Lori Trahan Legal Expense Trust

Lori Trahan contests a House Ethics Committee probe into whether her campaign improperly accepted donations from her husband as she ran for the 3rd District House seat in 2018. According to a report published Friday in Roll Call, a Washington-based political publication, Trahan set up the Lori Trahan Legal Expense Trust on Feb. 20. Trahan will have to report on contributions to the fund and spending quarterly. Individual contributions to the fund are capped at $5,000, but donors who have previously reached their maximum allowable donations to Trahan’s campaign can still donate to the legal fund, according to Roll Call. The massive legal bills have piled up since Trahan hired the nationally-renowned law firm Perkins Coie — a national leader in campaign finance law — to represent her as she faces allegations she illegally used about $300,000 from a joint checking account she has with her husband David Trahan during the 2018 campaign. Though the funds came from a joint account, spouses are typically barred from contributing more than the usual limit of $5,000 to a campaign. Trahan, who addressed the allegations in a 17-page response to the Ethics Committee, argues that a premarital agreement had already legally established that Trahan and her husband would share their income, which gave Trahan the right to use her husband’s funds as her own. The Office of Congressional Ethics earlier recommended the House Ethics Committee review the allegations against Trahan further because it found “substantial reason to believe” Trahan’s campaign accepted personal loans and contributions that exceeded federal limits, and that she failed to disclose required information in her disclosure reports or Federal Election Commission filings. But Trahan claims the OCE reached that conclusion without considering the premarital agreement, which had not been submitted to OCE since it was sent to the FEC instead. “Lori proactively hired Perkins Coie to review filings made during her primary, and has retained their services to assist with filings since,” Trahan’s Communications Director Mark McDevitt said in an emailed statement. “Those services included assisting the campaign with required legal responses to the politically motivated, inaccurate complaints filed against her to the FEC and the Ethics Committee, which we remain confident will be resolved favorably.” Roll Call reported that such funds are allowed by the House Ethics Committee to help representatives pay for legal fees connected to their candidacy, official duties, criminal prosecutions or civil matters related to the representatives fitness for office. Roll Call reported that other representatives who have established such funds include Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California, a close ally of President Donald Trump who eventually pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance charges and resigned, as well as Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-California, who used such a fund to successfully defend himself against a civil lawsuit. https://www.lowellsun.com/2020/02/29/report-trahan-launches-legal-expense-fund/