Maxine Waters caught in shady campaign finance scandal — slapped with hefty penalty



California Democrat U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters is once again caught in a legal bind, this time for allegedly violating several campaign finance rules.

The Federal Election Commission accused Waters' 2020 campaign committee, Citizens for Waters, of "failing to accurately report both receipts and disbursements," "knowingly accepting excessive contributions," and "making prohibited cash disbursements."

'The Committee acknowledges errors were made which were not willful or purposeful.'

A conciliation agreement sent by the FEC to the committee's treasurer on Friday outlined the alleged violations.

"During the 2020 calendar year, the Committee understated $262,391 in receipts and $256,154 in disbursements. The Committee untimely amended its reports to correct these errors," the signed agreement read.

RELATED: House Democrats use campaign funds to pay family members

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The committee was further accused of accepting "excessive contributions from seven individuals totaling $19,000 that were not refunded, reattributed, or redesignated within the permissible timeframe." The agreement noted that the Waters campaign "did untimely refund or disgorge the excessive contributions."

"During the 2020 calendar year, the Committee made four prohibited cash disbursements that were each in excess of $100, totaling $7,000," the agreement added.

Waters' campaign agreed to cease and desist from committing such violations and pay a $68,000 civil penalty. As part of the agreement, the campaign treasurer will also attend a "Commission-sponsored training program for political committees."

In January 2024, Waters' campaign attorney, Leilani Beaver, responded to FEC's findings.

Beaver wrote, "The Committee acknowledges errors were made which were not willful or purposeful."

She attributed the "errors" to "limited staff availability and resources during the pandemic."

When reached for comment by Open Secrets, Beaver referred questions to the Waters campaign and congressional office, neither of which responded. Waters' campaign and office also did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

RELATED: Rep. Maxine Waters’ campaign paid her daughter $240K

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters at open House Committee on Ethics hearing in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill September 21, 2012 in Washington, DC. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

This is not the first time Waters' campaign has faced allegations of misused donations.

Waters was previously accused of using campaign finances to employ her daughter's company. Over a two-decade period, Waters' campaign gave the company $1.2 million in "slate mailer management fees."

The House Ethics Committee also accused Waters in 2010 of violating conflicts-of-interest rules by allegedly providing government assistance to a bank with ties to her husband. The committee ultimately dismissed the charges.

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Trump fires Democratic FEC commissioner who repeatedly attacked him. Now she's refusing to leave.



Ellen Weintraub, a Democratic commissioner and chair on the Federal Election Commission, revealed Thursday night that President Donald Trump fired her last week. Weintraub, an outspoken Trump critic whose political bias and routine disparagement of Trump have long sparked controversy, suggested she won't leave her post.

Weintraub, who has served on the nation's civil campaign finance regulator since 2002 and previously worked at the Democratic-aligned firm Perkins Coie, shared an image of a Jan. 31 letter she claimed was from Trump, which stated, "You are hereby removed as a Member of the Federal Election Commission, effective immediately. Thank you for your service on the Commission."

Weintraub noted, "Received a letter from POTUS today purporting to remove me as Commissioner & Chair of FEC. There's a legal way to replace FEC commissioners — this isn't it."

Weintraub's six-year term — a term limit established by the Federal Election Campaign Act — expired nearly two decades ago, back when George W. Bush was still president. However, commissioners can continue in a holdover status. Evidently, the Democratic commissioner from New York wants to keep holding on.

"I've been lucky to serve the American people & stir up some good trouble along the way," continued the Democratic commissioner, who previously accused Trump of damaging American democracy and questioned the legitimacy of the Electoral College. "That's not changing anytime soon."

'Weintraub's statements indicate that she has prematurely judged matters that could come before the FEC, and that she radically rejects any legal perspective other than her own.'

It appears that in order to can a commissioner, the president must first nominate a replacement, then have him confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Accordingly, Weintraub can continue to haunt the commission until her replacement is named and approved.

Former Republican FEC commissioner Caroline Hunter noted in a 2019 op-ed that Weintraub's partisan hackery was "harming the legitimacy of the institution she purports to serve."

"Commissioners are meant to be independent and neutral arbiters of campaign finance law. Yet Weintraub's statements indicate that she has prematurely judged matters that could come before the FEC, and that she radically rejects any legal perspective other than her own," continued Hunter. "Not only that, she risks misleading the public about what the FEC does and what campaign finance law really says."

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the Biden-pardoned chairman of the Jan. 6 committee, was among the Democrats who had a conniption upon learning that Trump was kicking Weintraub to the curb.

Thompson stated, "Donald Trump is methodically dismantling our democracy. He is firing every person with experience, expertise, character, and commitment to the Constitution in order to replace them with mindless yes-men who will give Donald Trump and Elon Musk carte blanche to break the law and rip off the American people."

The New York Times indicated that the White House had not responded to requests for comment.

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Elon Musk to give away $1M daily to swing state voters — and Gov. Shapiro thinks law enforcement should investigate



Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) called for law enforcement officials to look into Elon Musk's America PAC, which has vowed to give $1 million per day away at random to swing state voters who sign its petition.

During a Sunday interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Shapiro questioned the legality of Musk's giveaway.

'It does raise some serious questions.'

Host Kristen Welker asked Shapiro, "Elon Musk says he will be giving away a million dollars every day to random voters who sign his super PAC's petition. You are a former attorney general — is this legal?"

Shapiro responded, "I think there are real questions with how he is spending money in this race, how the dark money is flowing not just into Pennsylvania, but apparently now into the pockets of Pennsylvanians. That is deeply concerning."

According to Federal Elections Commission filings, Musk is the sole donor of the America PAC, despite Shapiro's claims it is comprised of "dark money." Between July and September, Musk provided roughly $75 million in contributions, Fox News Digital reported.

Shapiro continued, "Look, Musk obviously has a right to be able to express his views. He's made it very, very clear that he supports Donald Trump. Obviously, we have a difference of opinion. I don't deny him that right, but when you start flowing this kind of money into politics, I think it raises serious questions that folks may want to take a look at."

Welker pressed Shapiro once more about whether he believed the giveaway was legal.

"I think it's something that law enforcement can take a look at," Shapiro declared. "I'm not the attorney general anymore of Pennsylvania; I'm the governor. But it does raise some serious questions."

In a post on X, Musk responded to Shapiro's comments, writing, "Concerning that he would say such a thing."

Musk's America PAC vowed to give away $1 million each day leading up to Election Day. Winners, two of whom have already been announced, will be chosen at random. To be eligible, individuals must be registered to vote in a swing state — including Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, or North Carolina — and sign a petition pledging support for the First and Second Amendments.

Signers can also receive $47 for each registered voter they refer to sign the petition.

"Sign our petition to support the Constitution of the United States!" Musk wrote on X.

Musk stated during a town hall event that getting the word out about the petition was challenging because the "legacy media won't report it."

"How do we get people to know about it? Well, this news, I think, is gonna really fly," he said, referring to the cash giveaway announcement.

In July, Musk declared his endorsement of former President Donald Trump. The Republican presidential nominee stated that if he secures the upcoming election, Musk will be appointed as the "Secretary of Cost-Cutting" to slash government waste, Blaze News previously reported.

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