LOS ANGELES — Today, George Gascón’s campaign for Los Angeles District Attorney released the following statement in response to revelations that DA Jackie Lacey’s campaign partnered with the Pluvious Group, a GOP fundraising firm that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for President Donald Trump. The Pluvious Group was also at the center of a money laundering scheme that allowed, “donors to conceal their identities in filings and avoid exceeding campaign contribution limits.”
“The Chief Law Enforcement Official for the largest county in the country is surrounding herself with firms involved with patently illegal and corrupt activity,” said campaign spokesman Max Szabo. “It’s extremely troubling, but in light of the 70 percent reduction in corruption cases she’s overseen, it’s not surprising. While DA Lacey has been drinking from the same faucet as Donald Trump, she’s been pleading with democratic party delegates for their support. You are who you surround yourself with, and between her record of opposing every major criminal justice reform initiative in the past decade, and her association with right wing groups involved in criminal activity, it is clearer than ever that she is LA’s conservative and regressive candidate for DA. Buyer beware.”
As the Democratic Congressional Central Committee pointed out in July, “Pluvious was involved in a Federal probe regarding a more than suspicious breakfast event they organized at President Trump’s D.C. Hotel.” The breakfast was part of a Federal criminal “investigation into whether foreigners contributed money to the Trump inaugural fund and PAC by possibly using American intermediaries.”
The Pluvious Group event for DA Jackie Lacey comes just three days before the Los Angeles County Democratic Party is scheduled to make its recommendation in the closely watched race for District Attorney. The LA County Democratic Party Central Committee is scheduled to make their endorsement on Tuesday.
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George Gascón grew up in Los Angeles after his family immigrated from Cuba. An army veteran, Gascón served as a Los Angeles Police Department Officer for 30 years, rising to the rank of Assistant Chief of Operations. In 2006 he became Chief of Police in Mesa, Arizona, where he stood up to the hateful and anti-immigrant policies of then Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. In 2009, then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed Gascón Chief of Police. Newsom turned to Gascón again in 2011 when he tapped him to be District Attorney to fill the seat vacated by an outoing Kamala Harris who had been elected Attorney General. During his tenure Gascón implemented reforms that are being duplicated across the country while overseeing violent crime and homicides drop to rates not seen in 50 years. After being elected to two terms, Gascón returned to Los Angeles to care for his elderly mother and to be closer to his two daughters and grandchildren in Long Beach. Gascón is married to Fabiola Kramsky, a three-time Emmy Award winning journalist and recipient of the “Premio Nacional de Periodismo,” the highest recognition given to journalists in Mexico.