Michele Bachmann’s failed Presidential Campaign is already under investigation by several agencies for both ethics violations and illegal activity. Now the FBI has contacted former staff members for interviews. The FBI has not confirmed that there is an investigation but Attorney John Gilmore, who represents Andy Parrish, Bachmann’s former Chief of Staff, has confirmed that his client is scheduled to be interviewed. (Source: Star Tribune) According to The Iowa Republican:
“?The main thrust of the FBI investigation seems to stem from alleged campaign finance violations. Former Bachmann staffer Peter Waldron filed a complaint with the FEC in January regarding five possible violations committed by Bachmann and her associates.”
Bachmann’s attorney released a statement saying “none of the allegations involve Representative Bachmann”.?There are others who have argued that these investigations are a part of a larger scheme to discredit her because she is against radical Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood. Glen Beck went so far as to claim that is specifically related to Bachmann questioning the State Department on why so many Muslim Somali refugees were being sent to her district. The decision to settle Somali refugees there was made in the 1990’s, long before she was elected to public office, and was based on the large number of interconnected volunteer agencies available to help with their resettlement.
Bachmann doesn’t need others to try to make her look bad, she does that well enough on her own. In April she asked CIA Director, John Brennan, questions about classified information in open session after asking a series of questions that seemed more suited to the tabloids than a House Intelligence Committee meeting. Last summer she claimed that “there are individuals who are associated with the Muslim Brotherhood who have positions, very sensitive positions, in our Department of Justice, our Department of Homeland Security, potentially even in the National Intelligence Agency.” (Source: Huffington Post)?When fellow Minnesotan and practicing Muslim Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn) asked her for her sources, she sent him a 16 page letter?with sources that were highly unreliable and connections that were, at best, tenuous.
The investigations, so far, are focused on members of Bachmann’s campaign staff and not her directly but there could still be serious repercussions for her political future.
“Craig Holman, a government ethics lobbyist at liberal-leaning watchdog group Public Citizen,?told Salon in May?that Bachmann could face serious repercussions.
‘It’s not Watergate, or at least not yet, but these are a series of allegations that are each serious on their own, and when you put them all together, this could be a career ender for Michele Bachmann,’ he said.” (Source: Huffington Post)