AG Wilson: "My Campaign" paid for $21K NYC Trip. Receipts Show Victims' Fund paid 10x more than Campaign.
Galivanting in New York City for the Trump trial, AG Alan Wilson took heat from "X" followers and defended his travel, but was he dishonest (again)?
In a rare response to his “X” critics, Wilson claimed that no taxpayer money was used in his May 2024 NYC trip when he traveled to support former President Trump. Wilson commented on why it was important for him to be in NYC, criticizing the vexatious, politically motivated lawfare, further declaring that the rule of law matters - and so does the truth.
Wilson’s public information officer, Claire Brady, also released a statement that reiterated Wilson’s claims on how his NYC trip was funded.
Receipts Suggest Dishonesty by the AG.
Wilson has a history of YUGE spending, even spending more on his birthday party than his last primary challenger used in her entire campaign.
We looked at Wilson’s campaign expenditures as well as the Comptroller General’s records of May 2024 spending for out of state travel (air transportation and lodging), by the AG Office. On the Comptroller’s page, it seemed safe to infer that all of the charges indicated by a “Bank of America - P Card” payee are for Alan Wilson since other charges have the payee indicated by first name and sometimes the first initial of their last name. (And if you follow Wilson on social media, it is obvious he enjoys trips).
On SC’s Public Ethics Reporting website where candidates report expenditures, donations, etc. on a quarterly reporting schedule, it appears that only one night of a hotel stay near NYC’s Central Park costing $673.64 was funded by campaign donors; this comprised approximately 3% of his $21,555 trip.
The rest of the trip, approximately 97%, appears to have been paid by monies allocated to the Office of the Attorney General by taxpayers to, ostensibly, prosecute crimes in South Carolina.
Using Funds Earmarked for Victims…
Though additional Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests to the AG’s office are still pending at the time of this writing, records of expenditures from the Comptroller General for May 2024 suggest that, of the 97% of the $21,555 trip paid for by taxpayers, approximately 27% was paid for by the (AG-controlled) fund intended for VICTIMS.
While the argument could be made that Trump is a victim, the indications for proper usage of this fund are very clear on the SC Attorney General’s website as below:
Medical or Dental care;
Counseling;
Lost wages for you as the victim; or for you to take care of a child victim or incapacitated adult for whom you are responsible;
Funeral/burial of a deceased victim. The claimant must incur the debt for the funeral/burial;
Limited transportation costs.
It is also worth noting that it takes quite a few metaphorical hoops to successfully jump through in order to be considered a victim by the AG office. If the prosecutor does not want to prosecute and/or the sheriff, SLED, Department of Insurance etc. does not want to investigate, and/or claims they are too ‘short-staffed’ to investigate, then you and/or I would NOT be a victim in the eyes of the AG’s office.
$1 million Spent in Annual Travel
According to the Comptroller General’s website, during this fiscal year, AG Wilson’s office has spent $960,000 in travel. Much of that is for out of state travel with a YUGE percentage of the travel appearing to be AG Wilson himself. Who knew that South Carolina crimes were prosecuted all over the world?
Will you update this article and the misinformation you shared?