Eugene Vindman, a former whistleblower in the Trump administration who is now running for Congress as a Democrat in Virginia, is facing accusations of violating federal election laws.
The Functional Government Initiative filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Wednesday, calling for an investigation into Vindman and his political action committee, VoteVets. The complaint alleges that VoteVets, a “hybrid PAC,” made an “excessive and impermissible” contribution to Vindman’s campaign.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, VoteVets is legally allowed to contribute up to $10,000 directly to a candidate, a limit it reached in May. However, the PAC’s continued support of Vindman’s campaign through communications efforts is being classified as an “in-kind contribution,” which would exceed the legal contribution limit.
A spokesperson for the Functional Government Initiative commented, “The public is all too familiar with politicians not acting honorably. We hope the FEC takes these apparent violations by Mr. Vindman seriously.”
These allegations come as Vindman faces a competitive race against Republican Derrick Anderson for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District seat. If the FEC finds the allegations valid, Vindman’s campaign could face significant fines.
Kendra Arnold, executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, explained to the Washington Free Beacon, “Super PACs and campaigns are not permitted to work together on communications, which prohibits campaigns altogether from using super PACs as vendors for communications. In my opinion, this would most certainly extend to hybrid PACs.”
Vindman gained national attention in 2019 when he and his brother Alexander Vindman revealed details of a phone call between then-President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which led to Trump’s first impeachment.
Trump had asked Zelensky about the firing of a prosecutor under Zelensky’s predecessor, a dismissal that then-Vice President Joe Biden had encouraged.
Biden had reportedly threatened to withhold congressionally approved aid to Ukraine unless the prosecutor, who was investigating the energy company Burisma—where Biden’s son Hunter sat on the board—was dismissed. Vindman has since used his public profile from this incident to raise substantial funds for his congressional campaign.