GOP strategist sentenced for Russia’s contribution to Trump’s campaign

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A Republican consultant was sentenced to 18 months in prison Friday for his role in conspiring to illegally funnel contributions from a Russian national to former President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Jesse R. Benton, 45, of The Woodlands, Texas, was convicted in November on a series of charges including conspiracy, contribution by a foreign national, and causing false records to be filed with the Federal Election Commission.

It’s the second time Benton, who advised many GOP lawmakers on campaign strategy, has been convicted of charges related to political contributions.

According to court documents, Benton conspired with Roy Douglas, another political adviser, to pass contributions to the Trump campaign from a Russian national who wanted to meet and take a photo with the candidate.

At the time, Benton was a strategist for Great America PAC, a super PAC that backed Trump in 2016.

The Russian national allegedly wired $100,000 as part of an arrangement to Benton to attend a Trump campaign fundraiser.

Benton hid the identity of the Russian national from Trump and his campaign and created a fake invoice to hide the scheme, court documents said. As a straw donor, Benton allegedly contributed $25,000 of the Russian national’s money to the campaign, while pocketing the remaining $75,000.

The Department of Justice said the campaign was unaware of the scheme.

Benton worked on the campaigns of GOP Sens. Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Benton resigned as McConnell’s campaign manager in 2014 amid the collapse of his work on Ron Paul’s presidential campaign two years earlier.

In 2016, Benton was convicted along with Ron Paul’s campaign manager John Tate of concealing $73,000 in payments that went to Sen. Kent Sorenson of the state of Iowa in exchange for Sorenson’s endorsement of Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign. Both Benton and Tate were sentenced to six months of house arrest and probation. Trump pardoned them in December 2020.

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