(Headline USA) A conservative group filed a complaint last month with the Federal Election Commission against President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, alleging campaign leaders illegally coordinated with intelligence officials to benefit Biden during the election.
America First Legal, which is run by former White House aide Stephen Miller, argued that the infamous letter signed by 51 former and current intelligence officials dismissing the Hunter Biden laptop story as “Russian disinformation” was an in-kind contribution to Biden’s presidential campaign that should have been reported.
“[The] evidence suggests that the respondents failed to disclose coordinated expenditures constituting in-kind donations with respect to the infamous ‘Letter of 51’ former intelligence officials claiming that the Hunter Biden laptop story had ‘all the classic earmarks’ of Russian disinformation,” said the AFL complaint.
The FEC filing named four key groups involved in the alleged coordination: Biden for President 2020, the Biden Victory Fund, the Democratic National Committee and the Biden Action Fund.
The complaint noted that two of the letter’s key signatories, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director Leon Panetta, donated to both the Biden Victory Fund and the Biden for President campaign in 2020.
It also cited an email from then-Biden campaign adviser Antony Blinken to Michael Morrell, the former CIA deputy and acting director, which made clear that the intention of the “Russian disinformation” letter was to help Biden in the presidential debate against then-President Donald Trump.
“There are reasons to believe that the public statement by 51 former intelligence officials was a coordinated political operation to help elect Vice President Biden in the 2020 presidential election, as set forth below,” the complaint to the FEC says.
Moreover, it could be legally considered election meddling, said Reed Rubinestein, the director of oversight and investigations for America First Legal.
“The Federal Election Commission’s charge includes election integrity—Americans have the right to know who is coordinating with federal candidates,” Rubinstein said in a statement.
“But this right is only as effective as the agency that enforces it,” he added. “The FEC must act here.”
