FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

1 FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION 1 2 FIRST GENERAL COUNSEL S REPORT 3 4 MUR 7339 5 DATE COMPLAINT FILED: March 5, 2018 6 DATE OF NOTIFICATIONS: March 8, 2018 7 DATE LAST RESPONSE RECEIVED: June 28, 2018 8 DATE ACTIVATED: May 24, 2018 9 10 EARLIEST SOL: May 30, 2021 11 LATEST SOL: September 30, 2021 12 ELECTION CYCLE: 2016 13 14 COMPLAINANT: American Democracy Legal Fund 15 16 RESPONDENTS: Trump Victory and Bradley T. Crate in his official capacity 17 as treasurer 18 Republican National Committee and Anthony W. Parker in 19 his official capacity as treasurer 20 Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. and Bradley T. Crate in 21 his official capacity as treasurer 22 Donald J.

2 Trump 23 Alabama Republican Party and Sallie Bryant in her official 24 capacity as treasurer 25 Republican Party of Arkansas and Joel Pritchett in his 26 official capacity as treasurer 27 California Republican Party and Mario Guerra in his 28 official capacity as treasurer 29 Connecticut Republican Party and Warner C. Pyne, III in 30 his official capacity as treasurer 31 Illinois Republican Party and Judy A. Diekelman in her 32 official capacity as treasurer 33 Kansas Republican Party and Richard L. Todd in his 34 official capacity as treasurer 35 Republican Party of Louisiana and Dexter Duhon in his 36 official capacity as treasurer 37 Republican Party of Minnesota- FEDERAL and Bron Scherer 38 in his official capacity as treasurer 39 Mississippi Republican Party and Paul V.

3 Breazeale in his 40 official capacity as treasurer 41 Missouri Republican State Committee- FEDERAL and Patricia 42 Thomas in her official capacity as treasurer 43 New jersey Republican State Committee and 44 April Bengivenga in her official capacity as treasurer 45 NY Republican FEDERAL Campaign Committee and Steven 46 Wells in her official capacity as treasurer 47 MUR760300018 North Carolina Republican Party and Jason Lemons in his 1 official capacity as treasurer 2 North Dakota Republican Party and Nicholas Hacker in his 3 official capacity as treasurer 4 Republican FEDERAL Committee of Pennsylvania and 5 Dakshinamurthy Raja in his official capacity as 6 treasurer 7 South Carolina Republican Party and Sharon Thompson in 8 her official capacity as treasurer 9 Tennessee Republican Party FEDERAL ELECTION Account and 10 Frank Colvett in his official capacity as treasurer 11 Republican Party of Virginia Inc.

4 And John G. Selph in his 12 official capacity as acting treasurer 13 West Virginia Republican Party, Inc. and Michelle L. 14 Wilshere in her official capacity as treasurer 15 Republican Party of Wisconsin and Andrew Hitt in his 16 official capacity as treasurer 17 Wyoming Republican Party, Inc. and Doug Chamberlain in 18 his official capacity as treasurer 19 20 RAD REFERRAL 17L-27R 21 DATE OF REFERRAL: June 8, 2018 22 DATE OF NOTIFICATION: June 8, 2018 23 DATE RESPONSE RECEIVED: June 27, 2018 24 DATE ACTIVATED: July 12, 2018 25 26 EXPIRATION OF SOL: October 12, 2021 27 ELECTION CYCLE: 2016 28 29 SOURCE: Internally Generated 30 31 RESPONDENT: North Dakota Republican Party and Nicholas Hacker in his 32 official capacity as treasurer 33 34 RAD REFERRAL 17L-31 35 DATE OF REFERRAL: August 31, 2017 36 DATE OF NOTIFICATION: September 1, 2017 37 DATE RESPONSE RECEIVED.

5 October 16, 2017 38 DATE ACTIVATED: July 12, 2018 39 40 EARLIEST SOL: September 1, 2021 41 LATEST SOL: January 31, 2022 42 ELECTION CYCLE: 2016 43 44 SOURCE: Internally Generated 45 46 MUR760300019 RESPONDENT: Wyoming Republican Party, Inc. and Doug Chamberlain in his 1 official capacity as treasurer 2 3 RELEVANT STATUTES: 52 30104 4 52 30116 5 52 30122 6 11 7 11 R. (a) 8 11 (a), (b) 9 11 10 11 11 11 12 11 13 14 INTERNAL REPORTS CHECKED: Disclosure Reports 15 Reports Analysis Division Referral Materials 16 17 FEDERAL AGENCIES CHECKED: None18 MUR760300020 MUR 7339, et al.

6 (Trump Victory, et al.) First General Counsel s Report Page 4 of 31 I. introduction 1 These three matters relate to joint fundraising conducted through Trump Victory, which 2 was comprised of Donald J. Trump s principal campaign committee, Donald J. Trump for 3 President, Inc. and Bradley T. Crate in his official capacity as treasurer (the Trump 4 Committee ), the Republican National Committee and Anthony Parker in his official capacity as 5 treasurer ( RNC ), and twenty-one state party committees ( the SPCs ).1 The Complaint s 6 primary allegation is that Trump Victory was a pretext through which millions of dollars in 7 contributions that the RNC used to support the Trump Committee were funneled to the RNC 8 through the SPCs in violation of the Act s contribution limits, earmarking provisions, and its 9 prohibition on contributions in the name of Respondents argue that all of their actions 10 arising out of their joint fundraising activity were legal, thus, there can be no 11 We conclude that the available information, including the pattern of transfers containing 12 funds raised by Trump Victory.

7 Provides reason to believe that the RNC accepted excessive 13 contributions. Further, there is reason to believe that Trump Victory, the RNC, and the SPCs 14 inaccurately disclosed receipts and disbursements. Accordingly, we recommend that the 15 COMMISSION find reason to believe that: (1) Trump Victory, the Trump Committee, the RNC, 16 and the SPCs violated the joint fundraising regulations at 11 (c)(1) and (2); (2) 17 1 See Compl. at 4-5, MUR 7339 (Mar. 5, 2018); RR 17L-27R ( Republican Party) (Aug. 11, 2017); RR 17L-31 (Wyo. Republican Party, Inc.) (Aug. 31, 2017). 2 See Compl. at 4-5, MUR 7339. 3 See Trump Victory, et al.

8 Resp. at 1, MUR 7339 (Apr. 30, 2018) (hereinafter Trump Victory Resp. on behalf of Trump Victory and Trump Committee); RNC, et al. Resp. at 2-3, MUR 7339 (Apr. 27, 2018) (hereinafter RNC Resp. on behalf of RNC and 18 of the SPCs); Ill. Republican Party Resp. at 1, MUR 7339 (May 6, 2018) (adopting arguments of the RNC Response as its own); Republican Party Resp. at 1, MUR 7339 (May 21, 2018) (noting its Response is with the RNC Response); Tenn. Republican Party FEDERAL ELECTION Account Resp. at 1 (May 24, 2018) (joining RNC Response). MUR760300021 MUR 7339, et al. (Trump Victory, et al.) First General Counsel s Report Page 5 of 31 the RNC accepted excessive contributions in violation of 52 30116(f); and (3) Trump 1 Victory, the RNC, and the SPCs violated the reporting requirements at 52 30104(a) and 2 (b) and 11 (a) and (b).

9 We also recommend that the COMMISSION take no action at 3 this time on the coordinated expenditure, earmarking, and contributions in the name of another 4 allegations. 5 II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND 6 A. The Creation of Trump Victory 7 The Trump Committee was the principal campaign committee for Donald J. Trump s 8 2016 presidential On May 17, 2016, the RNC announced the formation of Trump 9 Victory, a joint fundraising committee consisting of the Trump Committee, the RNC, and eleven 10 of the Approximately four months later, ten additional SPCs joined Trump 11 The participating committees entered into a written joint fundraising agreement that set 12 forth the manner in which funds received by Trump Victory would be allocated among the 13 According to the Respondents, under the joint fundraising agreement, an 14 individual could contribute up to $449,200 to Trump Victory.

10 Which represents the total amount 15 that an individual could contribute to the participating committees under the applicable 16 4 Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. s Statement of Organization (June 29, 2015). 5 RNC Resp. at 3; see Trump Victory s Statement of Organization (May 25, 2016). 6 See Trump Victory s Amended Statement of Organization (Sept. 21, 2016); Trump Victory s Amended Statement of Organization (Sept. 4, 2016). 7 See Trump Victory Resp. at 1-2. Respondents did not provide a written joint fundraising agreement identifying the participants or the allocation formula. MUR760300022 MUR 7339, et al. (Trump Victory, et al.)