In this Wednesday, May 19, 2010 photo, Rand Paul, right, walks down a hallway in his campaign headquarters with advisor Jesse Benton. | AP Photo Former Rand Paul advisers re-indicted

Two former advisers to Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) were re-indicted by a federal grand jury in Iowa Friday, just weeks after a criminal trial that produced a muddled result.

The new indictment names as defendants longtime Rand Paul advisers Jesse Benton and John Tate, as well as third man--Dimitrios Kesari, who served as deputy campaign manager on the 2012 presidential bid of Paul's father, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).


Brian Darling, a former communications director for Rand Paul, put a positive face on the re-indictments. "I don’t believe the news of new charges against two individuals heading up a Rand Paul affiliated super pac will have any impact on Senator Paul’s run for president,” Darling said.

The conspiracy charges, causing the filing of false campaign finance reports and making false statements, all stem from Ron Paul's unsuccessful 2012 campaign for the Republican nomination. Prosecutors allege that Benton, Tate and Kesari agreed to pay former Iowa State Senator Kent Sorenson more than $70,000 to switch his support from Rep. Michele Bachmann to Rep. Ron Paul in the 2012 Republican presidential primary.

Benton and Kesari were tried last month before a federal jury in Des Moines. Kesari was found guilty of causing the campaign to produce false records concealing the payments, but was acquitted of an obstruction of justice charge. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on a conspiracy charge as well as charges of causing the filing of false campaign finance reports and scheming to make false statements.

Benton, who served as Ron Paul's campaign manager in 2012, was acquitted of making false statements to the FBI. However, several other charges against Benton were dismissed by the judge before trial, as were all of the charges against Tate.

In his ruling last month, U.S. District Court Judge John Jarvey said prosecutors appeared to have improperly presented evidence to the grand jury that was obtained under promises of immunity. But the judge left the door open to the charges being refiled based on evidence that did not come from immunized statements.

In the new indictment, prosecutors appear to have refiled the dismissed charges and included the counts against Kesari which resulted in the hung jury.

Rand Paul's campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment. However, after the verdicts last month, Paul issued a statement saying: "I am happy that justice has been served."

One Rand Paul strategist took comfort in the fact that the earlier trial did not receive blanket media coverage. "I thought it would be like a madhouse,” the strategist said, "but it wasn’t.”

Earlier this year, Benton led a super PAC backing Rand Paul's 2016 presidential bid, America's Liberty. He took leave from the group but reportedly returned after the acquittal. Tate also worked for the same PAC. It is unclear whether they will continue to do so following the new indictment.

For Rand Paul, a second round of indictments means more local coverage in the key state of Iowa, where the indictment was issued. The previous trial was held in Des Moines and covered by the local press.

The indictments also come as CNN announced new criteria for the next Republican debate that it is hosting in December that would allow candidates three pathways to the main stage: polling at 3.5 percent nationally or at 4 percent in either Iowa or New Hampshire.

Rand Paul is on the bubble, currently only meeting that bar in national polls.

Sorenson pled guilty last year to accepting the concealed payments from the Ron Paul campaign and awaits sentencing. The Iowa politician testified at the trial of Benton and Tate last month, as did Ron Paul.