With a grand jury investigation swirling around, at least the edges of Ron Paul Inc., it is not the time for photos of key players to be caught drinking and toasting with a man in a hot tub. As they say in the political world, the optics aren't good.
The below pictures, first posted on twitter by Lachlan Markay, were allegedly taken during the recent CPAC meetings.
The individual in the center of the picture, wearing a maroon sweater, is former congressman Steve Stockman, to his right is Dimitri Kesari.
It is alleged that Kesari passed a check to Kent Sorenson to induce Sorenson to leave the Michelle Bahmann 2012 presidential campaign and join Ron Paul 2012. Such a check passing would violate camapign laws (SEE: CONFIRMED FBI Raid at Kent Sorenson's House). EPJ has previously reported that in light of the ongoing investigation Kesari, who also was Rand Paul's driver during Rand's initial bid for the Senate, has lawyered up.
More recently, in a failed bid, Stockman ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate for Texas against incumbent John Cornyn. On March 4, 2014, Stockman polled 250,759 votes (19.2 percent) in his bid for the nomination and placed second on the ballot. Cornyn received 778,967 votes (59.44 percent).
A number of aides to Stockman have ties to National Right to Work, which has ties to Ron Paul Inc. It is not entirely clear what direction the Washington D.C. grand jury investigation is going in and whether it involves any of the people employed by Stockman during his senate bid, but it certainly makes no sense for any of these guys to be caught toasting with a man in a hot tub, in the middle of CPAC.
Looks like an *amazing* party. Sorry I missed it.
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