A left-wing legal advocacy group linked to David Brock, a longtime Clinton ally and Democratic operative, sparked a viral conspiracy theory about President Donald Trump on Tuesday, only to insist later that it was just asking questions.
The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a D.C.-based government watchdog group, noted on Twitter that the December 2016 rent that the Trump presidential campaign paid to Trump Tower was almost exactly $130,000, the same amount that, according to reports, a lawyer for Trump paid to adult-film star Stormy Daniels in October 2016 to prevent her from publicly disclosing an alleged sexual encounter with the now-president.
President Trump is accused of paying $130,000 in hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels to hide an affair a month before the election. In what is probably just a coincidence, the Trump campaign transferred $130K to the Trump businesses a month after the election. pic.twitter.com/KKknIC9ClC
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) January 23, 2018
If Trump did actually traffic money from his campaign to pay Daniels, it would put him in serious legal jeopardy. John Edwards, a 2008 Democratic presidential candidate, faced federal charges for funneling money from his campaign to a mistress.
While CREW snarked that it was "probably just a coincidence," the tweet went viral, racking up over 10,000 retweets. Liberals like Hollywood director Judd Apatow and Democratic Rep. Don Beyer (Va.) took the tweet seriously.
Legal question: is paying pornographic actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 in hush money through a shell company so that she will not disclose your extramarital affair right before a presidential election a lawful use of campaign funds? @CREWcrew @NormEisen @RWPUSA @waltshaub https://t.co/8khiosnWLj
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) January 23, 2018
Seems like this is a big problem. https://t.co/U4ZRGtWNkw
— Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) January 23, 2018
But several reporters were immediately skeptical of any connection to the Daniels story, pointing out that the Trump campaign's rent fluctuated during and after the election, and that $130,000 fell well within the norm for the payments.
This tweet is extremely irresponsible. There's no reason to believe this was for the Stormy Daniels payment and Trump rent payments varied throughout the campaign and after. https://t.co/mQoJ91G7nw
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) January 23, 2018
Trump campaign payments to Trump Tower for rent, from campaign finance reports:
May 2016: $72K
June 2016 $110K
July-Oct 2016 payments: $169K
Nov 2016: $283K
Dec 2016: $130K
Jan 2017: $75K
Feb 2017: $158Khttps://t.co/xSBzVpQDaL— Mark Berman (@markberman) January 23, 2018
The Trump campaign's December rent payment was also identical to the $130,000 a month that the Wall Street Journal reported Trump Tower was charging the Department of Defense to rent out a 3,475-square-foot space following the election.
The Washington Post's Aaron Blake also noted that the exact amount the campaign paid for rent was 130,888.33, an amount that strongly suggests the figure was calculated based on a formula (given that 33 cents is a third of a dollar) rather than a pre-arranged payoff.
"Is it possible this is related to the Daniels payment?" he wrote. "Of course, in the sense that you can't completely disprove most any conspiracy theory. But it doesn't pass the smell test."
In response to criticism, CREW backtracked, denying that it was accusing the president of wrongdoing and saying simply that the issue was "worth asking about."
To be clear, we're not alleging anything nefarious took place. It was, as we said, probably a coincidence. But, as with other interesting FEC payments we flag, it's an interesting one and one worth asking about.
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) January 23, 2018
Part of what makes the $130K so interesting, and worth talking about, is that although the Trump campaign paid Trump Tower a ton of money in rent (and payroll), that is the only time the $130K figure appears. It would be good to know more about why.
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) January 23, 2018
Brock—who oversees a vast network of pro-Clinton and left-wing organizations, including Media Matters for America, ShareBlue (in Brock's words, the "Breitbart of the left"), and American Bridge, among others—was elected the chairman of CREW's board of directors in 2014. He left the group officially in 2016 so his name would not hurt its "nonpartisan" label.