A lawsuit was filed against the Nevada branch of the Democratic Party by Russian-born Virginia campaign finance attorney Dan Backer, who claims to represent the Committee to Defend the President, a political organization which filed a complaint on the same issue with the US Federal Election Commission in December 2017.
According to the conservative Republican author of the complaint, an elaborate scheme was inculcated to circumvent US presidential campaign contribution limits.
"You had individuals giving $300,000," Backer — who is general counsel for US President Donald Trump's Great America PAC — claimed on Friday, according to the Las Vegas Journal report. "They're not doing it because they care about Nevada's or Arkansas' state party. They're doing it to curry favor with and buy influence with Hillary Clinton."
Up to 40 state-level Democratic National Committees are accused of being involved in a scheme that allowed some $84 million to be funneled into political coffers, Backer said.
According to the attorney, who immigrated to the US in 1978, the US Federal Election Commission, which received the complaint last year, failed to take action, which led to his lawsuit.
The lawsuit focuses on the Nevada branch of the Democratic Party, which allegedly received some $1.7 million from the so-called Hillary Victory Fund between December 2015-November 2016 and transferred the money to the DNC although the political party only declared $146,000 while the remaining sum was transferred off of the books, the Las Vegas Journal reports.
A similar lawsuit was filed against the Idaho branch of the Democratic party, as reported by the Idaho Statesman on June 7, indicating that the same scheme was used, and the lawsuit mentions a similar figure of $1.6 million with a filing discrepancy of about $100,000.
Delaware's WXDE-FM radio also reported on June 7 that the state's branch of Democratic party received some $2,478,000 from the Hillary Victory Fund.
"The Supreme Court has said that we can impose a contribution limit on how much any one individual can give to any one candidate, state party, or political action committee. It doesn't pass the sniff test," Backer stated, according to WXDE.
"If I give you a million dollars for your campaign, I may not have bought anything, but it looks that way," he stated, adding, "the Supreme Court has widely upheld these base limits."
Democrats reacted to the accusations by noting that the lawsuit is a "political stunt" to distract people's attention from current Republican policies.
"This is nothing more than a bogus political stunt feebly designed to distract from vulnerable Republicans' disastrous agenda," stated Helen Kalla, a spokeswoman for the Nevada Democratic Party, speaking to the Review Journal.
Jesse Chadderdon, executive director of the Delaware Democratic Party, called Backer's lawsuit "yet another blatant example of hypocrisy from Donald Trump and his cronies."
"Let's be clear, this is nothing more than a Beltway political stunt," Chadderdon told WXDE-FM, "led by the pro-Trump PAC 'The Committee to Defend the President,' one that's simply designed to distract Delaware voters."
