Republican Operative Sentenced for Funneling Money from Russia to Donald Trump's Presidential Campaign

By Rick Martin Feb 20 2023, 21:53 PM EST

When he was still president, Donald Trump pardoned Republican operative Jesse Benton for various campaign finance violations. Now, Benton is heading to prison again after being sentenced for a similar crime, this time involving Russia.

MSNBC reported that Benton had a history of campaign finance violations, and it included being part of a bribery scheme. However, his biggest crime was when he was charged with helping funnel illegal money to the Trump campaign from a Russian national. He was pardoned for this crime by then-President Trump, who hired him as part of his presidential campaign in 2016. Now, Benton is facing a similar charge, and Donald Trump is not the president anymore.

The Republican operative was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Friday. He reportedly transferred illegal campaign contributions from a Russian national to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Benton planned this with another Trump political adviser in order to send political contributions from the Russian national. That Russian national is said to have wanted to meet with Trump and take a picture with him.

Republican Operative Charged a Russian National $100,000 to Meet Donald Trump

The Russian national caught in the new scandal was identified as Roman Vasilenko. Benton charged him $100,000 to have a picture taken with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump on September 22, 2016, at the Ritz Carlton in Philadelphia.

Titan Strategies, Benton's company, pocketed $75,000 of the fee and gave the remaining $25,000 as a contribution to the Trump campaign committee, as well as the Republican National Committee (RNC), according to USA Today.

However, the Trump campaign committee, the Trump victory committee, and the RNC all did not know that the contribution was from a Russian citizen but instead thought it was a contribution from Benton himself.

This is considered a violation of campaign finance laws, as foreign nationals cannot give money to any political campaign.

Benton was charged alongside co-defendant Doug Wead. They both faced various charges, including making electoral contributions by foreign nationals, electoral contributions in the name of another person, and causing false records.

Republican Operative's Other Crimes

Aside from the Russian campaign contributions that he was charged with and was found guilty of, Benton has had a history of various campaign finance violations while working as a Republican operative for various prominent politicians.

Before he worked for Donald Trump's Super PAC, Jessie Benton served as a longtime aide to former GOP Rep. Ron Paul. One of the crimes he had been convicted of was falsifying federal records. This was part of a plot to buy an endorsement from a prominent Iowa state senator and make her flip her endorsement during the 2012 Republican primary, according to CNN.

He then ran Rand Paul's Senate campaign in Kentucky before serving Ron Paul once again in Texas.

He soon returned to Kentucky, this time running Sen. Mitch McConnell's 2014 campaign. In 2013, he was caught in the bribery scheme involving Ron Paul but avoided prison.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: GOP Operatives Charged Over Russian's Donation To Trump - MSNBC