De Blasio Denies Wrongdoing as Federal Fundraising Probes Widen
(DNAINFO) Jeff Mays and Murray Weiss | April 22, 2016 — The mayor said all of his activities met the spirit and letter of the law.
Mayor Bill de Blasio continued to deny any wrongdoing Friday as a federal probe of his campaign fundraising activities widened.
“Everything we’ve done from the beginning has been done with integrity. We have complied with both the letter and the spirit of the law in everything we’ve done,” de Blasio said on WNYC’s “Brian Lehrer Show.”
Federal authorities are now examining whether donations from a group seeking to ban horse carriages, New Yorkers for Clean, Livable & Safe Streets, were given to influence that effort. De Blasio promised to ban horse carriages during his first day as mayor but has been unable to accomplish that goal.
Michael McKeon, a NYCLASS spokesman, at first denied in a statement Thursday that the group had been contacted by any federal or state authority but later vowed to “answer any and all questions, and fully cooperate.”
Authorities are also examining whether fundraising efforts for Democratic state senate candidates violated campaign contribution limit laws by being routed to other committees, which were allowed to rake in huge donations compared to caps on single donors directly to a candidate’s campaign.