Democrat Counsels Barry Berke, Daniel Goldman Donated Thousands to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama

Barry Berke and Daniel Goldman, the lawyers for Democrats in Monday’s impeachment hearing at the House Judiciary Committee, have donated thousands of dollars to Hillary Clinton and other Democrats over several elections, federal records show.

Berke, the Democrats’ counsel on the Judiciary Committee, gave a maximum contribution of $2,700 to Hillary Clinton in 2015, during the Democratic presidential primary, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) data. He later donated thousands of additional dollars to her campaign. Berke also maxed out to Barack Obama in the 2008 and 2012 elections.

Berke was also a frequent donor to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), ActBlue, and several Democratic candidates for both houses of Congress.

Goldman, the Democrats’ counsel on the House Intelligence Committee, has likewise donated to a variety of Democratic candidates. He apparently maxed out to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 general election, and to President Obama in 2008, maxing out again to Obama in the 2012 general election.

The issue came up during the hearing, when Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) objected to the fact that Berke, a witness, was allowed to question a fellow witness, Republican counsel Stephen Castor. Gohmert asked, sardonically, how much money one would have to donate to enjoy Berke’s privileges.

Later, after Goldman brought up the fact that U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland had donated $1 million to President Donald Trump’s inauguration committee, in an apparent effort to cast aspersions on Trump, Ranking Member Doug Collins (R-GA) countered that both Goldman and Berke had been donors to the Democrats.

Goldman told Collins that his donations should not be used to cast aspersions on him. Collins replied that Goldman had invoked donations to do exactly that.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.