FEC Ethics Audit Clears Trump-Nominee of Any Violation

The seal of the Federal Election Commission outside its headquarters in Washington on Oct. 24, 2016. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

An audit of a Trump-nominated member of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which looked into his potential ethics violation, has concluded no rule breaches.

The investigation was triggered by a media report about commissioner James “Trey” Trainor III’s appearance at a Nov. 29, 2021, event in Denton County organized by the Denton County Republican Party in which he was billed as a member of the “Trump Elections Team,” according to an Aug. 7 investigative summary (pdf) by the FEC’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

Mr. Trainor had previously served as counsel to President Trump’s presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee. In 2017, President Trump nominated Mr. Trainor to serve on the FEC, which is charged with enforcing campaign finance laws. Mr. Trainor was confirmed to the FEC in 2020.

Mr. Trainor’s participation in the 2021 Denton County event had raised concerns among finance experts, including former FEC commissioners, according to a July 2022 Business Insider report cited in the investigative summary.

Some expressed worries about FEC commissioners involving themselves in partisan activities. This media report triggered the FEC investigation into Mr. Trianor, which looked into potential ethics violations.

“Based on public reporting and other available evidence (including testimony of other participants), we identified no violations of relevant ethical standards,” related to Mr. Trainor’s participation in the Denton County event, the report said.

“It is understandable that outside observers might question his participation in an event hosted by a political party. However, Commissioners are appointed, in part, on the basis of partisan affiliation and frequently speak in public.”

The FEC admitted that “to an outside observer, Commissioner Trainor’s appearance at an event hosted by a political party and identified as a member of the ‘Trump Elections Team’ might create an appearance of an ethical violation.”

However, the agency pointed out that Mr. Trainor’s designation as a member of the “Trump Elections Team” was done without his knowledge and that he “did not speak on behalf of the Trump campaign” at the Denton County event.

“Accordingly, the OIG closed this matter with no recommendations for the Commission or FEC management,” the report said.

Non-Cooperation With Investigation

The FEC report points out that Mr. Trainor was not cooperative with the agency regarding the investigation, which impeded evidence gathering by the OIG and “resulted in uncertainty concerning the conclusions in this investigation.”

“Commissioner Trainor did not participate in this investigation. After initially referring the OIG to his legal counsel, neither Commissioner Trainor nor his counsel responded to numerous attempts over the course of several months by the OIG to schedule an interview,” the report said.

“It was also inconsistent with Commission guidance regarding cooperation with the OIG, specifically, a March 25, 2022 email sent to FEC staff by a prior Commission Chair directing agency personnel to cooperate with OIG engagements, including investigations.”

“Although that direction may not be binding upon other commissioners, Commissioner Trainor’s non-participation in this investigation nevertheless reflects inconsistency with the standard expected of other agency personnel.”

In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Mr. Trainor hit out at the investigation. “I’m outraged at the enormous waste of time and taxpayer money that was wasted on this matter … I’m amazed that an obscure news story caused all of this commotion.”

“This is the type of ‘gotcha’ game that the American people have grown to loathe about [Washington]. The full apparatus of the government was harnessed to investigate a Zoom appearance to a group I have not seen in person.”

Recusal Issue

In addition to the Denton County event, the FEC investigation also looked into Mr. Trainor’s participation in matters involving the Trump 2016 election campaign.

The report notes that FEC’s ethics officials had earlier advised Mr. Trainor that while he was commissioner at the agency, he should recuse himself from matters concerning Trump’s 2016 campaign if he had earlier represented the campaign prior to joining the FEC.

The OIG reviewed 39 matters that the FEC looked at that involved the Trump 2016 campaign. Mr. Trainor was found to have participated in 37 out of these 39 matters, recusing himself from two.

During his March 2020 confirmation hearing before the Senate Rules and Administration, Mr. Trainor refused to commit to a “blanket recusal” in matters involving President Trump, pointing out that “I don’t think that there is anyone at the Commission currently who has a blanket recusal and I think we should all follow the same rules and guidelines.”

“I have entered into an agreement with regard to recusals at the Commission, and I intend to follow the same recusal regime that every other Commissioner has followed when matters regarding President Trump come up,” he said at the time.

“I will approach the ethics officials at the agency and have that discussion with them to see when it is appropriate to recuse and when not.”

A few months later, in November 2020, Mr. Trainor had raised concerns of potential voter fraud taking place in states that were counting ballots at the time.

“I do believe that there is voter fraud taking place in these places,” he said in a Nov. 6, 2020, interview with Newsmax. “Otherwise, they would allow the observers to go in.”

Even though the Trump campaign had secured a court order that allowed for observers to watch ballot counting in Pennsylvania from a distance of six feet, the ballot watchers “have not been allowed into the polling locations in a meaningful way,” he claimed.