WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - A nonpartisan think tank has obtained documents that show a Federal Election Commissioner (FEC) communicating with a Jan. 6 committee investigator.
An email obtained by the Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) shows House Select Committee senior investigative counsel Amanda Wick asking FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub to help in exploring a potential connection between campaign fundraising activities and the Jan. 6 Capitol rally.
“As part of the investigation into the events on and leading up to the January 6th attack on the United States capital, we are looking into certain fundraising activities and practices that were used to support and execute the events,” Wick wrote to Weintraub on Oct. 26, 2021. “One of our team members suggested reaching out to you for your expertise on federal fundraising laws, which would be incredibly beneficial. Would you or a member of your team have a few minutes to talk with me this week about some questions we have regarding federal campaign laws and the rules surrounding campaign fundraising?”
Although the collaboration between the two entities is not a violation of the law or procedure, it is unusual, according to Adam Turner, director of CASA.
“The committee has not been formed consistent with the House rules and is acting in what many view as a politicized effort to go after the GOP playbook on their presidential campaign strategy,” he said. “This is a far cry from investigating the events of the January 6 riot at the Capitol.”
The FEC, a bipartisan commission made up of six members, typically requires the agreement of at least four Commissioners to set policy for the agency.
“While it is not unusual for commissioners to give their personal views to Congressional committees, it would potentially be inappropriate for a commissioner to purport to speak on behalf of the agency without authorization to do so,” Turner told Legal Newsline. “It seems unlikely that Commissioner Weintraub obtained authorization from the Commission for this meeting. Were her conversations limited to legislative recommendations, or did they extend into avenues for civil or criminal enforcement?”
The records obtained by CASA under a Freedom of Information Act request also reveal that Commissioner Weintraub did not create a record of the private phone call that occurred with Amanda Wick on any of her public calendars, schedules, or documents that track her actions as a nonpartisan Federal Election Commissioner.
“Given the evolution of the campaign finance election focus of the select committee's investigation that appears to track closely to this conversation, this otherwise un-recorded interaction appears more akin to assisting a prosecutor in their efforts to develop a theory to investigate/pursue defendants,” Turner added. “This is not the job of a nonpartisan FEC commissioner.”