SAC BEE: Ami Bera encouraged family to give to Democrats supporting him

Breaking: Ami Bera admitted he directed his parents’ donations in the sophisticated donor swapping scheme that netted his campaign nearly $240,000 over the past 3 election cycles. In his discussion with the Sacramento Bee’s Editorial Board, Bera makes multiple new claims that raise new questions about his and his staff’s involvement in the fundraising operation.

New Claim:

“I don’t know if the families were talking to each other, or if the campaigns may have been talking at times … Their finance person talking to our finance person,” he said.

New Question:

Bera’s donor swapping scheme was incredibly sophisticated, with reciprocal donations coming within days of each other. Sometimes Bera’s family donated first. Sometimes the other campaigns did. But it was clearly well coordinated.

How can Bera claim that he did not know if the campaigns were communicating when the efforts were so seamlessly coordinated? Does that mean he orchestrated the swaps without his staff’s knowledge?

New Claim:

“I don’t actually even know that (Babulal Bera) knew Scott Peters was donating to my campaign,” Bera said. “Because I would just be asking ‘Would you consider supporting these candidates?’”

New Question:

If Babulal was a political neophyte completely reliant on Ami’s direction for the donor swaps, how was he simultaneously capable of orchestrating $270,000 in illegal donations completely on his own, as Ami has claimed? If Babulal needed Ami’s direction for the swaps, wouldn’t he have needed them for the network of straw donors?

NRCC Comment: “The more Ami Bera talks the less believable his story becomes. Bera is now unbelievably claiming that he personally directed his father’s donations in one aspect of the fundraising operation but simultaneously had no knowledge of his father’s illegal fundraising activities that brought in nearly $270,000. It’s just laughable.” – NRCC Spokesman Zach Hunter