Could Ocasio-Cortez Be Facing Jail Time?

By The Daily Caller. Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti obtained majority control of Justice Democrats PAC in December 2017, according to archived copies of the group’s website, and the two appear to retain their control of the group, according to corporate filings obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. If the Federal Election Commission (FEC) finds that the New York Democrat’s campaign operated in affiliation with the PAC, which had raised more than $1.8 million before her June 2018 primary, it would open them up to “massive reporting violations, probably at least some illegal contribution violations exceeding the lawful limits,” former FEC commissioner Brad Smith said.

Ocasio-Cortez never disclosed to the FEC that she and Chakrabarti, who served as her campaign chair, controlled the PAC while it was simultaneously supporting her primary campaign, and former FEC commissioners say the arrangement could lead to multiple campaign finance violations. The group backed 12 Democrats during the 2018 midterms, but Ocasio-Cortez was the only one of those to win her general election.

“If the facts as alleged are true, and a candidate had control over a PAC that was working to get that candidate elected, then that candidate is potentially in very big trouble and may have engaged in multiple violations of federal campaign finance law, including receiving excessive contributions,” former Republican FEC commissioner Hans von Spakovsky told The Daily Caller News Foundation.

And fellow former FEC commissioner Brad Smith told TheDCNF that if “a complaint were filed, I would think it would trigger a serious investigation.” He also noted that such a probe could potentially result in jail time for Ocasio-Cortez and her chief of staff, Chakrabarti. . .

Ocasio-Cortez and Chakrabarti could face prison if the FEC determines that they knowingly and willfully withheld their ties between the campaign and the political action committee from the FEC to bypass campaign contribution limits, according to Smith. (Read more from “Could Ocasio-Cortez Be Facing Jail Time?” HERE)

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Ocasio-Cortez Says She ‘Breaks Fourth Wall’ and Responds to Attacks to ‘Squash’ Them Early

By The Hill. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) says that she quickly responds to attacks she receives on social media because of the “bad-faith” charges once leveled at individuals like former President Obama.

“I grew up seeing these attacks on [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi. I grew up with these attacks on Barrack Obama. I grew up even with these bad-faith attacks on Hillary Clinton,” the freshman congresswoman said in an interview with Spectrum News NY1 released on Monday. “And so we know what’s going and I feel like what I’ve chosen to do is break this fourth wall a little bit and respond to them.”

Ocasio-Corteaz justified her argument by pointing to the “birther movement” that started as Obama became president.

Why does @AOC respond to personal attacks on social media? She tells @errollouis that she wanted to "break this fourth wall a little bit" after seeing conspiracy theories that were ignored by politicians start to grow legs. #NY1Politics https://t.co/LpkXwpZ59o pic.twitter.com/q34ynnKXVO

— Spectrum News NY1 (@NY1) March 4, 2019