Does Donald Trump have a super PAC problem? The Washington Post seems to think so. Here’s their report that went live earlier this evening:
JUST POSTED: The inside story of Donald Trump’s connections to a big-money super PAC, w/@thamburger @wpjenna http://t.co/uXlrXFX9fQ
— Matea Gold (@mateagold) October 19, 2015
The meat of the story — according to the Washington Post — is that a consultant to the pro-Trump Make America Great Again PAC named Mike Ciletti is also a vendor to Trump’s campaign and worked with Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager, in the past:
Consultant for pro-Trump super PAC has ties to Trump campaign manager, and his firm has been paid by Trump campaign http://t.co/uXlrXFX9fQ
— Matea Gold (@mateagold) October 19, 2015
Lewandowski vehemently denied that Trump “sanctioned” the super PAC even though Trump did appear at two events organized by the super PAC earlier this year:
Lewandowski denied that Trump or the campaign had given the green light to Make America Great Again.
“Unlike other campaigns, we don’t have a quote-unquote designated super PAC that we tell people to give money to,” he said.
In a later interview, he threatened to file a lawsuit if The Washington Post reported that Trump had given the group his blessing.
“I want to be crystal clear,” Lewandowski said. “There is no sanctioned super PAC.”
And:
When asked whether Trump knew the receptions were organized by the super PAC, Lewandowski did not respond directly. “They were both just a meet-and-greet,” he said. “He gave brief remarks and then left.”
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Other reporters have been quick to jump on the story as well:
Can u imagine what the discovery phase of any @realDonaldTrump lawsuit against the media would look like? https://t.co/6IjoLckrIY
— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) October 19, 2015
Trump set up his super PAC the same way Jeb did, essentially http://t.co/GGcszOdTLh
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 19, 2015
"He threatened to file a lawsuit if The Washington Post reported that Trump had given the group his blessing." http://t.co/vpKI2lGFvc
— Karen Tumulty (@ktumulty) October 19, 2015
https://twitter.com/moorehn/status/655924736149561344
Great, twisty story by @wpjenna @mateagold @thamburger about the Donald Trump super PAC https://t.co/owRjxgxUyc
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) October 19, 2015
I, for one, am shocked that there’s gambling going on inside this casino https://t.co/GSn22UQd8E
— Blake News (@blakehounshell) October 19, 2015
To his other yuge and wondrous qualities, add hypocrite. https://t.co/iqielXZzqQ
— Jonathan Alter (@jonathanalter) October 19, 2015
https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedAndrew/status/655922667976044548
But other than the optics of it, did anyone involved do anything that wasn’t permitted? To be determined, says the Post:
The Trump campaign has paid Ciletti’s printing firm since April, with the most recently reported payment on Sept. 18. Since July, Ciletti has been serving as the super PAC’s consultant. Such an arrangement with a common vendor is permissible under federal rules only if the firm has a strict firewall in place to prevent coordination. Neither Ciletti nor the company’s president returned repeated requests for comment.
And to be continued as we’re sure to hear more about this tomorrow.
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