Bernie Gets $10 Million in Mystery Donations from Washington D.C.

Paperwork submitted on behalf of Bernie Sanders’ political action committee shows over $10 million in unnamed contributions pouring in from the nation’s capital.

The mystery money appears on a Schedule A-P filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) by the Bernie 2016 presidential campaign committee with a receipt date of 30 June 2015. The report shows $10,465,912.39 in “Unitemized” receipts for the Primary election. (Transaction ID VPF7BEDRRH8E, page 9845.)

This report highlights the already problematic donations to Bernie 2016. On 11 February, $23 million was cited by the FEC as in violation of campaign finance regulations.

The federal form states that the $10 million is an aggregate of individual $35 donations, all with the same date and all originating from Washington, D.C. This would require 299,026 separate donors, which equals roughly half the population of the capital.

Under federal campaign finance law, disclosure is required on contributions over $200. Thus, the $35 donations do not appear in violation. However, given the relatively small population of D.C. and the lack of support for Sanders among legislators, the 300K individual contributions do appear highly questionable.

Under campaign finance law, government contractors are also prohibited from making donations to political campaigns.