Trump hires GOP consultant he previously pardoned for bribery scheme

Donald Trump's campaign hired a strategist who was previously convicted of campaign finance crimes and then pardoned by the former president.

The ex-president's political operation paid JFT Consulting, Inc. -- which is operated by GOP strategist John Tate -- about $13,000 in June, despite the political operative's 2016 conviction in connection with a bribery scheme related to the 2012 presidential campaign for then-Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), reported The Daily Beast.

Tate was convicted by a jury along with fellow Paul aides Jesse Benton and Dimitri Kesari for arranging a $73,000 payoff to then-Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson, the state chair for former Rep. Michelle Bachmann’s campaign, to quit that operation and back Paul's campaign.

All three were convicted on charges of conspiracy, obstruction, and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission, but only Kesari served prison time, and Sorenson pleaded guilty to falsifying campaign reports and obstructing justice and sentenced to 15 months in jail.

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Trump pardoned Tate and Benton, who had married one of Paul's granddaughters, in December 2020.

Tate and his co-conspirators funneled campaign funds to Sorenson through a sub-vendor to conceal where the money was going, which resembled the Trump campaign's use of the shell company American Made Media to hide hundreds of millions of dollars in 2020 campaign expenses.

The pardons -- which were backed by Paul's son, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), and former FEC chairman Lee Goodman -- were seen as giving a stamp of approval to flouting disclosure laws.

Benton was indicted less than a year after his pardon for allegedly funneling Russian money to Trump's 2016 campaign, and he was convicted in November.