Ron DeSantis' campaign manager has a history of running dark money operations: report

Despite pushing the bounds of campaign finance laws in an effort to pump millions of dollars into his presidential campaign, Ron DeSantis' team is still struggling with funding. A lot of that blame is being thrust on his campaign manager, who has extensive experience with "dark money" campaigns, The Daily Beast reported.

"Immediately after DeSantis officially declared his inevitable candidacy, he was challenging fundraising laws," The Beast's report stated. "That’s when his state-level PAC pledged to transfer more than $80 million to a pro-DeSantis super PAC, just weeks after DeSantis officially cut ties with the old group—a move Florida lawmakers changed the rules to accommodate and which quickly drew a federal complaint."

According to The Beast's analysis of Florida campaign finance statements, DeSantis' ties between various legally separated fundraising groups are closer than previously known.

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One person taking a lot of the blame for the DeSantis campaign's financial problems is his campaign manager Generra Peck. Speaking to The Beast, Brendan Fischer of the watchdog group Documented said that Peck's involvement with the campaign is “further evidence that there is little distinction” between the groups that have fundraised for DeSantis, which are not allowed to coordinate with each other.

“It is another example of how DeSantis has been circumventing the federal campaign finance rules designed to prevent corruption and protect voters’ right to know,” Fischer said.

Before she joined DeSantis' campaign, Peck headed a group of low-profile conservative advocacy groups that rely in largely untraceable funding.

From The Daily Beast: "Peck’s approach, and the complications she faces today, are captured in the story of one of those groups—a dark money nonprofit that Chris Christie started to support then-President Trump, but which in hindsight looks more like an incubator for a future DeSantis presidency."

Read the full report over at The Daily Beast.