John Ratcliffe’s Zombie Campaign Keeps Paying His Wife $3,000 A Month To Manage Its Books

The zombie campaign of former Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) has continued to pay his wife $3,000 a month for compliance services, according to records with the Federal Election Commission. 

Ratcliffe resigned from Congress in May 2020 to become Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, a position he kept through the end of the administration.

But Ratcliffe still controls his congressional campaign’s account, which has $310,000 of cash on hand. That account has now paid his wife, Michele Ratcliffe, $21,000. Those payments account for 35% of all the money the campaign has spent in 2021.  

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Michele Ratcliffe is a partner at the Rockwall, Texas law firm of Lamberth Ratcliffe Covington, where she works on estate planning and assists victims of cyber crimes. An FEC filing from December 2013 lists her as the original treasurer for her husband’s campaign. She held that position until December 2014. The campaign’s only previous payments to her were small reimbursements. According to FEC records, no other political campaigns have retained her services. 

The Ratcliffe campaign notified the FEC that Michele Ratcliffe had resumed the treasurer role on March 15, 2021, the same day she received her first $3,000 payment. Forbes first reported on the payments in July. They haven’t stopped since then. 

The campaign has also recently spent money on a storage-unit rental and two meals at the Four Seasons in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. 

Neither John nor Michele Ratcliffe responded to inquiries.