Clinton Will Return the Money, but Try to Get it Right Back

In the wake of the Norman Hsu scandal Hillary Clinton's campaign decided to return $850,000 in tainted campaign donations from what appear to be in some cases, straw donors who were given the money by Hsu. Amazingly, the campaign is going to try and get the donors to give the money right back:

The campaign is refunding $850,000 to these donors, viewing the money as tainted. Yet the campaign is also risking another public relations mess by saying that it would take back the money if it clearly came from the donor’s bank account, not from Mr. Hsu or another source ... The campaign will try to get most of the donors to give the money back right after the refunds, said a senior Democratic strategist who advises Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. “That’s the plan,” the strategist said.

Mark Hemingway adds this at The Corner:

Uh, okay. No way that could backfire, particularly since there's a good chance that of the 260 odd donations "bundled" by Hsu at least some them were complicit in fraud along with Hsu. Considering what a good job the campaign did with Hsu's background check, I imagine they won't overlook a thing investigating 260 of his associates.

This whole thing came to light after the Wall Street Journal investigated some suspicious donors from California. If some of this money finds its way back into the campaign coffers, more investigations will be forthcoming.