DeLay trial week three..

Jurors in Tom DeLay’s money laundering trial heard today from the Republican National Committee’s Jay Banning, who as Chief Financial Officer was one of the officials who approved the swap of $190,000 with Tom DeLay’s Texans for a Republican Majority PAC in 2002.

"The bottom line is the money that came to these Texas candidates was not the same $190,000 that DeLay's PAC sent to the Republican National Committee," asked Dick DeGuerin, DeLay's lead attorney.

"That's correct," replied Banning

This reasoning reminds me of the infamous 2008 decision by the Texas Third Court of Appeals that DeLay couldn’t be guilty of receiving illegal funds because the funds were in the form of checks. Checks aren’t money?

Prosecutor Beverly Matthews asked “If a drug dealer gave the Republican National Committee $100,000 of drug money and asked the Republican National Committee to put it into a different account ... could the RNC put the money into a different account and turn around and send that money back to Texas candidates?"

Banning told prosecutors that the seven candidates receiving the swapped money got between $20,000 and $40,000 each, while other candidates received less than $500 from the RNC.

An accountant and others who worked for DeLay’s PAC testified today that the PAC was running low on money from individual donors. Figures. DeLay took money from corporations and businessmen across the country and as far away as Russia and China, but individuals, who could legally contribute to Texas campaigns, were already suffering from donor fatigue.