GOP Senate candidate in Montana may have just been busted admitting to illegal collusion with the NRA

The Republican trying to unseat Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) may have broken campaign laws by illegally coordinating with the National Rifle Association, the Daily Beast reports.

In audio released by the blog Paydirt, GOP challenger Matt Rosendale is heard talking about how he knew the NRA was going to step into the race on his behalf.

“I fully expect the NRA is going to come in… in August sometime,” Rosendale said. “The Supreme Court confirmations are big. That’s what sent the NRA over the line. Because in ’12, with [Republican Senate nominee Denny Rehberg] they stayed out, they stayed out of Montana. But Chris Cox told me, he’s like, ‘We’re going to be in this race.’”

Candidates are not allowed to coordinate with independent political spenders who dump dark money into races on their behalf.

The Daily Beast spoke to tax law attorney Holly Schadler, who said that Rosendale would have broken the rules “if the organization has substantial discussions with the campaign about an expenditure, or if the organization informs the campaign about a planned communication related to the campaign and the campaign signals its agreement with the suggestion to make that communication.”