A Virginia congressional candidate and brother of the first then-President Donald Trump impeachment’s star witness has been accused in a lawsuit filed Thursday to have violated campaign finance laws, as well as fabricated part of his military history.
In Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, whose Democratic primary candidates include Eugene Vindman — the brother of retired Lt. Col Alexander Vindman — his campaign staff blamed media questions about his military record on VoteVets when asked for comment on why he had occurred at least four violations against Army regulations according to his official records. Vindman, a former Army infantry officer and later an Army lawyer, has been backed by VoteVets.
The Vindman campaign is facing complaints to the FEC from both a pair of watchdog groups named the Functional Government Initiative and FACT (Foundation for Accountability & Civic Trust) over prohibited coordination with VoteVets PAC.
The complaints allege that VoteVets provided an in-kind contribution to the campaign by acting on its behalf in responding to press inquiries.
Executive Director Kendra Arnold told Fox News Digital, “The law is quite clear that providing a service to a campaign is an in-kind contribution. Communication is something a campaign usually pays for, not having a super PAC make statements.”
The controversy started with an email from Vindman campaign manager Jeremy Levinson to a reporter at the Washington Free Beacon: “I am looping in VoteVets who is going to be providing comments on our behalf – if you write this.”
Levinson also said that “all future inquiries pertaining to this or any other matter can be directed to him.” This language, according to Arnold, seems like illegal coordination.
Republican Derrick Anderson, who is taking on Eugene Vindman in the contest for the seat, has separately questioned Vindman’s military record and claimed that he inflated his service.
Vindman’s campaign said, “The bottom line is that we worked with the coordinated side of the VoteVets organization on the response to the Free Beacon outreach,” a Vindman campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “The FEC rules are clear that this interaction does not violate its rules and would not constitute an in-kind contribution.”
Tie votes are frequent among the six-member FEC, who serve as three Democrats and three Republicans. The rules on coordinated communications and campaign contributions prevent outside groups from performing a function as serviceable to the campaign, which is not unlike ordinary services that could be purchased by the campaign.
This follows a report concerning the military record of Eugene Vindman, who is facing allegations that his father committed campaign finance violations.
Vindman had declared that he “had put his life on the line for our nation in combat” but a 2019 Daily Mail report cast doubt on this.
However, investigation timelines by the FEC are said to be long because of what is at stake during this campaign cycle.
