Subpoenas from the U.S. attorney's office for Connecticut were issued starting more than ten days ago for documents related to the 2014 reelection campaign of Governor Dannel Malloy.
Multiple sources confirmed to NBC Connecticut that federal authorities are searching similar ground that led to a settlement between the Connecticut Democratic Party and the State Elections Enforcement Commission.
Gov. Dannel Malloy was asked about the investigation during an appearance on Fox News by Maria Bartiromo. Malloy described the probe as an "election examination of fundraising an expenditures."
He later said, "Whatever was done was done legally and whatever was raised was raised legally and I'm sure that that's the outcome of the investigation."
Republicans called for Malloy to authorize the party and his former campaign staff to release any and all emails related to his 2014 campaign, Monday. Senator Len Fasano said it's a way to show ultimate transparency.
“The way you get rid of the suspicion and the cloud is you open up the emails and say, ‘here they are, have a look,’ if there’s a problem, let’s face it, if there’s not, so be it" Fasano said. "But when you hide them, and you pay money to hide them, people can only come to the conclusion that there is something you want to hide,” Fasano said.
The issues being examined by the U.S. attorney's office were investigated by the State Elections Enforcement Commission starting shortly after the 2014 campaign. They posed questions relating to the use of a a campaign account set up for the receipt of donations for federal races. The account received donations from contractors with state business, and those funds were later used for mailers and "Get out the vote" efforts.
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After more than a year of legal fighting, the Connecticut Democratic Party agreed to pay $325,000 in penalties, a record amount.
The Executive Director of the SEEC, said the settlement likely, "saved the Clean Elections Program," the public funding option for eligible candidates. The settlement, he said, helped to close a loophole that would have allowed future campaigns to use money meant for federal campaigns to be used in state races.
Both the SEEC and the State Democratic Party are cooperating the federal investigation.
Leigh Appleby, a spokesman for CT Democrats, wrote, "We have advised authorities of our intent to cooperate and will continue to do so in order to bring this to a close and continue to do the work of our party to elect Democrats on all levels."
Appleby also wrote that the party has complied with the SEEC probe, saying it provided a "sound framework" for how to navigate both state and federal campaign finance laws.
