'Dishonorable, unpatriotic, and clearly illegal': Trump super PAC consultant slammed by FEC for foreign donor plot

On Tuesday, Michael Beckel, the research director for the watchdog group Issue One Reform, flagged Federal Election Commission documents showing that the pro-Trump Great America PAC has agreed to pay a $25,000 fine.

This comes after the PAC's strategist, Jesse Benton, allegedly tried to funnel what he thought was $2 million from a Chinese national into the organization for political campaigning in 2016. Such a scheme is against the law, and in actuality, the Chinese representatives he solicited were journalists from The Telegraph.

"Benton promised to provide a purported Chinese national access to a future president in return for a $2 million contribution," said three FEC commissioners in the report. "Benton's conduct was dishonorable, unpatriotic, and clearly illegal."

This news comes a month after Benton and another GOP strategist, Doug Wead, were criminally indicted for the scheme.

Benton, a former campaign operative for Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), was previously convicted for a scheme to bribe state officials in Iowa to back former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) for president in the 2012 Iowa Caucus. Former President Donald Trump pardoned Benton for that offense prior to leaving office.