The Wisconsin Ethics Commission delivered an announcement in a memo last Friday, stating that the county prosecutors of Chippewa, Florence, and Langlade in Wisconsin have elected not to proceed with felony charges against the fundraising committee for former President Donald Trump and Wisconsin state Rep. Janel Brandtjen (R) due to “a conflict of interest”. The alleged charges were pertinent to a conspiracy to evade campaign finance laws. Read the memo.
Previously, the commission had established probable cause to believe that Trump and Brandtjen had colluded in order to bypass campaign finance laws. This was during their bid to displace Speaker of the Assembly Robin Vos (R) with Rep. Adam Steen (R). Trump had expressed his displeasure with Vos earlier when Vos dismissed a former State Supreme Court justice who had been hired to probe into Trump’s allegations regarding election fraud. For more detail, see this AP News article.
Wisconsin law imposes no limit on donations made to political parties, and caps donations to a State Assembly Representative’s campaign at $1,000. The Ethics Commission claim that Trump, Brandtjen, and others in the Republican Party manipulated these rules to their advantage. Donors eager to contribute amounts larger than $1,000 were reportedly directed to gift their funds to the Langlade County Republican Party instead, citing “63” on the memo line as a reference to Steen’s Assembly District number. Subsequently, using this method, Steen accumulated over $40,000 in donations, with a generous $5,000 from Trump’s Save America PAC. More details about Wisconsin’s campaign finance laws can be found on the state’s ethics website.
Chippewa County District Attorney Wade Newell revealed to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he will refrain from pursuing legal action due to his affiliation with the Republican Party, a group which could also potentially be indicted in the case. Florence County District Attorney Doug Drexler pointedly expressed in a letter that he too wouldn’t be pressing charges due to his longstanding relationship with the county’s Republican Party and his past legal services rendered to them. Kelly Hays, the Langlade County District Attorney, also signified her retreat from prosecution on the grounds of a conflict of interest, while refraining from divulging further explicit details. Full coverage of this topic was provided by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
However, this does not indicate the end of potential prosecution in these counties. As stated in the recent memo, it is expected that the charges will be forwarded to each respective county’s contiguous districts for possible legal action.