Timothy Birdnow

Rashida Tlaib  (D-Ramallah) had her arm in the cookie jar, up to her shoulder, and she's refusing to cooperate with investigators.

According to Free the Bacon:

Tlaib received two potentially illegal payments from the campaign after the last general election, according to the report. A salary payment of $2,000 occurred on Nov. 16, 2018, and another payment of $15,500 occurred on Dec. 1.

Payment for work during the campaign is legally permitted, but payment for work afterwards would violate the law. Emails indicate that Tlaib was paid for work done after the campaign as the Dec. 1 check was labeled as payment for work between "Nov. 16, 2018 to December 31, 2018." The election occurred on Nov. 6.

The report includes several emails from Tlaib to campaign staff, including an April 4, 2018, email in which she asked for "a one time payment of 5K" due to personal financial struggles.

A later email showed Tlaib reaching out to a larger number of campaign staff and informing them she would not make it through the campaign without a stipend. She requested payments of "$2,000 per two weeks but not exceeding $12,000″ from the campaign.

Tlaib denied wrongdoing, according to the Detroit News. Her lawyers claimed the payments were to catch up on work she had done during the campaign. She claimed that the checks were "the minimum salary payments necessary for me to meet my personal financial obligations."

Tlaib and her staffers refused to cooperate with officials throughout the investigation, according to the report.

"Because Rep. Tlaib refused to interview with the OCE, the OCE could not address thesepotentially problematic payments with her," the report states. "Likewise, the OCE was unable to address these documents with members of her campaign staff given their refusals to interview with the OCE."

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 11:11 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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