Louisville newspaper analysis reveals full extent of Trump impeachment defense team’s donations to Mitch McConnell

One of President Donald Trump’s main campaign promises of 2016 was to “drain the swamp” — in other words, aggressively fight against cronyism and blatant conflicts of interest in U.S. politics. But several members of Trump’s impeachment defense team, the Louisville Courier Journal is reporting, have made generous campaign contributions to one of the president’s most prominent allies: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is up for reelection this year.

Louisville is in McConnell’s back yard: he represents Kentucky in the U.S. Senate. And Courier Journal reporters Ben Tobin and Morgan Watkins, analyzing campaign finance data, report that Ken Starr and Robert Ray — both members of Trump’s impeachment defense team — have been generous contributors to McConnell’s 2020 reelection campaign.

Starr donated $2800 to the McConnell Senate Committee on July 31, 2019. And Ray made two separate donations to the Committee: one for the Republican senatorial primary in Kentucky, the other for the general election in November 2020. Between the two, Ray gave McConnell a total of $5600. Continue reading.