If you’ve never heard the name Jesse Benton, this Washington Post report on his criminal conviction yesterday might not seem especially notable. But don’t click away just yet, because Benton’s career trajectory is what makes this story amazing.
A Republican political strategist was convicted of illegally helping a Russian businessman contribute to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016. Jesse Benton, 44, was pardoned by Trump in 2020 for a different campaign finance crime, months before he was indicted again on six counts related to facilitating an illegal foreign campaign donation. He was found guilty Thursday on all six counts.
This is not a controversy about Donald Trump, his campaign, and their many Russian connections. To be sure, that is a controversy, but it’s not this controversy. In fact, as best as I can tell, it’s not even clear if the Trump campaign knew anything about the effort to funnel illegal Russian funds into its coffers.
Instead, what makes this story so notable is the political personalities behind it.
As a separate Washington Post report noted last year, Benton’s career trajectory is a sight to behold. It began in earnest 14 years ago, when the GOP operative worked on then-Rep. Ron Paul’s 2008 presidential campaign. Two years later, Benton took the next logical step and ran Rand Paul’s Senate campaign in Kentucky.
Two years after that, Benton went back to the other Paul, running the Texas congressman’s 2012 presidential campaign before agreeing to return to Kentucky in order run Sen. Mitch McConnell’s re-election campaign, all while preparing to run the younger Paul’s 2016 presidential campaign.
In 2013, however, a problem arose: Benton was caught up in a scandal involving an attempt to buy an endorsement. He was later indicted as part of the fiasco, but that didn’t stop a pro-Trump super PAC from hiring Benton anyway in March 2016.
Two months after getting the new gig, Benton was convicted, but he continued to do political work in 2016, including engaging in efforts to assist a Russian national who want to support Trump.
In September 2016, Benton was convicted as part of the previous bribery scheme, but he avoided a prison sentence and was ordered to serve two years of probation. He later picked up a pardon from Trump, who had an unfortunate habit of handing out pardons to Republicans accused of corruption. But Benton was then indicted again, not for the 2013 campaign-finance violation, but instead for the 2016 campaign-finance violation: He was charged with helping funnel money to Team Trump from a Russian national. The operative was convicted yesterday. In other words, Benton was pardoned by Trump for one crime, only to get busted again soon after for a similar crime. Benton is currently awaiting sentencing. If he’s waiting for another presidential pardon, I have a hunch he’s going to be disappointed.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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