FEC Responds to CREW's Complaint Requesting Investigation into Foreign Donations to Speaker Hastert's Campaign

13 Feb 2006 // On August 16, 2005, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) requesting an investigation into whether Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert’s campaign committee illegally accepted campaign contributions from foreign nationals in 2000 and 2001.

CREW based its complaint on an article appearing in the September issue of Vanity Fair in which it was reported that former F.B.I. translator Sibel Edomonds reviewed wiretap recordings involving an F.B.I. target at Chicago, Illinois’s Turkish Consulate, as well as members of the American-Turkish Council and the Assembly of Turkish American Associations. According to Ms. Edmonds, the recordings indicated that an F.B.I. target had arranged for tens of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions to be sent to Rep. Hastert’s campaign committee in small (i.e., less than $200) checks that did not have to be itemized.

Hastert for Congress received $110,860.75 in unitemized contributions in 2001 and $72,275 in unitemized contributions in 2000.

Federal election campaign law strictly prohibits foreign nationals from making political contributions and prohibits political committees from accepting campaign contributions from foreign nationals. If a committee receives a contribution of questionable legality, it must make at least one written or oral request for evidence that the contribution is legal and either confirm the legality of the contribution or refund the contribution.

Today, CREW received an answer from the Federal Elections Commission. In their reponse, they wrote:

"On January 24, 2006, the Federal Election Commission reviewed the allegations in your complaint dated August 16, 2005, and found that, on the basis of the information provided in your complaint, and information provided by the Hastert for Congress Committee and Dallas Ingemunson, in her official capacity as treasurer, there is no reason to believe the respondents violated the Act or Commission regulations as alleged in the complaint. Accordingly, on January 24, 2006, the Commission closed the file in this matter."

Related Link: CLICK TO READ THE FULL FEC RESPONSE