Posted on 04/28/2016 6:46:32 PM PDT by Innovative
In the space of just 7 minutes here on Thursday, Ted Cruz reminded fellow Republicans that he has few friends in the party.
First he tangled with former House speaker John A. Boehner, a longtime foe who so dislikes Cruz that he labeled him “Lucifer in the flesh.” Then Cruz undercut another Republican, fellow presidential candidate John Kasich, who had entered into an alliance with him to stop GOP front-runner Donald Trump.
“There is no alliance,” Cruz told reporters on Thursday, acting as if a pact announced by his own campaign days before had never happened.
Minutes later, Kasich strategist John Weaver dispatched a cryptic tweet: “I can’t stand liars.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
And then let other so-called conservatives complete the job.
Suddenly Cruz is savaged by the so-called conservatives because he did not work with McConnell! Do you believe that? McConnell the RINO! That was what attracted me to Ted when he had the guts to call McConnell a liar for...lying! McConnell had promised to not vote on the crony bank of exports, then he reneged on it and Cruz called him out on it from the floor of the Senate! It should have been glorious to any self-respected limited government conservative. Yet look at you now savaging Ted Cruz in support by an article by the ComPost!
http://www.sltrib.com/
APR 28, 2016
Feds sue, allege Johnson illegally donated to Mike Lee, Harry Reid and former Utah A.G.
By TOM HARVEY | and Robert Gehrke | The Salt Lake Tribune connect
First Published Jun 19 2015 09:15PM • Last Updated Feb 17 2016 03:02 pm
Indicted St. George businessman Jeremy Johnson illegally funneled tens of thousands of dollars to Sens. Harry Reid and Mike Lee as well as then-Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, according to a new federal lawsuit.
In a complaint filed Friday in Salt Lake City’s U.S. District Court, the Federal Election Commission accused Johnson of giving about $50,000 to Lee’s 2010 campaign after John Swallow, Shurtleff’s top aide and handpicked successor, advised him that the Republican Senate hopeful, if elected, could influence the selection of Utah’s next U.S. attorney, who then could protect Johnson’s business interests.
“Johnson has reported that Swallow said to him: ‘[I]t is important that we raise this money and make Mike Lee our guy,’ “ according to the complaint. “ ‘[H]e is going to be choosing the next U.S. attorney and you gotta have him in your corner and you gotta have the U.S. attorney in your corner, especially while you are processing poker [payments] in this district.’ “
At the time, federal law limited campaign contributions to $2,400 per person, per election. The FEC alleges that Johnson gave tens of thousands of dollars to friends and associates to make so-called “straw donations” as a way to dodge those caps.
There is no indication in the complaint that Lee, Shurtleff or Reid knew Johnson was making illegal donations to their campaigns.
“At no time during the 2010 campaign, was Senator Lee or anyone associated with the Lee campaign aware of any unlawful contributions to the Lee campaign,” Boyd Matheson, Lee’s chief of staff, said Friday. “The documents obtained by investigators confirm that the scheme was known only to individuals who may have been involved as stated in the report.”
Shurtleff’s attorney, Richard Van Wagoner, said that his client “relied on his professional campaign finance staff to accept only legal contributions, and he had no knowledge of prohibited donations, if any, to his Senate campaign.”
“We know nothing about Mr. Johnson’s latest legal problems with the Federal Election Commission,” said Reid spokeswoman Kristen Orthman.
Swallow’s lawyer could not be reached Friday evening.
The FEC complaint says Johnson enlisted straw donors to kick in $20,000 to the 2010 re-election push of Nevada’s Reid, the Senate’s Democratic leader. The aim, again, was to shield Johnson businesses, which then included a southern Utah operation that processed online-poker payments.
Johnson said Friday that the FEC complaint stems from interviews he gave investigators pursuing multiple criminal charges against Swallow and Shurtleff.
“For my cooperation, I was guaranteed immunity. In other words, the information I shared in those confidential meetings with the FBI and state agents, I was told, would not be used to hurt me in any way. For reasons yet to be explained to me, that very information is now being used against me by the Federal Election Commission,” he said in an emailed statement. “I am stunned. I can’t imagine anybody who wouldn’t be outraged if they were in my shoes.”
Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings, who along with Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill investigated Swallow and is now prosecuting Shurtleff, backed, to some extent, Johnson’s version of events.
“There is more truth than fiction to Jeremy Johnson’s statement,” Rawlings wrote in an email late Friday. “In exchange for his significant cooperation, he is getting screwed by the United States government. I have demanded to know why and exactly who is behind this.”
Swallow acted as a chief fundraiser for Shurtleff, a former three-term attorney general, when the latter was exploring a run in 2009 against incumbent Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah.
Shurtleff dropped out of the race. By the time he did so, however, Johnson already had contributed about $100,000 to his campaign through straw donors, the FEC complaint alleges.
Swallow, who resigned amid a corruption scandal after less than a year as Utah’s attorney general, helped raise funds for Lee after Shurtleff quit the Senate contest.
Swallow now faces 13 felony counts and one misdemeanor after a sweeping investigation of allegations of bribery and corruption in the attorney general’s office. Shurtleff is starting at five felony charges and two misdemeanors.
This case is still going on...
“Sen Mike Lee was defending Cruz. Is he the only guy who likes Cruz? Or does he just approve of his policies?’
I think he just got paid off by the GOPe, who is using Cruz to try to keep Trump from getting the R nomination, then they’ll get rid of Cruz too.
And the GOPe is in bed with the Dems for President Hillary.
See:
Tech billionaires (major Dem donors) plot with GOP leaders at exclusive island resort to stop Trump
I guess you missed Trump’s foreign policy speech in which he attacked globalism. And Cruz is a wack job dominionist, among other things.
Wrong. You must never compromise with evil.
“When you compromise with evil, evil always wins. When you mix food with poison, who wins?”-—Ayn Rand
Ask John Kasich what he thinks of Ted Cruz.
Trump, and even Cruz, have higher public approval ratings than the Washington Compost.
**Many don’t like the guy**
Gee, I wonder why? Because he lies? Because he cheats? Why?
SO TRUE!
That’s when I truly started disliking Cruz, and proved to me that he was more for scoring political points than standing up for principles!
pfft...... yep..... why has no one came out and said they like this guy? “i knew him and has a outstanding blah blah blah”...... no one
Running for president is all Ted’s got. After losing this it’s back to being the loneliest guy in the senate
>>>I like him because he is an American,<<<
how refreshing.... lol.....
me too..
Oh boy....
Another reason why Trump is the only one we can trust!
Ted, the kid your Mom made you invite to your birthday party.
That is not completely true. Carly Fiorina says she likes him and even sang a lullaby to Ted's little girls. Ted's superpack did give Carly's people $500,000 for an unknown reason, and he did make her his running mate so it didn't come cheap, but she did go all out on that lullaby.
It’s uncanny how Trump nails it every time he gives a nickname to an opponent. Ted spews lies faster than light.
A true conservative and a true leader will bring people to the cause and bring people to support him. Look at Reagan. Cruz does the opposite. He drives people away. He doesn’t make the conservative movement bigger...he makes himself bigger on the backs of conservatives.
After Cruz’s debacle is over he should try out to be a backup singer with Prince.
Oh , wait.....
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