A longtime Clinton operative tied to a federal campaign finance investigation regarding Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign remains at the center of Clinton’s 2016 "shadow campaign."
Minyon Moore, described by Politico as Clinton’s "political eyes and ears of late," orchestrated a strategy meeting last summer between Clinton and three top officials from Democratic consulting firm Dewey Square Group, where Moore now works.
The meeting was the only formal 2016-related presentation given to Clinton by someone other than those in her immediate circle, according to Politico, which saw the meeting as another sign of the "quiet, intensifying, improvisational" shadow campaign to "lay the groundwork for another White House bid."
Moore was a senior adviser for Clinton’s 2008 campaign and was connected to the secret spending of more than half-a-million dollars in support of that campaign.
Court documents show that Moore engineered a meeting between Troy White, a New York marketing executive that specializes in organizing support in urban areas, and businessman Jeffrey E. Thompson. Thompson subsequently paid White more than $608,000 to organize "street teams" that distributed campaign materials such as stickers and yard signs to raise Clinton’s profile in targeted areas where she needed help to gain ground on Barack Obama during the primaries.
The expenditures were not reported to the Federal Election Commission, as is required by campaign finance laws.
Moore connected White to Thompson after a senior Clinton campaign official, identified by the Washington Post as national political and field director Guy Cecil, declined the services, writing in a message to White, "Unfortunately, we are not going to be able to use the street teams."
Moore lobbied within Clinton’s campaign to hire White. In a message to White and Cecil, Moore wrote "I am piping up saying we need your services. Let’s [find] some money. I will fight for it."
It was only after her efforts failed with Cecil that she connected White to the willing financier, Thompson, who also allegedly financed an off-the-books campaign for Vincent Gray in Washington D.C.’s mayoral campaign in 2010.
Dewey Square Group, a Washington-based consulting firm that Moore works for, stood by Moore at the time the scandal came to light, saying, "The facts make clear that she was entirely unaware of any inappropriate activities and at all times conducted herself, as she always has, not only in full compliance with the law but in accordance with the highest ethical and professional standards."