Trump whistleblower Eugene Vindman accused of violating federal election law in Virginia congressional race

Eugene Vindman, the former Trump whistleblower who is now running for Congress as a Democrat in Virginia, is facing allegations of violating federal election law. 

The Functional Government Initiative filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Wednesday, urging an investigation into Vindman and his political action committee, VoteVets. The complaint alleged that VoteVets, a “hybrid PAC,” made an "excessive and impermissible" contribution to Vindman’s campaign. 

According to the Washington Free Beacon, VoteVets is legally permitted to contribute up to $10,000 directly to a candidate. However, it reached this limit in May. The PAC's continued communications support for Vindman’s campaign is being classified as an "in-kind contribution," which would push its total contributions above the legal threshold.

A spokesperson for the Functional Government Initiative stated, “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 is in a tight race against Republican Derrick Anderson for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District seat. The potential consequences could include significant fines if the FEC finds the allegations valid.

"Super PACs and campaigns are not permitted to work together on communications, which prohibits campaigns altogether from using super PACs as vendors for communications," Kendra Arnold, Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust executive director explained to the Washington Free Beacon. "In my opinion, this would most certainly extend to hybrid PACs."

Vindman gained national attention in 2019 when he and his brother Alexander Vindman exposed details of a phone call between then-President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a disclosure that led to Trump’s first impeachment.

Trump had been asking Zelensky about the circumstances of the firing of a prosecutor under Zelensky's predecessor, a firing that then-vice president Joe Biden bragged about instigating. Biden had told Ukraine that congressionally approved aid to the nation would be delayed until the prosecutor was fired. That prosecutor was looking into energy company Burisma, on whose board Biden's son Hunter sat, and for which service he was paid some $80,000 per month. Congress alleged that Trump attempted to withhold aid from Ukraine until the details of the firing were revealed. Vindman has since leveraged his public profile from this incident to raise millions for his congressional campaign.