The super PAC that backed Jeb Bush’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has been hit with a $390,000 fine by the Federal Election Commission for accepting a $1.3 million illegal foreign contribution from a Chinese company. The combined fines are the largest ever imposed for campaign contributions by foreign nationals, said the Campaign Legal Center, a watchdog group. The Right to Rise super PAC solicited the contribution in 2016 from American Pacific International Capital, a California corporation owned by Chinese citizens, according to the CLC complaint. The CLC filed an FEC complaint following a 2016 article in the Intercept about the brazen APIC contribution. Corporations offer an easy cover for foreign actors to “influence elections, usually without detection,” CLC’s Brendan Fischer said.

Source: Huffington Post March 12, 2019 06:56 UTC