A political action committee (PAC) supporting
Donald Trump's presidential campaign was dealt a blow by Wisconsin's bipartisan ethics commission, which recommended it face criminal charges for allegedly trying to circumvent campaign finance laws to support a challenger to an anti-Trump Republican.
The bipartisan ethics commission is split evenly between
Democrats and
Republicans. Commission chair Pat Strachota, a Republican who formerly served as assembly speaker, signed off on the order recommending charges against the PAC. Two-thirds of the commission is required for any action, meaning at least one Republican member agreed to recommend the charges.
The commission on Friday released its report into allegations that the Save America PAC joined efforts to illegally donate tens of thousands of dollars to the campaign of Adam Steen, who challenged Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos in 2022.
Despite efforts to unseat Vos, he ended up winning the 2022 Republican primary by 260 votes, delivering a loss for Trump in the crucial battleground state. He easily secured victory in the general election, beating back a Democratic challenger and write-in effort from Steen.
In a lengthy statement endorsing Steen, Trump knocked Vos as a "RINO" who "consistently blocked efforts at conducting a full cyber forensic audit of the 2020 election."
"He does not come close to supporting America First policies, and I do not come close to supporting him," Trump wrote.
Vos joined the former president in voicing concerns about the validity of the 2020 election but ultimately declined to decertify the results,
sparking outrage from some Trump-aligned conservatives.