I’d like to think that Trump will eventually be punished — indicted even — but, by inductive reasoning, it looks more and more unlikely. Of course the problem with inductive reasoning is simply the past doesn’t necessarily predict the future so maybe we’ll see it. Now it’s the FEC — Federal Elections Commission. Just a few tidbits from the AP to make unmake your day:
The Federal Election Commission has decided not to take action against former President Donald Trump after commissioners deadlocked over whether his campaign broke the law by masking how it was spending cash during the 2020 campaign.
In a letter on Monday, the FEC notified the Campaign Legal Center of the outcome. The nonprofit group first brought the complaint against Trump in 2020, alleging his campaign was “laundering” hundreds of millions in spending from mandatory public disclosure by routing payments through companies that were tied to his former campaign manager, Brad Parscale.
The practice has long been considered against the law. But in recent years, the FEC, which is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, has frequently deadlocked on major decisions such at this one.
But no worries — cheer up — it happened to Hillary Clinton too. Happened as in found in violation.
In a similar case in March, the FEC found probable cause that Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee had violated campaign law by misreporting spending on research that eventually became the infamous Steele dossier.
In that case, the Clinton campaign and DNC agreed to pay $113,000 to settle without conceding they violated the law in order to avoid further legal costs.
Ain’t life grand.