California Rep. Maxine Waters’ campaign has agreed to pay a $68,000 fine after a Federal Election Commission (FEC) investigation revealed multiple violations during her 2020 re-election bid. The FEC found that her committee, Citizens for Waters, failed to properly report financial transactions, accepted excessive contributions totaling $19,000, and made prohibited cash disbursements exceeding $100. As part of a settlement, the committee will pay the fine and send its treasurer to FEC training.
Attorney Leilani Beaver attributed the violations to unintentional errors. Waters’ campaign previously faced scrutiny for paying her daughter $192,300 for a mailer operation between 2021 and 2022.
Waters, a senior Democrat in Congress since 1991, also drew headlines for a viral speech where she questioned First Lady Melania Trump’s citizenship during a protest against Trump’s immigration policies. In another incident, she slammed Elon Musk at a D.C. rally, accusing him of overreach in managing financial data access.
OpenSecrets first reported the FEC findings.
