Tag Archives: jesse

Disgraced Ex-Iowa State Senator Testifies Against Ron Paul Aides

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

In late 2011, then-Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson had committed to backing Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign in the run-up to the 2012 Iowa caucuses. But Sorenson was getting irritated with Bachmann and felt he owed the Ron Paul campaign something. After all, he testified in an Iowa courtroom Thursday, many of Paul’s campaign staffers had previously worked for the National Right to Work Committee, an anti-union group with close ties to the Paul family, and they had supported Sorenson’s political aspirations with money and manpower.

In the days after Christmas 2011, Sorenson said, the Paul campaign pressured him to switch sides, and after he asked for money to change his endorsement, a Paul operative stuffed a $25,000 check into the hands of Sorenson’s wife.

Read our April feature on the Paul family scandal here.

Sorenson’s testimony came during the trial of two Paul family political operatives: Jesse Benton, who is married to Ron Paul’s granddaughter, was chairman of the 2012 presidential campaign and operated a super-PAC backing Rand Paul in the 2016 race. Dimitri Kesari, who gave Sorenson’s wife the $25,000 check, is a longtime National Right to Work Committee and Paul family associate.

While paying for Sorenson’s endorsement violated Iowa Senate rules, it is not illegal under federal law for a presidential campaign to do so. Prosecutors say Kesari and Benton crossed the line when they allegedly tried to cover up the payments to Sorenson. Benton faces one count of making false statements to federal investigators. His attorneys argue that he didn’t know much about the deal with Sorenson and did not lie when he told investigators he knew nothing about the scheme. Kesari, on the other hand, faces a slew of charges, including conspiracy, campaign finance charges, and obstruction of justice.

In court, Sorenson recalled making the decision to switch his endorsement.

“I’m sorry for what I’m about to do,” Sorenson testified that he told a friend on the Bachmann campaign after revealing to him and others on Bachmann’s campaign that the Paul camp had offered him money to switch sides. Then, he said, he drove to a Paul event, where he was eagerly greeted by Kesari, who ushered him inside, where Benton and others on the campaign were waiting. Sorenson testified he was led over to meet Benton.

“I remember specifically asking Jesse if they would take care of me,” Sorenson testified, when asked whether he arrived at the Paul event with the expectation of being paid to change his endorsement. The response from Benton, according to Sorenson, was “You’re bleeding for us—we’ll take care of you.”

Later that night, Sorenson said that Kesari took his cellphone away to prevent him from talking to the media or anyone else about his reasons for switching sides. “I was a wreck,” Sorenson recalled.

Bachmann publicly accused Sorenson of taking money to switch sides—it was later revealed that Sorenson was paid by Bachmann’s campaign first—and the morning after his decision, Sorenson said Kesari, Benton, and others counseled him on how to handle the situation and prepped him on how to address the media.

Sorenson pleaded guilty last fall in federal court to charges that he helped the campaign hide the payments. On Wednesday, Ron Paul testified, stating that he didn’t approve of endorsements and certainly wouldn’t have wanted his campaign to pay for one.

Besides Sorenson’s and Paul’s testimony, prosecutors have introduced dozens of emails and financial records showing that the Paul campaign funneled money to Sorenson via a third party—a company in Maryland that did no work for the campaign but was paid for “audio-visual” work and then turned around and paid Sorenson. The payments are not in dispute, but defense attorneys for Kesari and Benton have argued that they are a normal part of politics and that there was no crime in the way they were reported.

Sorenson will return to the witness stand tomorrow.

Link:  

Disgraced Ex-Iowa State Senator Testifies Against Ron Paul Aides

Posted in Anchor, FF, GE, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Disgraced Ex-Iowa State Senator Testifies Against Ron Paul Aides

Ron Paul Gives Fiery Testimony in Trial of Two Indicted Top Aides

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

Former GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul took the stand in an Iowa federal courthouse this afternoon in the trial of two of his top aides from his 2012 presidential campaign. The aides have been accused of paying for the endorsement of an Iowa state senator and then trying to cover it up. Paul blasted prosecutors and the media while still testifying that he abhorred the concept of paying for endorsements.

Paul was called as a witness for the prosecution in the trial of Jesse Benton, his 2012 presidential campaign chairman who is also married to Paul’s granddaughter. Another longtime Paul family political operative, Dimitri Kesari, is also on trial. Kesari worked as deputy campaign manager in 2012.

The charges in the case stem from a scheme by Paul’s 2012 campaign to pay then-Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson more than $70,000 to endorse Paul in the days before the Iowa caucuses in late 2011. Four of the charges against Benton were dropped when a judge ruled that prosecutors had improperly handled the indictments. Benton still faces a count of making false statements to prosecutors after he denied any knowledge of the alleged plan when they asked him about it last summer. Kesari faces six charges, including federal conspiracy and campaign finance charges. Prosecutors also say Kesari attempted to convince Sorenson to not tell investigators everything he knew.

During his testimony, Paul switched between appearing almost politically naive—claiming he knew almost nothing of how his campaign paid expenses and telling a long folksy story of his dislike for political endorsements—and exhibiting fiery anger. Paul loudly denounced the prosecution for its case against Benton and the damage it has done to his son Rand’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Continue Reading »

Credit:  

Ron Paul Gives Fiery Testimony in Trial of Two Indicted Top Aides

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Ron Paul Gives Fiery Testimony in Trial of Two Indicted Top Aides

Before It Cried Conspiracy, the Paul Camp Quietly Prepared for Today’s Indictments

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

Just hours after three Rand Paul associates were indicted on federal charges that they worked to cover up an attempt to buy an Iowa state senator’s endorsement for the 2012 Ron Paul campaign, the Paul camp is claiming that the indictments are timed to trip up the Kentucky senator on the eve of the first GOP presidential debate. All three men were involved with the 2012 Paul campaign, but have worked for the family for years, including to help get Rand Paul elected.

Shortly after the indictments were announced, Ron Paul issued a statement, saying, “I think the timing of this indictment is highly suspicious given the fact that the first primary debate is tomorrow.” Roscoe Howard, the attorney for Paul’s grandson-in-law Jesse Benton, one of the three men who were indicted and the head of a pro-Rand Paul super-PAC that is currently paying for 40 field staffers in Iowa, echoed the sentiment to the Washington Post:

“We are deeply disappointed to learn of today’s indictment by the Department of Justice,” said Howard. “Jesse Benton, a prominent conservative Republican, has cooperated with the government during its multi-year investigation. That this indictment is now suddenly announced on the eve of the first Republican Presidential debate strongly supports our belief that this is a politically motivated prosecution designed to serve a political agenda, not to achieve justice. Mr. Benton is eager to get before an impartial judge and jury who will quickly recognize this for what he believes it is: Character assassination for political gain.”

But how unexpected was this move?

First of all, the Ron Paul 2012 campaign has spent more than $434,000 on legal bills since last summer. The fees suddenly spiked around the end of July 2014, a period that, according to today’s indictment, involved meetings between Benton and federal investigators. Another of the indicted men, John Tate, who also works for the same pro-Rand Paul super-PAC, also met with federal investigators last July. The following month, a grand jury subpoenaed emails from many members of the Paul campaign. The subpoena, which was publicly leaked, listed the email accounts of all three men, as well as that of Ron Paul himself, as targets of the investigation.

Earlier this month, Eugene Delgaudio, a political activist from northern Virginia who is a friend of the third man indicted today, Dimitri Kesari, circulated an email soliciting donations for a legal defense fund for Kesari. Kesari established the fund, a nonprofit called Defenders of Liberty Legal Defense Foundation in Colorado, this past February. There are also links between Paul’s campaign and Kesari’s attorney. When Kesari appeared in court this morning in Iowa, he was represented by attorney Jesse Binnall. According to campaign filings, the Ron Paul campaign paid Binnall’s firm $20,000 on December 29, 2014 and again on Feb. 4. On June 12 of this year the campaign also wrote a $2,800 check for the firm representing Benton.

People familiar with the way the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section pursues indictments said it was unlikely there would not have been extensive contact between prosecutors and lawyers of the accused and an awareness that charges were coming. It is not uncommon for defense attorneys to have an opportunity before an indictment is handed down to appeal the decision to higher-ups within the Department of Justice. All evidence suggests that the indictments were hardly a surprise sprung on the Paul camp during the frantic final preparation for Thursday’s debate.

Visit site: 

Before It Cried Conspiracy, the Paul Camp Quietly Prepared for Today’s Indictments

Posted in Anchor, Everyone, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Prepara, PUR, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Before It Cried Conspiracy, the Paul Camp Quietly Prepared for Today’s Indictments