Another 50th District Congressman Headed for Legal Troubles?
A Nigerian billionaire’s illegal campaign donations may spell trouble for Rep. Darrell Issa.
Republican Issa fled the 49th Congressional District when it started to go purple back in 2018.
Former President Donald Trump repaid Issa’s early endorsement with a nomination to run the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. At his Senate confirmation hearing, ranking Democrat Robert Menendez moved to make the event private, citing information in Issa’s FBI background investigation that he felt could be problematic, and potentially disqualifying for Senate confirmation.
The hearing was adjourned without a vote, and Issa began a successful effort to claim the 50th Congressional District seat held by Rep. Duncan Hunter, whose political career at that point was going nowhere in the face of indictments for misusing campaign funds.
At the time Issa told reporters there was nothing in the background check that hasn't been previously reported in the media. "Senator Menendez has only brought up — and perhaps it's anecdotal but it's what he chose to bring up — my being disciplined for false ID when I was 17."
Somehow the Congressman’s other troubles, including a guilty plea for carrying a concealed weapon, an arrest for car theft (the charge was later dropped) and a poor Army service record didn’t factor into his explanation.
Now we know that there was something completely unrelated to his youthful indiscretions that could have derailed the confirmation hearing.
Rep. Darrell Issa has been identified as “Candidate C” in the recent federal indictment of Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry who is charged with lying to investigators and concealing information about illegal campaign donations, according to reporting based on court documents at Salon.
On Sept. 10, 2014, Issa dined at the same table with Gilbert Chagoury, a shadowy figure identified as a "foreign billionaire" in the charges against Fortenberry, at a Washington event hosted by the group In Defense of Christianity (IDC). Two weeks later, Issa's campaign and the National Republican Congressional Committee received a total of $60,000 in donations, on the same day, from Dr. Elias Ayoub and his wife Mireille, an affluent Los Angeles couple who had also attended the IDC dinner. According to documents filed with the Justice Department, the $30,000 that went to Issa's victory fund actually came from Chagoury, a Nigerian citizen who may not legally contribute to federal candidates…
...The IDC event was hosted by a man named Toufic Baaklini, who acted as a middleman for the straw donations from Chagoury to political candidates. Ayoub and his wife were both attendees and speakers at that same event. According to the DPAs, Chagoury suggested that Ayoub host a political fundraiser for "Candidate C," who is now known to be Issa, and asked him to "contribute $30,000" to Issa's Victory Fund, which Chagoury made clear he would reimburse to Ayoub.
Photos reviewed by Salon (but no longer available on the internet) show that Chagoury and Issa sat next to each other at the gala dinner during the IDC summit.
On Sept. 28, 2014, Ayoub and his wife contributed $30,000 to Issa's Victory Fund, which made the Ayoub family's LLC the 10th largest employer to donate to that committee in the 2014 election cycle. According to the Justice Department, on Oct. 21, Joseph Arsan — at Chagoury's direction — wired $30,000 to Ayoub, indicating on the wire form that the funds were for a "wedding gift." That was actually the payment to reimburse the Ayoubs for their donation to Issa's campaign.
Ayoub began cooperating with the feds in September 2016, telling them about illegal contributions to Fortenberry in 2016, as well as a $45,000 contribution to 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney and the $30,000 to Issa's victory fund in 2014.
The Salon article goes on to suggest two 2020 donations from Ayoub ($ 2,000 to Issa’s victory fund and $2,000 to Darrell Issa for Congress.) were made as part of a “Non and Deferred Prosecution Agreement,” meaning they were part of a Department of Justice investigation.
Issa told Politico that he’d never lied to the FBI (the basis of Fortenberry’s indictment), but refused to comment further on campaign donations he may have received from the Nigerian billionaire at the heart of the investigation.
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Congressman Issa may have another big problem, namely the drafts of redistricting maps floating around show him facing Rep. Juan Vargas in 2022. (All sitting Congress members could have to face other incumbents if this version of the new districts holds.)
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