What is Trump's criminal exposure for giving Scott Walker a check for Wisconsin Club for Growth?

[Coyotl]

$15,000 check written to Wisconsin Club for Growth on the day Walker was in his office in New York.

WATCH: "Because Scott Walker Asked": Leaked Docs Suggest Wisconsin Gov Illegally Raised Corporate Donations

An explosive new report by The Guardian reveals the extensive influence of corporate cash in U.S. elections through third-party groups that do not have to disclose their donors. It is based on 1,500 leaked court documents from an investigation by Wisconsin prosecutors into possible illegal fundraising by Republican Governor Scott Walker for the third-party group, Wisconsin Club for Growth. A conservative majority of Wisconsin’s Supreme Court halted the investigation last July before any charges were filed, and ordered all evidence from the investigation to be destroyed. But at least one copy of the documents survived. We speak with Ed Pilkington, chief reporter for The Guardian US, who used the files for his report, "Because Scott Walker Asked." ....

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We begin today’s show with an explosive new report that reveals the extensive influence of corporate cash in U.S. elections through third-party groups that do not have to disclose their donors. The report published by The Guardian is based on 1,500 leaked court documents from an investigation by Wisconsin prosecutors into possible illegal fundraising by Governor Scott Walker for the third-party group Wisconsin Club for Growth, a 501(c)(4) organization. Prosecutors gathered hundreds of email messages that show exchanges between Walker, his top aides, conservative lobbyists and leading Republican figures such as Karl Rove. Now-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump also appears in the files from when he met with Walker and then donated $15,000 to the Wisconsin Club for Growth.

But last July, a conservative majority of Wisconsin’s Supreme Court halted the prosecutors’ investigation before any charges were filed. They said prosecutors had misread campaign finance law and that their targets were, quote, "wholly innocent of any wrongdoing." The justices also ordered that all evidence from the investigation should be destroyed. But at least one copy survived and was leaked to The Guardian.

AMY GOODMAN: This is how reporter Ed Pilkington begins his report: quote, "Scott Walker was under pressure. It was September 2011 ......

WATCH: Will SCOTUS Let Investigation Continue into Alleged Illegal Fundraising by Republican Scott Walker?

We go to Wisconsin to get reaction from The Nation’s John Nichols to a new report on possible illegal fundraising by the state’s Republican governor, Scott Walker, for the third-party group Wisconsin Club for Growth. The report is based on leaked documents from an investigation the state’s highest court halted in 2015. "Governor Walker has survived revelations of this sort before," Nichols says, but adds that he could face a challenge if the U.S. Supreme Court decides to allow the investigation to proceed. In its Citizens United ruling, Nichols notes, "the court said that transparency, knowing how the money is raised and who is raising it … was a vital part of guarding against the legitimate concerns of citizens about corruption and about the danger of allowing corporations and wealthy individuals to be so dominant in our politics." ....

AMY GOODMAN: We’re also joined in Madison by John Nichols, political writer for The Nation. John, what’s response to this explosive Guardian report?

JOHN NICHOLS: It’s been big news in Wisconsin—front page of the newspapers, on radio. It’s funny. As I was driving to the studio this morning, it was the lead story on public radio. And so, this is being discussed a great deal. ..............

[Coyotl]

1. Deja DU: I'm declaring the winner in Wisconsin Supreme Court race

Here is some context for the e-mails and especially with regard to the Republicans ginning up of election fraud lies as suggested by the Milwaukee people in Walker's gang. While we were investigating the Milwaukee anomaly, the Republicans were busy "ginning up" the distractions. Gee, I wonder why???? Check out the timeline!



Deja DU, from April 5, 2011. I'm declaring the winner in Wisconsin Supreme Court race

Big Deal: WI Republicans Ginned Up Voter Fraud Talk Ahead of Recall, worked with Talk Show Hosts, to Prepare Republican Base for Recounts
Posted on September 14, 2016 11:31 am by Rick Hasen

Check out this Republican operative suggesting “messaging ‘widespread reports of election fraud’ so we are positively set up for the recount regardless of the final number.” This comes from from the Guardian’s collection of leaked John Doe papers in this Prosser file. It shows that all this talk of fraud is all about manipulating Republican public opinion to believe that if Democrats won a close Supreme Court race, and the recall went to a recount, that the election was stolen by Democratic voter fraud. This cynical “messaging” is sadly validating of what many of us have said. [UPDATE: This wasn’t at the time of the recall but right after the Prosser-Kloppenburg Supreme Court race which was very close and eventually went to a recount.]

I have to ask, Were the Republicans doing this BECAUSE they had stolen the election themselves? Their actions in this regard certainly add weight to the evidence we already have.

[Coyotl]

2. Wisconsin Club for Growth on SourceWatch

Wisconsin Club for Growth

Wisconsin Club for Growth (WCFG) is a state arm of the national Club for Growth, and one of the top political spenders in Wisconsin. WCFG spent $9.1 million during the Wisconsin's historic 2012 recall races for Governor, Lt. Governor and State Senate, and has reportedly received a subpoena in a 2012-2014 John Doe criminal probe into possible campaign finance violations during those races. [1][2]

WCFG's Board of Directors includes Eric O'Keefe, a right-wing political operative with deep ties to the Koch brothers, and who helped form groups including the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity and American Majority. WCFG is led by RJ Johnson, a close Walker ally, who was a top campaign advisor to Scott Walker in his 2010 election and his 2012 recall race. WCFG registered with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions on August 24, 2004.[3]

Wisconsin "John Doe" Criminal Investigation into Alleged Illegal Campaign Coordination

Prosecutors in Wisconsin allege that Wisconsin Club for Growth was part of a "criminal scheme" to coordinate activities with the Scott Walker campaign during the state's 2011 and 2012 recall election, in violation of the state's campaign finance laws. Wisconsin Club for Growth sued in both state and federal court to stop the probe, and as of July 2014 the investigation remains halted. [4]

Documents released on June 19, 2014 detailing the allegations made by five county district attorneys into Scott Walker's political spending suggested that some of Walker's top campaign aides directed the political spending of outside non-profits, including Wisconsin Club for Growth.[5]

The documents highlight the importance of R.J. Johnson, a Walker campaign consultant and "advisor" to WCFG, in the coordination efforts. According to prosecutors Johnson effectively controlled Wisconsin Club for Growth. In an affidavit Johnson allegedly said "We own C.F.G.[6] According to a New York Times article on the subject:

Under Mr. Johnson, the Club for Growth become “a hub,” according to prosecutors, for coordinating political spending by the Walker campaign and an array of outside groups. ...........

Much, much more at link.

[Coyotl]

3. We need a list of Trump's known crimes.

We need a list of Trump's known crimes.

[Coyotl]

4. Supreme Cover-Up: How the Wisconsin Justice System Failed in the Walker John Doe

Supreme Cover-Up: How the Wisconsin Justice System Failed in the Walker John Doe
Mary Bottari September 18th, 2016

Recent elections have turned the Wisconsin Supreme Court from “one of the nation’s most respected state tribunals into a disgraceful mess,” wrote noted author on the courts Lincoln Caplan in 2015.

The dysfunction is on full display in the documents revealed by the Guardian this week in its expose on the “John Doe” investigation into potentially illegal coordination between Scott Walker and dark money groups that were supposed to operate independently of his campaign.

The Wisconsin John Doe investigation was started by a bipartisan group of district attorneys and Judge Barbara Kluka who saw sufficient evidence of probable cause to authorize search warrants of Walker’s top aides and a number of dark money groups. But Kluka stepped down and Judge Gregory A. Peterson was appointed.

The type of high-dollar, high-donor fundraising discussed in this week’s Guardian expose had never happened in Wisconsin before. Yet Peterson quashed the search warrants in 2014 stating in a cursory decision:

“I am persuaded by Friends of Scott Walker that the statutes do not regulate coordinated fundraising. Only coordinated expenditures may be regulated and the state does not argue coordination of expenditures occurred. Therefore, the subpoenas fail to show probable cause.”

But the documents released by the Guardian this week are replete with evidence of expenditure coordination.

In concert with federal FEC rules, Wisconsin Government Accountability Board rules at the time stated that there is coordination “where there has been substantial discussion or negotiation between the campaign or the spender over, a communication’s: (1) contents; (2) timing; (3) location, mode, or intended audience (e.g., choice between newspaper or radio advertisement); or (4) ‘volume’ (e.g., number of copies of printed material or frequency of media spots).”

Stacks of emails show that Walker’s top campaign advisor and Wisconsin Club for Growth campaign guru R.J. Johnson approved, placed, and rotated ads in the 2011 Senate recalls, and in the 2011 Supreme Court race on behalf of multiple groups, including WCFG and its offshoot Citizens for Strong America, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), Jobs First Coalition (a shell group tied to American Federation for Children’s Scott Jensen, the former Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly who was brought down by his own campaign finance scandal), Wisconsin Family Action and later in 2012, the American Federation for Children. (Ad-Coordination)

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