Now Patrick Murphy Under Fire For Domestic Violence-Linked Campaign Cash

As Vice President Joe Biden, who authored the Violence Against Women Act, promotes Patrick Murphy at a private fundraiser Thursday morning, troubling new revelations about a major Murphy donor convicted of domestic assault are making headlines. In a story this same morning under the headline, "GOP Wants Senate Dem Candidate to Donate $100K," the Hill reports:

"A leading Florida Democratic Senate candidate has donated more than $16,000 in campaign cash to domestic violence groups after receiving contributions from a longtime friend who pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife."

 

But that's not all of the money Al-Rashid spent to get Patrick Murphy elected -- he also gave $100,000 to a pro-Murphy Super PAC in 2012 that ran an ad depicting cartoon violence against women:

"[Senate Leadership Fund spokesman Ian] Prior notes that American Sunrise, the super-PAC Al-Rashid funded, ran a controversial ad that showed a cartoon version of Murphy’s then-opponent, Allen West, wearing boxing gloves and repeatedly punching women in the face to illustrate how he was hurting them with his votes on healthcare and other policies."

The report also reveals that Murphy took seven months to return Al-Rashid's last maxed-out donation, which was received after Murphy knew about his criminal acts.

Read the whole story here.

Said Amelia Chassé, America Rising PAC press secretary, "Patrick Murphy has only given away a fraction of the funds that domestic violence offender Ibrahim Al-Rashid has spent on his behalf. Patrick Murphy owes Floridians an explanation for why he continued accepting campaign cash from a convicted spousal abuser, why he won't return the $100,000 Mr. Al-Rashid donated to his Super PAC, and why he is only speaking out about this matter after it was uncovered by the media."