Posted on 10/22/2015 12:24:31 PM PDT by iowamark
An Iowa jury has acquitted Jesse Benton, a longtime aide to both former congressman Ron Paul and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), on charges of lying to the FBI. That decision effectively clears two key Paul family aides who had been under an ethical cloud since a December 2011 decision to pay a state senator for his endorsement...
Benton had been the chairman of Ron Paul's 2012 presidential campaign. Like John Tate, who had been Paul's campaign manager, he succeeded in getting the court to drop most of the counts related to the payoff of former senator Kent Sorenson, a Republican who wanted a six-month salary in exchange for leaving another candidate's campaign...
The legal situation was more complicated for Dimitri Kesari, Ron Paul's 2012 deputy campaign manager, and by all accounts the engineer of the Sorenson endorsement scheme. He entered the trial facing five separate counts; he was found not guilty of obstruction of justice and guilty of creating false records. The jury remained deadlocked on three other counts, giving federal prosecutors 10 days to determine whether to seek a new trial.
According to evidence offered in the trial, Kesari had approached Sorenson, who shared some political strategists, about the possibility of joining Paul's campaign. In October 2011, a Sorenson ally produced a detailed, three-page list of demands. Benton and Tate both balked, but Kesari kept the conversation going. It was not until December 26, days before the Iowa caucus, that Kesari offered Sorenson a $25,000 check..
I am sorry. I should have checked the box indicating excerpt. The full article is at:
Des Moines Register:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2015/10/22/split-verdict-ron-paul-endorsement-trial/74252782/
“One Ron Paul staffer convicted, another acquitted”
Given the number of times people investigated for something the Feds couldn't prove are then charged with "lying to the FBI," why would anyone ever speak to the FBI?
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