CLEVELAND, Ohio — A Democratic super PAC has filed a federal complaint against Donald Trump’s campaign with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday that charges the campaign with breaking campaign finance laws regarding Melania Trump’s speechwriter.
The complaint, filed by the Democratic Coalition Against Trump, alleges five violations. They are: illegally accepting direct corporate contributions, accepting services from a volunteer that were actually compensated, use of the Trump corporate name or trademark to facilitate campaign contributions, illegal use of corporate facilities by a campaign volunteer and knowingly allowing volunteers to exceed the transportation expense limit.
Meredith McIver, the speechwriter in question, admitted to using words from Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech in Melania Trump’s speech. But in the same apology letter, she admitted that was serving as a volunteer to the Trump campaign, and working via the Trump Corporation to aide the campaign, which is against campaign finance laws.
Scott Dworkin, senior advisor to the Democratic Coalition Against Trump, argued that “if she was a volunteer for the campaign, then there should have been no job to resign from.”
Jon Cooper, chairman of the coalition, followed up that this incident “is reminiscent of the John Edwards campaign finance scandal, which likewise involved work paid for by a corporation for a presidential campaign. As such, it is very troubling.”
