People tried to write cheques to America’s actual birthday. And, according to House Democrats, the wire details they were given allegedly routed their money into the Trump-backed operation instead. That’s not “aggressive fundraising.” That’s not “hardball.” If the allegations hold up, that’s the kind of thing that has a name in the federal criminal code, and the name is not “patriotism.” Rep. Jared Huffman — the ranking Democrat on the committee, and a lawyer — was careful not to declare a crime outright, but told the Washington Post that the elements of fraud appear to be present in the evidence. Which is about as close as a sitting congressman gets to saying “yeah, this smells like wire fraud” without a jury in the room. His explanation of the scam is must watch: