Former President Donald Trump’s visit this week to Livingston County is under investigation based on complaints that the host of the event may have violated the state’s campaign finance law.
That’s because the Republican presidential candidate’s appearance before reporters and invited guests took place at the county sheriff’s office.
Mark Brewer, a former Michigan Democratic Party chair and elections lawyer, said state law is clear about banning government resources from being used for political activity.
“These are clear violations of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act and those local officials who misused public property to support those events should be held accountable,” Brewer said Friday.
But the Livingston County Sheriff has previously claimed to WLNS that the appearance was a press conference and “not a political event.”
Sheriff Mike Murphy told the Michigan Public Radio Network that he’s confident he did nothing wrong.
“I knew this was going to be an issue when we agreed to host the president. But there’s no campaign finance violation here,” Muphy said.
He added he welcomes any investigations.
On that matter, the Michigan Department of State confirmed that as of noon on Friday, it had received two complaints against Murphy and his office related to possible campaign finance violations.
Department spokesperson Angela Benander said she couldn’t provide any more information until the investigation is over. Once a determination is made, more information will become available on a department website.
Earlier this month, Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance appeared at the Shelby Township police station for a similar event.
Benander said the department hadn’t received any complaints related to that event as of noon on Friday.