1. Jesse Reeves Benton was born on October 4,1977 and is an American political operative, convicted felon, writer, and entrepreneur.
27 Facts About Jesse Benton
1. 2.
Jesse Benton is married to Valori Pyeatt, Ron Paul's granddaughter.
3.
Jesse Benton served as the campaign manager of Republican Mitch McConnell, until resigning on August 29,2014, amid rumors surrounding campaign finance allegations during the 2012 presidential election.
4.
Jesse Benton was found not guilty at trial on charges of making false statements.
5.
Jesse Benton was re-indicted and was found guilty of conspiring to cause false records to the Federal Election Commission.
6.
Jesse Benton was pardoned by President Donald Trump on December 23,2020.
7.
Jesse Benton was indicted in September 2021 for illegally funneling money he received from a Russian national into the 2016 campaign of Donald Trump.
8.
Jesse Benton was convicted on November 17,2022, and sentenced to 18 months in prison on February 17,2023.
9.
Jesse Benton has been involved with various political candidates and organizations, including the American Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform, the Liberty Coalition, the Performance Institute, and Louisiana Senator David Vitter.
10.
Jesse Benton opened his own political firm, CIC solutions, working mostly in Pennsylvania and Virginia.
11.
In 2007, Jesse Benton became involved with Ron Paul's 2008 presidential candidacy.
12.
Jesse Benton started out as a volunteer, being attracted by Paul's message on spending, civil liberties, and foreign policy, but eventually became Paul's communications director.
13.
In March 2016, Jesse Benton was hired by the pro-Trump "Great America" super PAC.
14.
In 2010, Jesse Benton served as Rand Paul's campaign manager when Paul was elected Senator of Kentucky.
15.
In hiring Jesse Benton, McConnell hoped to avoid a Republican primary from a conservative challenger, although Tea Party Republican Matt Bevin would ultimately challenge McConnell.
16.
The move was notable as McConnell had endorsed Paul's 2010 Republican primary opponent, Trey Grayson, and McConnell represented the "establishment" wing of the Kentucky Republican party while Jesse Benton's background was in "grassroots" advocacy.
17.
Jesse Benton resigned his post as Mitch McConnell's campaign manager in August 2014 when details of a campaign filing scandal from Paul's 2012 presidential campaign came to light.
18.
Jesse Benton has described himself as both a political operative and activist.
19.
In 2013, Jesse Benton sent out an email that claimed that Barack Obama wanted to create a national gun registration system; the claim was criticized by The Washington Post's fact-checker.
20.
Jesse Benton was indicted for allegedly concealing over $70,000 in payments to Iowa state senator Kent Sorenson to convince Sorenson to change his endorsement from Michele Bachmann to Ron Paul, a longtime Texas congressman.
21.
All but one of the charges against Jesse Benton were thrown out by an Iowa judge for prosecutorial misconduct, and he was acquitted at trial of the only remaining charge.
22.
On September 20,2021, the United States Department of Justice announced that Jesse Benton had been indicted.
23.
Jesse Benton was convicted of all six counts on November 17,2022.
24.
Jesse Benton had bought a $25,000 ticket to the Republican National Convention's 2016 event on behalf of Vasilenko without disclosing his nationality to the Trump campaign.
25.
On February 17,2023, Jesse Benton was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
26.
Jesse Benton is a Philadelphia native and an alumnus of Mary Washington College, where he was an economics major and played rugby.
27.
Jesse Benton is married to Ron Paul's granddaughter, Valori Pyeatt, and they have a daughter.