Levin: Clinton and Obama Campaigns Committed Egregious FEC Violations, But Just Fines Imposed, No Prosecution
Fox News host Mark Levin highlighted on his program Sunday that the presidential campaigns for Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, as well as Barack Obama all had to pay fines for significant campaign finance violations.
But, unlike former President Donald Trump, they did not face criminal prosecution or possible jail time for them.
“I want to talk about real campaign violations, and we talk about two tiers of justice. There is no justice, especially when it comes to Donald Trump and I’m going to prove it to you,” Levin said.
He cited fines the Federal Election Commission imposed on both Bill Clinton’s and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns, as well as Barack Obama’s and the Democratic National Committee.
Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign violations are the closest to Trump’s because they involve alleged falsification of records.
Levin pointed to a March 2022 Politico article, which stated that the DNC and the Clinton campaign collectively agreed to pay $113,000 for reporting that payments made to Democratic law firm Perkins Coie were for legal expenses when some of it was in actuality earmarked to pay opposition research firm Fusion GPS to try to dig up dirt on Trump.
Fusion GPS then commissioned former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele to compile what became known as the Steele dossier or Trump-Russia dossier.
The FBI used the document to help obtain search warrants at the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to spy on individuals connected to the Trump campaign.
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Special Counsel Robert Mueller picked up where the FBI left off in May 2017 and investigated whether the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Twenty-two months and $32 million later, Mueller’s team concluded that Trump’s campaign had not colluded with Russia.
Regarding former President Bill Clinton, Levin referenced a 2002 Los Angeles Times article detailing how millions of dollars in illegal campaign contributions flowed into the DNC and Bill Clinton campaign coffers in 1996 from communist China and other countries.
The FEC “imposed a record-setting $719,000 in fines against participants in the 1996 Democratic Party fund-raising scandals involving contributions from China, Korea and other foreign sources.”
Foreign campaign contributions are illegal.
Nonetheless, “FEC documents describe Democratic fund-raisers who set specific prices for foreign nationals to make illegal campaign contributions in return for meetings with then-President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore,” according to the Times.
Those penalized by the FEC included the DNC and the Clinton-Gore campaign.
“The communist Chinese military laundered millions of dollars into the Clinton campaign for president and the DNC. Can you imagine? But there is no nondisclosure agreement, so don’t worry,” Levin observed wryly in nod to the $130,000 Trump allegedly paid porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential campaign.
Concerning Obama, U.S. News & World Report said in 2013 that his presidential campaign had to pay a $375,000 fine for violating FEC disclosure laws.
“An FEC audit of Obama for America’s 2008 records found the committee failed to disclose millions of dollars in contributions and dragged its feet in refunding millions more in excess contributions,” the news outlet reported.
“The FEC says the Obama campaign failed to disclose the sources of 1,300 large donations, which together accounted for nearly $1.9 million. Election Commission rules state campaigns must report donations of $1,000 or more within 20 days of Election Day,” U.S. News explained.
“In addition to failing to report big donors and excess donations in a timely manner, the Obama campaign incorrectly dated the filings dealing with $85 million in funds, the FEC claims.”
Levin said, “Wow. Was Obama ever under criminal investigation by a local prosecutor, let alone the feds?”
Further, Townhall reported last week, “[A]ctor Leonardo DiCaprio testified in federal court that Malaysian financier Jho Low revealed his plans to donate up to $30 million to help Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.”
Low had helped finance DiCaprio’s 2013 movie, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” but is now facing federal criminal charges.
Levin summarized, “So here we have all this foreign money flooding into the Clinton campaign, the Obama campaign. We have Joe Biden who is bought and paid for by the communist Chinese, our number one enemy, and not a single criminal investigation at the local, state or federal level of any of these people.”
Levin cited a January 2022 New York Post article by Peter Schweizer chronicling that the Biden family did five deals in China “arranged by individuals with direct ties to Chinese intelligence.” The deals totaled some $31 million.
Levin described Trump as a “choir boy” compared to the Clintons, Obama, and the Bidens.
He argued last week there is no underlying crime in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment of Trump.
Following Trump’s arraignment hearing last week, Bragg told reporters that the case rests on the former president allegedly falsifying business records with the intent to conceal other crimes, which is a felony in New York.
However, the 34-count indictment does not list the other crimes.
Bragg referenced the $130,000 payment made to Daniels, but federal prosecutors and the Federal Election Commission have already reviewed the payments and declined to charge Trump, likely because the money didn’t go to or come from his campaign.
