XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.society.liberalism, alt.politics.trump   
   XPost: alt.politics.democrats.d, talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: jthomq_laughs_and_laughs_at_hillary_clinton_getting_fined@freedyn.de   
      
   FEC fines DNC, Clinton for violating rules in funding Steele dossier   
      
   The Federal Election Commission fined the Democratic National   
   Committee and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign for violating rules   
   with the funding of the dossier at the center of accusations of   
   collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.   
      
   The Coolidge Reagan Foundation filed a complaint against the DNC and   
   Clinton campaign in 2018. The election agency’s decision was   
   released Tuesday. The fine was first reported by the Washington   
   Examiner on Wednesday.   
      
   The FEC, in its statement dated March 29, said the fine for the   
   Clinton campaign was $8,000 and the fine for the DNC was $105,000.   
      
   The dossier, which BuzzFeed published in January 2017 just days   
   before Donald Trump was inaugurated, was largely the foundation for   
   theories about a “well-developed conspiracy of cooperation” between   
   the Trump campaign and Russia and was cited by critics as proof of   
   why Trump was unfit to be president.   
      
   Former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele assembled the   
   dossier while contracted to work for the firm Fusion GPS on behalf   
   of the Clinton campaign. Rumors of significant connections between   
   the Trump campaign and Russia had been circulating in law   
   enforcement and media circles for months before the dossier was   
   published.   
      
   The FEC said the manner in which payments to Fusion GPS, an   
   opposition research firm, were funneled — through a law firm —   
   violated strict rules on how to describe election expenditures.   
   However, the FEC dismissed allegations that the DNC, the Clinton   
   campaign, Steele and Fusion GPS violated a host of other FEC rules.   
      
   The FEC said the law firm, Perkins Coie, paid Fusion $1,024,407.97   
   for the dossier in 2016.   
      
   Treasurers for the DNC and Clinton campaign claimed that they paid   
   Perkins Coie, based in Seattle, for Fusion GPS’s information for   
   legal services instead of opposition research. According to a   
   conciliation agreement individuals affiliated with both   
   organizations signed last month, the Clinton campaign and DNC argue   
   that they were justified in stating that their payment was for   
   “legal advice and services” since Perkins Coie hired Fusion GPS.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)