AOC’s Chief of Staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, Has Come under Investigation for Possible Illegal Handling of more than $1-million in Campaign Donations – And He Has Resigned
The feds are looking into possible campaign finance misdeeds by Rep.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff and lead rainmaker, who
suddenly resigned Friday, federal sources told The Post.
The inquiry centers on two political action committees founded by
Saikat Chakrabarti, the top aide who quit along with Ocasio-Cortez
spokesman Corbin Trent, the sources said. Trent left to join the
congresswoman’s 2020 re-election campaign.
The brash Chakrabarti, who masterminded Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign and
steered her proposed Green New Deal, had caused uproar in the halls of
Congress with a series of combative tweets that contributed to a rift between his rookie boss and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“People were not happy that he used his Twitter account to comment
about members and the bills that he and his boss oppose,” a senior House
Democratic staffer said. “There was a series of colliding and cascading
grievances.”
The two PACs being probed, Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats,
were both set up by Chakrabarti to support progressive candidates across
the country.
But they funneled more than $1 million
in political donations into two private companies that Chakrabarti also
incorporated and controlled, according to Federal Election Commission
filings and a complaint filed in March with the regulatory agency.
In 2016 and 2017, the PACs raised about $3.3 million, mostly from
small donors. A third of the cash was transferred to two private
companies whose names are similar to one of the PACs — Brand New
Congress LLC and Brand New Campaign LLC — federal campaign filings show.