Democratic Rep. Tom O'Halleran's campaign staff caught two men active in Republican politics falsely identifying themselves and posing as communists as they tried to help his campaign Thursday.

Within minutes, the campaign went to the Arizona Republican Party office in Flagstaff and returned a nearly $40 cash contribution to one of the men, who didn't deny the accusations, in an exchange posted on YouTube.

The apparent ruse failed after someone in O'Halleran's Flagstaff campaign office recognized the men as active on social media in the GOP and with Wendy Rogers, O'Halleran's Republican opponent, said Ryan Mulcahy, O'Halleran's campaign manager.

"I am amazed at the lengths my opponent and her supporters will go to undermine the credibility of our election this fall," O'Halleran said in a statement. "This stunt is just one more shameful chapter in Wendy Rogers' failed attempts to win a political office. She has skipped debates, aired blatant lies in her advertising, and now her team is committing fraud in some bizarre, misguided effort to embarrass my campaign. Team O'Halleran demands answers about what Wendy Rogers knew and an apology for this deception."

Mulcahy said the campaign is considering contacting authorities about the matter but has not done so. The Arizona Republican Party fired one of the men and the other, a volunteer, is no longer working there, a party representative said.

The Rogers campaign denied involvement in the incident.

"This is news to us. No one from our campaign was involved in this juvenile stunt," said Spence Rogers, a consultant to the campaign. "We are focused on defeating Tom O’Halleran and the Democrats this November and don’t have time for silly pranks. We are more concerned about exposing Tom O’Halleran’s open-borders liberal record."

On the video, Lindsay Coleman, O'Halleran's finance director, is seen entering the GOP office in Flagstaff and returns $39.68 in cash to a man believed to be Oscar Cisco, a student at Northern Arizona University from California, but who identified himself in contribution documents as Jose Rosales. He left a contact number with a Los Angeles area code.

Cisco, a now-former volunteer with the state GOP, could not be reached for comment.

Another man who is not seen in the video allegedly identified himself as Ahmahd Sadia.

Coleman asked for both men, but was told no such people by those names worked there.

The man identified as Oscar came out to see her, walked away but returned when summoned.

"Oscar, I have your cash and I'd like to return it to you please," she said.

"I’m returning the funds that you’ve just made to our campaign under the name Jose Rosales claiming to be with NAU Young Communists, when in fact you are with the NAU Young Republicans, and your name is Oscar."

The man, wearing an olive-colored jacket, accepts the money.

The same man seems to appear in a Facebook post Monday on Rogers' Facebook account and in a Sept. 29 tweet, where he appears in a group shot with people identified as Rogers' volunteers.

The incident underscores what many see as a desperate effort for Republicans in Arizona's 1st Congressional District.

O'Halleran is a former Republican state lawmaker and moderate Democrat in Congress. He is considered a relatively safe bet to win a second term, especially against Rogers, a conservative hard-liner who seems to have little pull with independents in a closely divided district.

That seat has been a source of frustration for Republicans because President Donald Trump narrowly won the district in 2016, but the GOP has nominated two polarizing figures to run against O'Halleran.

Former Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu lost in 2016 in a race in which he was pilloried for his stewardship of a now-shuttered Massachusetts school for troubled youths.

This year, in her fourth bid for Congress, Rogers has been pounded for her past statements that Social Security is unconstitutional and painted as an ally of GOP plans to cut Social Security and Medicare.

A spokesman for the Federal Election Commission said that agency has civil jurisdiction over campaign contributions and said the U.S. Justice Department has jurisdiction over criminal fraud matters.

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