Former Texas Congressman Pete Sessions Donating To Charity The Contributions From Pair Accused Of Campaign Finance Violations
WACO, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - Former Texas Republican Congressman Pete Sessions said Friday he is donating political contributions he received from two men arrested on Thursday for alleged campaign finance violations, to Central Texas charities.
Sessions released a statement in which he did not disclose how much the contributions were for, but said the contributors' deception "cannot, and should not, be tolerated."
Here is the full statement:
"Yesterday, I learned that two contributors to my 2018 campaign are being charged for not following campaign contribution laws. Their deception cannot, and should not, be tolerated. Therefore, I am contributing the amount of their contributions to charities that serve abused women and children and the elderly in Central Texas."
Sessions reportedly received large donations from the super PAC backed by Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who are accused of conspiring to "circumvent the federal laws against foreign interference by engaging in a scheme to funnel foreign money to candidates for federal and State office," said in a statement Thursday he had no knowledge of the scheme described in the indictment against the two.
While in Congress, Sessions questioned the fitness of former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, whom President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani hoped to have removed.
Parnas and Fruman were associates of Giuliani.
The contributions to Sessions by the super PAC, America First Action, were first reported by The Daily Beast on Wednesday.
In his statement on Thursday, Sessions said that he could not confirm whether he was the congressman mentioned in the indictment, but that he "will vigorously defend myself against any allegations of wrongdoing."
"If I am 'Congressman One', I could not have had any knowledge of the scheme described in the indictment or have involvement or coordination of it," Sessions said.
