take the fall" in case a favor is needed) to get only 2 years of probation after the 2012 scandal.

      What's interesting to me is that this video is incredibly similar to the Project Veritas videos (e.g. camera not focused on the person's face at all times). At the 2:43 mark of the video (which is around 3/4 of the way in) you can see a date of 10/20/2016 so we can see this was a very recent video. My theory is that this plot was cooked up after the Project Veritas videos started coming out to make it seem like Trump is every bit as corrupt as Crooked Hillary (which, in theory, makes her more appealing because the MSM has painted Trump as a racist, misogynist, xenophobe, etc).

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. He's looking very unhealthy and bloated in the photo. I think he has some inflammation issues that need to be addressed rather urgently.

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  7. What the absolute fuck. How Ron once employed this guy I have no idea.

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    1. Most people assume a basic level of trust with family members until they are burned. Ron Paul is a pretty positive person it appears, so his first instinct would probably be to trust family before distrusting them...which probably makes for mostly good family relations but when that trust is betrayed it can be devastating.

      Paul's optimistic/trusting nature to his inner circle is both a blessing and a curse in terms of politics.

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  8. As other people have commented, Dr. Paul seems to have a weakness for family members (certainly as most people do). I wonder if he employed Jesse after he was dating/married to Dr. Paul's granddaughter or if she met him through his employment with Dr. Paul. Either way, it's a shame.

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  9. This proves that even someone as liberty minded and incorruptible as Ron Paul can have a scum bag like Benton leaching off of him. It's a shame Dr Paul's granddaughter doesn't have more sense. I'm never donating to a political cause again. Politics brings out the ticks and leaches, no hope for liberty through politics.

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  10. Except that it is a fake Trump Pac and is being used to smear him. Donald J. Trump’s authorized Super PAC is the Committee for American Sovereignty. Any others are not sanctioned by the Trump campaign.

    So basically, it is the MSM reporting a false PAC, that just so happened to have a video the day before the election….WOW

    Here is a little tidbit from the article:

    “Recent federal election filings indicate the Great America PAC is $1 million in debt and they have not given a cent to any Republican candidate. The original PAC was asked by the Trump campaign to change its name because it used the candidate’s name, and in recent weeks it received another letter from the campaign disavowing its efforts.”

    BE WARY OF BOGUS TRUMP SUPER PAC'S
    Kelleigh Nelson
    May 17, 2016
    News With Views .com
    http://www.newswithviews.com/Nelson/kelleigh308.htm

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