Donald Trump’s campaign called Thursday on Hillary Clinton to return a pair of campaign donations from disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner, who is being examined by federal and municipal investigators.
Trump also has financial ties to Weiner, having given to his congressional campaigns in the past.
Trump deputy communications director Jessica Ditto issued a statement calling the investigations, which authorities said are related to a report in Britain’s Daily Mail that Weiner sent sexually explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl, “extremely disturbing.”
“The Clinton campaign should immediately return all campaign contributions from Weiner. America has had enough of the sleaze that is Clinton, Inc.,” said Ditto.
Clinton’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Last month, Weiner’s wife Huma Abedin, an aide and close confidante of Clinton’s, announced that she was separating from Weiner after yet another scandal involving sexually explicit messages was reported in the New York Post.
Campaign finance records show Weiner, through his firm, gave Clinton’s campaign a $500 donation and a $50 donation in May.
As NBC News reported last month, records also show that Trump has given to Weiner in the past. He made a $2,300 donation to his congressional campaign in 2007 and gave $2,000 in 2010, the records show.
The Washington Post confirmed Thursday that the New York Police Department and a U.S. attorney in North Carolina have begun examining Weiner, following the Daily Mail report.
Weiner has been embroiled in a string of “sexting” scandals in recent years. The New York Democrat resigned from Congress in 2011 after one such scandal and the details of another one were made public during his 2013 campaign for mayor of New York City.
(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Sean Sullivan
