FEC Complaint Says Contractor Kicked Back $500K To Trump PAC After Federal Payment Of Same Amount

Roll Call reports:

A politically connected contractor made a $500,000 contribution this spring to a pro-Trump super PAC the day after it received a payment of almost the same amount as part of a Department of Defense contract, a watchdog group said.

The Campaign Legal Center flagged that contribution and a $50,000 contribution from another company to a super PAC supporting Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s Senate campaign, in separate complaints to the Federal Election Commission filed Wednesday afternoon. The donations represent rare violations of a 75-year-old ban on campaign contributions from federal contractors, said Brendan Fischer, director of the federal reform program at the Campaign Legal Center.

The contribution from Florida-based AshBritt, Inc. placed the company among the top 10 donors to America First Action, the primary super PAC dedicated to electing federal candidates who support the agenda of President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, according to the Campaign Legal Center complaint. It received a $459,675 supplemental to a Department of Defense contract the day before, the complaint alleges.

AshBritt has faced multiple allegations of overcharging for federally-contracted cleanup projects following Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Katrina. Last year Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi launched an inquiry into the company’s “price gouging” Hurricane Irma work in the Florida Keys.

“Trump-like” multimillionaire AshBritt CEO Randy Perkins ran unsuccessfully for the US House in 2016 as a Democrat after Rep. Patrick Murphy surrendered his seat for a failed Senate run against Marco Rubio.

Perkins claims that the $500K payment to the Trump PAC is incorrectly listed and came from him “personally” – not from the company. Yeah.