FBI Raids Republican Campaign Consultant's Annapolis Office

ANNAPOLIS, MD — The FBI raided the office of a Republican campaign consultant Thursday, seizing records and computer files, according to media reports. The raid caused Maryland Republican lawmakers to cut ties with the firm.

A half-dozen FBI agents arrived unannounced to Strategic Campaign Group's office on Main Street at around 8:30 a.m. Thursday with a search warrant. The firm's president, Kelley Rogers, said the warrant was in relation to an investigation on the firm's work in the 2013 gubernatorial campaign of former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Cuccinelli lost the to Democrat Terry McAuliffe.

The FBI confirmed that it performed a raid in Annapolis Thursday but would not provide more details on the location. Spokeswoman Lindsay Ram said the bureau's Washington field office is handling the investigation.

Though clients are backing out, Rogers maintains that his company did nothing wrong. He believes the investigation will clear his name and the firm's.

WBAL captured video of FBI agents taping black trash bags to the office's windows to block the view.

Strategic Campaign Group consulted for Conservative Strikeforce, a political action committee formed in the 2008 presidential election cycle. The PAC raised $12 million from 2010 to 2016, according to the Hill, and spent more than $8 million to raise more funds. During that time, Strategic Campaign Group earned $579,000 from the PAC.

Critics labeled Conservative Strikeforce a "scam PAC," accusing it of raising large amounts of money and spending little on its candidates' campaigns. Strategic Campaign Group also consulted for another controversial PAC, Conservative Majority Fund, which ran ads questioning former President Barack Obama's birthplace, The Hill reported.

According to Rogers, Strategic Campaign Group settled a suit with the Cuccinelli campaign for $75,000, as he recollected. The suit alleged the firm failed to follow through on promises of an extensive media campaign, according to the Baltimore Sun.

The Sun reported that press accounts show the settlement to have been $85,000. Rogers said if the investigation causes his clients to want to back out of their contracts with the firm, he will free them.

House Minority Leader Nic Kipke, of Anne Arundel County, and Senate Minority Leader J.B. Jennings, of Baltimore County, did just that. They said their committees will not use the firm's services until its legal matters are closed.

"I'm shocked by what has come to light today and we will not be working with them on any new projects until the legal process is completed and they are cleared," the Sun reported Kipke saying.

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